Legend by Marie Lu

Title: Legend

Author: Marie Lu

Pages: 305

Release: November 29^th, 2011

Synopsis:

(from Goodreads)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 Thoughts:

I picked up Legend because I was very busy and it looked small-ish and I had heard such fantastic things about this dystopian re-telling of Les Miserables. This was a read that I loved and couldn’t put down the entire way through.

On top of Legend being a really good book, it was also aesthetically pleasing. The cover has a really cool look to it and even the inside has a unique appearance. The chapters in Day’s POV are printed in a gold color! June’s are in black. How nifty is that? In other books I have read where POV changes from chapter to chapter, I find that some authors seem to have trouble establishing two distinctly unique personalities for the alternating characters. I wondered early on if this color coding was done to help keep the characters straight, but was really pleased to find that Day and June are very original and that was not an issue at all.

The only thing I can say negatively about this book was especially in the beginning, I really disliked June’s character. I would want to read through her chapters as quickly as possible in order to get to Day’s perspective again. Fortunately, by the end of the book I really liked her and am thinking maybe she was supposed to be unlikable at first glance? Legend was a fast-paced story with realistic characters and lots of twists and turns.

In Short:

Rating: 5/5

Purchase or Check Out?: Purchase

Would I read it again?: Yes