Search - Legend (Legend, Bk 1)

A premise that sounds like a dystopian Robin Hood? You didn’t have to ask me twice if I wanted to read this. Marie Lu provides us with a solid dystopian read in her debut novel that, while not incredible, still proves to be very enjoyable.

LEGEND’s strength lies in Lu’s writing. Written in alternating POVs, Day’s and June’s voices feel completely natural: both of them have genius-level intelligences, which shows in the way they approach and analyze situations (a great relief from those YA novels whose main characters claim to be smart but then they do or think the most idiotic things). LEGEND will appeal to readers who like their dystopian books endearingly unsentimental, in the way Katniss is a reluctant but still beloved hero. Both June and Day are like that: they are very focused on what needs to be done, and do not exhibit the types of thoughts or behavior that normal teenagers do.

This makes it believable that they live in a world where violence is part of the job description. This is no half-hearted dystopian world: the government does things that leave even me shocked and uncomfortable. LEGEND will surely become one of those books that censorship-happy critics target due to its darkness.

The trouble is, LEGEND’s violence does feel a bit gratuitous. It’s not that I have qualms about violence in YA fiction; I love The Hunger Games, after all. It’s more that I still struggle to understand what purpose the violence in LEGEND serves, except to make the government as scary as possible. But the revelation that June and Day uncover about the government is rather anticlimactic, considering all the setup. I feel more scared by less violence-proven fictional dystopian governments, such as The Giver’s, than I did by LEGEND’s over-the-top controlling government.

While I adored June and Day individually, I felt like their romance left something to be desired. Here, I suppose, is where their age shows, for their mutual attraction seemed to arise more out of the fact that they each find the other to be different than anyone they’ve ever met and less due to an actual liking of one another. Still, I did like them individually, and thought they were pretty well developed in that regard. I had no problem with those two as the main characters, but perhaps if the book hadn’t been sold to me with such a heavy emphasis on an epic romance I would’ve been more impressed.

So LEGEND is not perfect, but solid writing and two sympathetic main characters make it a cut above most other dystopian YA out there. Dystopian fans will surely want to keep this on their radar, though perhaps toning down your expectations a notch will make it a better read for you.

Not too shabby, but not too amazing either.
This book has two perspectives/narrators: Day, who is a 15 year old boy out to protect his family from a plague that is spreading about and June, who is a 15 year old girl who loves her brother and has zipped through schooling with perfection in a safe feeling environment. I don't want to give anything away, but they live in a "Republic" after something occurs in the US, as if the United States was something unknown.
Although this has some creativity involved in it, I don't understand how it seems credible either. I didn't even really get into this book until after the first 100 pages, but I think the ending was far too rushed and sloppy.

I enjoyed LEGEND. The character development of June and Day, though very advanced for 15-year-olds, was very engaging. The world building was a bit weak, but it was believable enough to work.

I enjoyed the alternating chapters between the main characters, and the way Day's chapters were in a copper font. There were also a couple of occurrences that really made me close the book, picturing it in my head. Very arresting.

The flow could've been smoother in some areas, but the writing is strong, and I want to follow June's and Day's journey into the next book of the series.

I give this one a solid B.