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Book Review of Legend (Legend, Bk 1)

Legend (Legend, Bk 1)
Legend (Legend, Bk 1)
Author: Marie Lu
Genre: Teen & Young Adult
Book Type: Hardcover
merciersj avatar reviewed on + 71 more book reviews


"Legend" is one of the most balanced dual narrator books I have read on a long time. Our protagonists, Day and June, are from completely different sides of society. June is from a wealthy military family. Day lives on the street and spends his time committing rebellious acts against the government. Both characters are very well developed, and over the course of the story we are able to watch them grow and change.

Despite the fact that Day and June are from opposite sides of a conflict, Lu is able to make both sides have equally strong voices and justifications for their actions and choices. As I was reading Days perspective I would think, "Yeah, that totally makes sense, the government is a bunch of pigs, they deserve what theyre getting." Then the perspective would switch to June and Id be forced to see the consequences of what Day had done. Id immediately sympathize with the government. As impressive as the protagonists are, I wish the secondary characters were given the same amount of depth.

The plot is interesting and moves at a good pace. There are several twists that I never saw coming. Some of the twists were very predictable, however, the most obvious being the relationship between Day and June. Not only could I see it coming a mile away, I just didnt buy into it and felt like it wasnt needed. The meat and potatoes of the story is the conflict between the rebels and the government. The story should have stayed focused on that, but it seems to be a prerequisite that all young adult fiction have at least one relationship in it, if not several different ones.

Overall I really enjoyed this and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. I hope that in later books we get to see more of the government and better developed secondary characters. Id recommend this to fans of dystopian fiction with corrupt governments, heavy on world building and plot with light romance.