Thursday, March 7, 2013

Legend


Title: Legend
Author: Marie Lu
Series: Legend, Book 1
Number of Pages: 305
Date Read: 3/5/13
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: A+

Synopsis (Found on Goodreads.com)

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.


My Review:

This book was awesome. I'm so glad I decided to read it because I have a whole list of books to read and this one was not anywhere near the top.

the plot was interesting as well as the characters. The book is about the murder of June's brother and finding the killer, Day. June and her brother are in the upper class of the republic of America and both are in the military. June is just finishing military college at age 15 (shes a prodigy) and her brother is the captain in Commander Jameson's squad. Day is the most wanted criminal in the republic. He's part of the lower class and he lives on the streets. He doesn't kill people but instead steals and tries at any opportunity to mess with the republic (ex- blowing up air crafts). The reason he is the most wanted criminal is because the republic had no idea who he is or what he looks like. His fingerprints are not in any of republic's databases. He's an unknown (don't worry, you'll find out why in the book). So one night while Day is committing a crime, he almost gets caught and interacts with June's brother Captain Metias. Later on we find that Metias was killed. All the evidence points to Day. So June goes undercover as a street kid to find Day and bring him to justice. The question is, did Day kill her brother?

The book has many plot twists and at time you're like "Now whats gonna happen" because the characters screwed themselves into a situation. The book was fast paced and switched between Day and June's pov. I loved Day. He's such a good guy who tries his best to stay alive. He's caring especially to Tess, an orphan who began following him one day. They both take care of each other. Day is very flexible and agile which is one of the reasons why no one had been able to catch him yet. He is also extremely smart- He can plan a crime, carry it out and can think on his feet when his plans go awry. He is willing to help people but he also puts on a tough guy front. He cares deeply for his family and he tries as hard as he can to provide for them. Which is why he commits so many crimes (aside from the ones that stick it to the government). He saves June when she is in the streets, takes care of her when she's injured and welcomes her into his little group (Tess and Himself). 

I also like June alot. Shes a child prodigy and a troublemaker. She doesn't listen to her professors and is constantly pulling stunts that get her in trouble. Her main goal in the beginning is to become the best soldier so she can catch Day. At this point Day is nothing more to her than a criminal and her brother Metias is still alive. June is extremely intelligent, like Day, and is able to come up with and execute a plan to find Day (after her brother is killed). You can also see her intelligence when she is trying to figure out a code Metias left her with 24 seemingly random letters. The amazing part is that she did everything in her head. First she noticed where the letters could be found. Then she continued to look for the for an hour or so and she remembered all the letters she found. The in her head she scrambled and unscrambled the letters to make words. Once she got a word that was familiar to her, she was able to remember the rest of the letters that were left and continued to scramble them until she figured out the message. That is crazy. I can't even do simple addition in my head without using my fingers. She also comes up with more complex plans for various reasons and its just amazing to read about. I also like June because she can kick anyones ass. She is just as nimble and agile as Day, plus she has all the military fighting training. She is very lethal. She is also a survivor and self reliant like Day. 

I also really liked Metias, although you don't see much of him. You see him in the first few chapters then the rest of the time you see him through June's memories. He was a great brother to June. When they're parents died, Metias stepped up and took care of June. One memory June has that was sweet and sad to read was when Metais skipped his induction to the military to take care of a sick June, who at the time was seven. The conversation between them was very touching. It was very unfortunate that Metias had to die for the story line because he would of made a great character and I would have loved to read about him. 

I hated Thomas, Metias' friend. He was all up June's ass and was wayy to tight about the rules for my liking. With him it was all about rules. Its obvious that he liked or a better word is obsessed with June. He takes her out on dates even though she doesn't want to go and he visits her all the time. He even tried to kiss her which is kinda gross because he's way older than her. From some numbers given in the story, you can figure out that Metias was about 27 years old. Thomas is not that far away from Metias. So what does a grown man want with a 15 year old? Gross. 

I also hated Commander Jameson. She was a huge b****. I hated her from the first time we see her in the book which is at Metias' murder scene. She drags June down to the murder scene and forces June to "tell" her what happened (as in what is the most likely scenario). She informs June that the college graduated her early and that Jameson wanted and was putting June on her squad, so she can help catch Day. One thing that pissed me off was after June was finished informing her at the murder scene, all Jameson did was look down at Metias' body and say "What a waste of a good soldier". In front of June. I wanted to go into the book and bash her skull in. Let's just say she makes me extremely angry. She is also a sadist because she loves to torture spies- wait until you read what she does. She needs to die asap. I loved a conversation between her and Day. She was telling Day about a kid who she was granted permission to execute personally. She said that she thinks the kid would of preferred the firing squad to how she killed him. Day said to her "Someday you'll die in a worse way than he did."
And I hope she does and I can't wait to read about it. It better be good and painful. 

The romance in this book was good. No insta-love which bothers the hell outta me. There was first attraction, then a kiss, then they fell for each other. Their love is more complicated than that but I can't say more without giving anything away.

This book was awesome and its got something in it for everyone: murder mystery, military and government conspiracy, love and action. I highly recommend this book. 

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