Book Review: Legend by Marie Lu

Title: Legend 

Author: Marie Lu
Series: Legend, #1
Pages: 368
Publisher: Penguin
Date of Publication: 2nd February 2012
Source: Publisher*
Synopsis from Goodreads: The United States is gone, along with its flooded coasts. North America's two warring nations, the western Republic and the eastern Colonies, have reached a breaking point. In the midst of this broken continent and dark new world are two teenagers who will go down in history....

Born into the slums of Los Angeles, fifteen-year old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. A mysterious boy with no recorded image or fingerprints. A boy who should no longer exist. A boy who watches over his family until one evening, when the plague patrols mark his family's door with an X--the sign of plague infection. A death sentence for any family too poor to afford the antidote. Desperate, Day has no choice; he must steal it.

Born to an elite family in Los Angeles' wealthy Ruby sector, fifteen-year old June is the Republic's most promising prodigy. A superintelligent girl destined for great things in the country's highest military circles. Obedient, passionate, and committed to her country--until the day her brother Metias is murdered while on patrol during a break-in at the plague hospital.

Only one person could be responsible.

Day.

And now it's June's mission to hunt him down.

The truth they'll uncover will become legend.

My Thoughts:
June and Day are fifteen-year-olds living in the plague ridden society that is set in the future of the USA. Day is a super-criminal, and the country's most wanted - but his fingerprints don't match any on their database and they have no idea what he looks like. June is the only child to get full marks on the Trial - the test that all children take at the age of ten - therefore the country's most promising prodigy. Their worlds collide when June's brother, Metias, is killed, and June is sent out to find Day, because he's the only one who could possibly have done it.

I really liked that the book was told in dual narrative, alternating between chapters from Day and June's points of view. I liked how different they both seemed, and despite the fact that each chapter was in a different font, I could tell which character was which just by the way that certain chapter written. However, they were both very similar in personality and character - I think had they not been born into polar opposites of society, they would have been very good friends.

I liked Day's chapters best, I think. I loved how he's put up by the society to be invincible - an evil mastermind who no one can catch no matter how hard they try, but in reality he's actually just a scared fifteen year old, stealing plague medicine and causing trouble all for good reasons - sometimes I just wanted to wrap him up in a big hug and tell him everything would be alright. Also, the way he had feelings for June even though I thought he was meant to be some cold, hard, criminal was adorable... xD

June was cool too, though. I liked how she kept her head even after her brother was killed, and how she managed to keep control long enough to be able to find Day and capture him, without breaking down and falling apart. And later on in the book, her determination really was admirable; how she had to find out the truth about her brother's death, once it had become apparent that it wasn't all that it seemed.

The plot was fast paced and exciting, and it kept me glued to the pages. While I did correctly guess at quite a lot of the plot twists (which I was rather proud of) and it was quite predictable (nothing really surprised me at all) I still read for as long as I could at any given time to find out what would happen next because I couldn't leave Day and June in a tricky situation for too long without wondering how on earth they were going to get out of it. I just had to know.

Anyway, overall, Legend was a very strong debut novel from Marie Lu, and I am very much looking forward to the sequel. This is a great one for fans of YA dystopian fiction, and I think it'd be great for newcomers to the genre too. It comes out on Feb 2nd, and I strongly suggest you go out and buy yourself a copy as soon as you can, because it's a really great read!

*Thanks to Penguin for sending me this in exchange for an honest review! In no way has this affected my opinion of the book.

My Rating:

I give it 4 Feet!

Challenges:
2012 Debut Author Challenge
2012 ABC Reading Challenge - L