2/17/13

Legend by Marie Lu

I find myself in this position all too often: I find a book that has received great reviews, and when I am finally able to read it, I sit down and engulf it all in a minimal amount of sittings. When I'm done, I have to try very hard to pull myself out of that cocoon I have been enveloped in for the last hour or so. It tends to be a difficult thing to do, and sometimes I feel as if I'll wander around aimlessly for days. Luckily, I usually have another book waiting for it's chance on the floor beside my bed, and the tiresome cycle starts itself again.
As you may have guessed by now, I recently (as in 10 minutes ago) pulled myself out of bed with two new names on my mind: Day and June. Day, the ruthless criminal who "failed" his Trial. June, the faithful agent of the Republic, the one person to have ever gotten a perfect score on her test. I can guarantee you now that their story will be ricocheting around in my head for the rest of the day, maybe longer. This book is going to stick in my mind for days to come, and may I just say, I ship Jay. Or Dune. Or however the fandom has decided to spell it.
Anyway, I love the book, and the characters, and the plot. It was intensely fascinating to me, constantly finding me on the edge of my seat. (Not literally of course. I was on a bed.) I love it when you discover secrets about a somewhat okay government that make it all seem so backwards. I guess the rest of the world does too, because distopian novels have seemingly overthrown undead romances in the fictional scheme lately. (Although the recent release-- and popularity-- of the film Warm Bodies leads me to believe otherwise.) In book series like Divergent and Matched, the government seems fine-- at first. Not to give away any major spoilers, but in Reached when you find out about the plague... delicious. I guess that's how it is in Legend, too, with the secrets about the plague spilling out through certain genius characters' "mad searching skills" and supreme amounts of logic (two things I myself have, by the way). The whole thing drips of girl genius and daring escapades, two things I LOVE. If a book has those, it's a good one. It might not be a favorite one, and they aren't the only qualities I would enjoy, but it's a good one.
Overall, Legend is definitely a new personal favorite, and I will be reserving Prodigy ASAP, mark my words.