Prodigy

Missing

June Iparis

Agent, Los Angeles City Patrol,

15, Female, 5 FT 4 IN. 

350,000 Republic notes reward.

 

If seen, report immediately to your local official.

 

That's what the republic wants their people to think.  That I'm missing.  What they don't say is they want me dead.  I helped Day, the country's most notorious criminal, escape his execution, aided the rebel patriots in a staged uprising and turned my back on the republic.

 

But I won't turn my back on Day...

I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't as obsessed with Marie Lu's first dystopian novel Legend as other bloggers seemed to be.  While I thought there was plenty of good stuff in there, I was totally anti a June and Day romance.  Why couldn't they just admire each others abilities and similarities and then build up to the smoocholas in either the second or third book in the trilogy? 

However, the coupling that I hated in the first book become a strength in Prodigy.  Lu provided of a sense of who these characters are, and consistently showed me why I should be rooting for a Day/June relationship.  Prodigy has so much to love (including the fact that Lu isn't afraid to kill off her characters, as I like it when peril actually means peril) and I couldn't put the book down; a complete contrast to my experience of when I was reading Legend. 

With Prodigy, Lu successfully expanded her damaged world, that has been ravaged by the effects of global warming, beyond the Republic.  I don't want to be too spoilery, but the contrast between the Republic and the Colonies is rather interesting. I hope that the dichotomy between the two is explored further in the next book. 

My one criticism is that I guessed some of the plot twists early on.  This explains why, when Day and June finally figured that there were shenanigans taking place, I was all Dennis Duffy from 30 Rock, actually shouting, "FINALLY DUMMIES!" 

So how does the Legend series progress?  And how does Lu even begin to wrap up her trilogy in a satisfying way?  We'll have to wait until next year when Champion is released.  Is it wrong that I am hoping for a they all die at the end scenario?

Legend

Los Angeles, California, Republic of America.

He is Day, the boy who walks in the light.

She is June, the girl who seeks her brother's killer.

On the run and undercover, they meet by chance.  Irresistibly drawn together neither knows the other's past.  But Day murdered June's brother and she has sworn to avenge his death...

I saw Legend on so many TTT lists last year that I had to know what all the fuss was about.

While I enjoyed Marie Lu's dystopian tale, I could have done without the smoochies.  It just read like this: "Oh I find you attractive, now I must save youuuuu!".  I know I'm a grinch, but Lu had developed more than enough to bind Day and June together.  Without the romance there would have been a far more interesting dynamic between the two of them and how they represent the same ideals whilst having completely different backgrounds.

Other than that one disappointment, I was astounded and fascinated with the world that Lu had created.  Maybe I haven't had my share of Dystopian novels yet, so I'm still pretty amazed that writers can come up with all these different post-apocalyptic situations.  I'm not surprised that the film rights have already been snapped up.

I'm still interested to see how Lu will develop her characters, and expand the world outside the Republic, when book two in the planned trilogy, Prodigy, is released at the end of the month.