‘Legend’ (Legend #1) by Marie Lu

Day and June are living in the Republic which is split into districts with the poor and the rich. The whole system with the poor and rich, together with Day and June who slowly finds out the Republic’s secrets, seemed to be the perfect setup for a book but ‘Legend’ did not live up to my expatiations.

by Stine

June is born into the wealthiest district of the Republic and Day is born into the slums of the Republic. The Republic is in war with its neighbour the Colonies. So because June got a perfect score in the Trial, which everyone has to take, she is trained to be in the highest rank of the military. Meanwhile, Day is not like any other boy. He is the nation’s most-wanted criminal and he kind of hate the Republic and he often rebel against the government but at the same time he wants to help his poor family out.

June’s brother, Metias, get murdered and Day become the main suspect. June now get the opportunity to find Day and get revenge for her beloved brother while Day is working to make his family survive the plague. However, when June finds Day everything changes and they find out the truth about what actually has brought them together and that their country got more secrets than expected.

Prolonged and missing action

While reading `Legend´ I often felt like it was prolonged. June could be walking around looking for Day, which is fair enough to write about, but then I got told that June did not even expect to see Day and she pretty much just walked around without any intention, and then I do not get it because why would you leave a scene in a book that is not relevant? Therefore, I missed more of something relevant for the story to happen. I got bored while reading this book and I did not feel the need to continue reading because I missed action and development in the story.

Too mature narrators

In this book, there was two narrators, which are June and Day. I had some major problems with these two narrators because first of all they are too young. In the book, it said that they are both 15 years old but every time I read that, I simply did not believe it. I was so sure that it must have been a typo or something because they had a way of thinking that was too logical for their age and they never did anything wrong; they were too perfect and seemed too mature for their age. June got a perfect score in her Trial, which I did not question because she is the protagonist and is allowed to be lifted a bit over the general people in the book but together with her age and perfectness it seemed weird to me and I did not believe that she was real. As well I never felt with either June or Day because even though the book was written with a first person narrator I felt like I only saw their surface and I never got to know them deep down and there was too much focus on them being perfect.

Fantastic world

I liked how the world in `Legend´ was with the divided population and a system controlling everyone sounded, and it was one of the few things that worked. I have always loved these books with a system there is controlling more than expected like in `The Hunger Games´ and `Divergent´ and this book had the perfect set up as well with the sectors where there is the plague ruining the life of the poorest and the wealthiest are living a life without any knowledge about what happens outside their door. It was one of the reasons why I read `Legend´ to an end because I was drawn into the world and was quite fascinated of it.

Excerpt from ‘Legend’

My mother thinks I’m dead.
Obviously I’m not dead, but it’s safer for her to think so.
At least twice a month, I see my Wanted poster flashed on the JumboTrons scattered throughout downtown Los Angeles. It looks out of place up there. Most of the pictures on the screens are happy things: smiling children standing under a bright blue sky, tourists posing before the Golden Gate Ruins, Republic commercials in neon colors. There’s also anti-Colonies propaganda. “The Colonies want our land,” the ads declare. “They want what they don’t have. Don’t let them conquer your homes! Support the cause!”
Then there’s my criminal report. It lights up on JumboTrons in all its multicolored glory.

Loved the world but nothing else

Before I read `Legend´ I had heard people rave about it and because of the whole world with the leaders of the country and the division of the population, it sounded perfect to me just like the chocolate brownie cake I bake as often as I am allowed. Therefore, I thought this book had a lot of potential and my expatiations were high. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expatiations because of a predictable plot and too perfect characters. And what I thought would be a great book for me to read, ended up being a book I only got through because of the world.
Even though I am fascinated of the world and system in `Legend´ I will not read `Prodigy´ which is the next book in the trilogy, because I am not appealed to it and I am too afraid that it will be prolonged as well. As well I do not believe that Day and June can change enough for me to start liking them and if they started not being so perfect it would also be weird because I cannot imagine people make that major changes in such a short time.