ByMarlida

It’s so strange to write this, but February 25th I started this journey through the Republic and through June Iparis’ and Daniel Wing’s lives. I had no idea what I was starting, that I was going to fall in love all over again in this small trilogy by an author I had never heard of. These books touched so many parts of my body, mind and soul that I am simply out of words. So bare with me..

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps-Elect, while Day has been assigned a high-level military position. But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them: just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything.

In Legend I grew interested in both June and Day/Daniel, but there was something kind of drawing me in two completely different directions. Did I root for Day or June? I fell in love with Metias, a character I really connected to - a character I actually found myself in. Was it just the part of being an older sibling, wanting the best for your younger siblings? Because I found that in Day too - but Metias surprised me, and all though his appearance in this trilogy was short and cut away far too early, we also found him in both Prodigy and Champion. He was June’s rock, the rock she kept on leaning on for help.

In Prodigy I fell in love with Day, a boy who to me sometimes appealed to a somewhat young girl’s heart. But I also fell in love with June, a girl who grew so much before me, that I felt as if she was slipping from my fingers. So when I started Champion, I was scared, scared to let go of my characters, scared of letting go of Eden, Tess, Anden, even Thomas.

These books are amazing, the way Marie Lu leaves out some of the descriptions for us to decide. The way she actually makes me cry for a dog named Ollie, and the way she makes me laugh at the same time when his tale shakes. She makes me reflect on whether or not I have to root for one person, when these books are about so much more than just the characters themselves. I rooted for the Republic, I rooted for a beautiful ending to this beautiful trilogy, and by the end of the last pages I found myself crying. Not just because it was over, but also because it was so beautiful. The last two sentences just made it worth the while. And now, about fifteen minutes after finishing this trilogy, I think about the possibility that Day and June lives in me as a reader.

In 1029 pages, in 26 days, in 3 books, I have found a piece of courage, a piece of emotion, and a piece of excitement that I never thought I would ever find again.

★★★★★

While reading a Trilogy I feel like you’re always thinking; what’s happening next? Where is this going to go? After reading “Legend” which was the first book in this Trilogy, I felt so excited. First of all, the book ends so strangely and scary. In fact, I actually sat in my sofa looking at “Prodigy” the second book standing in the bookshelf, trying to resist it. It took me four hours of consistent saying “no” to myself over and over again. But it was totally worth starting on it.

The book is exciting, not only because we still follow June and Day through their struggles in the Republic, but we also learn big changes in the Republic. They are met by the Patriots, which are an activist group lead by Razor, a man who seems a little… strange? Day and June join them, only to find out that they’re not who they say they were.

In this book, I actually felt as if I was always waiting to come back to June’s voice in the book, I almost jumped Day’s chapters because I was starting to get angry with him. (I didn’t though) I guess that in this book we get to know more about the Patriots, the Republic and the Colonies, we also get to know the Elector of the Republic a little better - and it get’s really exciting towards the end. And all I can think about is: WHAT IS THE THIRD BOOK GOING TO BE ABOUT?!

Marie Lu has definitely become one of my favorite fantasy-writers, she’s excellent at leaving out the parts we don’t need to know, and include the important stuff. I don’t feel like I constantly are getting bored because I like interactions more than descriptions of the areas they’re in. Of course it’s important, how are we going to fantasize about the places our characters are without a description? But what I learned from reading especially “Jane Eyre” is that I hate reading through pages on pages about the red curtains and the rugs and the bedroom floors. It’s not important. So, this book is like the complete opposite. We get to make up our own vision, because it’s not all listed. Which is great.

People compare these books to Divergent and Hunger Games, and let’s be honest; The Dystopian genre is incredibly hot right now. It’s similar, I mean. You have the typical dystopian society; America. It’s always America. And then, we have a girl or a boy who’s kind of poor, they have tough skin, and another one who’s more inside of the government. The first one is Katniss, Tris and in this case Day from Prodigy. The other one is Peeta, Four and June from Prodigy. In Hunger Games we have the second guy, Gale, in Prodigy we have the second guy, Anden. So yeah, we have the bad guys, President Snow, Jeanine Matthews and Razor. So, yeah, they’re pretty much the same, but the thing is - they’re so different. I place this on the same “shelf” as the Hunger Games, because I think that if they ever made this into movies, they would beat the crap out of Hunger Games, but they’re a notch under Divergent, because nothing will ever beat Divergent in this genre.

I hope I didn't shoot myself in the leg there, but you get the picture. Now, go buy the books and read them.

★★★★☆

ByMarlida

Champion by Marie Lu

Prodigy by Marie Lu