Legend

Remember your fifth grade history class when you studied the Civil War and learned that the United States was split into two? Something like that seemed impossible. America should have been too huge and powerful. America should have been indestructible. 

In Legend, futuristic America has also been divided into two countries: the Republic and the Colonies. Both have been at war with one another for years after political chaos and floods shrunk the size of the United States considerably. 

In step our two characters. First, there is Day, a fifteen-year-old boy with the reputation of being the most wanted criminal in the Republic. Next, there is June, a fifteen-year-old girl famous for being the only individual to pass a national test with a perfect score.

Recruited by the government, it is June's task to catch Day. But she wants more than that.

June wants revenge.

Inspired by the relationship between Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, Marie Lu has the absolute perfect set up in this book. As she alternates chapters between Day's and June's perspective, the reader is taken effortlessly into a world that has changed dramatically from the one they know now. I loved how the details of Lu's world were incorporated gradually and naturally, the flashbacks adding depth to the characters. 

In short, I was blown away by this book. It was genius! Genius, I tell you! Now, skedaddle, won't you? Go read it for yourself!

Appropriate for ages 15+