Legend

April 21, 2012

I finally was able to finish a book this month. I got through Legend by Marie Lu.

However, the title of the book does not fit the story. This story was not legendary. It didn't hold my interest much. It was easy to set this book down for long periods of time.

The ideas in this book were just a bit to far out there to believe, but I'll get to that in a minute. This story rotates between two points of view, Day and June. Both are 15 years old living in the Republic, which is where California is at. The Republic is in an on going war with the Colonies, which is on the Eastern sea board and reaches to part of Texas, northward to Montana and the Dakotas. There isn't much back ground on how this war started or what happened to America. The Republic is presented as a rich society that is lead by a military stand point and the Colonies are just some back woods people.

In the Republic, children are tested at age 10 on their physical abilities and their intelligence. The best are moved on to the most prestigious schools and put in top commands. It works its way down the line till you come to the kids who fail and these kids are signed over to the Republic by the parents, by law for the children to be sent off to labor camps....or so the story goes.

At 15 June, was a genius and had passed her test at 10 with the highest score in the Republic. She was moved to a top school and was about to graduate college at 15. However, she is rebellious and is always getting in trouble at her school. Her older brother who is a Captain in the Republic is raising her since their parents are dead. Soon after being brought home by her brother for a break from school, he is killed on a mission and June sets out to find his killer. She is called up by her brother commander and put in a high position in her squad to hunt the killer down.

Day is another 15 year old kid, however he didn't grow up with the privilege June had. He hadn't passed his tests at 10 and was shipped off only to run away and he now lives on the streets and is the Republic's number 1 enemy in their territory.

Ok, I'm going to stop here for a minute. I might have been more into the story if their ages had been more realistic, but in my mind, 15 is not the age that these kids could have done anything. Smart or not, if they were 18 or 19, maybe, but not 15. Adults relying on a 15 year old to lead a group of soldiers just wasn't plausible to me and she was never assigned a rank, even through she was "high ranking".

The story played out in the textbook fashion. Boy and girl from opposite sides meet, get to know each other, like each other, then secret is reveled, then one doesn't like the other and the anger shows in both of them toward each other. They then reconcile and help each other out and refuse to separate ever again.

This book just didn't hold my attention. It just added to the reading funk I'm in right now. I say it's not to read!

2 comments

  1. Yes! Matched was so much better and Reached comes out this year.

    ReplyDelete

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