Legend

Legend by Marie Lu

I have read approximately 32 books this summer. Yes, a lot to some and not so much to others. It is fascinating to look back at them. I have had a very loooooooong summer if I look at the books I have read. Otherwise, it felt short – much too short. I enjoyed many, many of those books. I look at a few of the titles and I wonder why I wasted my summer with them when I could have been reading more of the wonderful books I have found. But here is really the best book I read this summer! Legend.

Sometimes, one just knows. A co-worker passed this title along to me. A trusted friend and reader had stopped by the library and insisted that we all read it. I wasn’t at work that day and so I still do not know to whom I owe my gratitude. Even so, I was hesitant to jump onto this bandwagon. I hadn’t heard about it. I hadn’t read about it. We didn’t own it. Not many libraries did own it. And the request list numbered zero. Hmmmm. I tried to forget about it. I tried to put it off. I already have too many other books to read. But it nagged at my mind. I kept checking in on it, reading about it, wondering about it. And then I did it. I broke down and ordered it. Sometimes I do make good choices!

If you know me at all, you can already guess that this must be dystopian literature. And you are right. Set sometime in the not so distant future, The United States of America is no longer a country and the remnants of it are at war with one another. The causes of the current state of affairs are not entirely laid out, but there are hints. My best guess is that global warming melted the ice caps and the oceans have risen significantly. Both, all?, coasts have lost land to the sea, but apparently the East Coast has suffered more. The novel is set on the West Coast where a new government has formed called the Republic. The Republic is at war with the Colonies, or East Coast, because the Colonies are in desperate need of the land and seek to take it back by any means necessary.

In the Republic, all children, at the age of ten, are required to submit themselves to the government for testing. It is called the Trials and it consists of a written test, a physical test and an interview. The children’s overall scores determine their future. If they score high, they are educated and groomed for the military. If they merely pass, they can finish their basic schooling and then enter the workforce. If they fail, they are sent to distant labor camps.

June comes from a wealthy, educated, military family. She is a prodigy – the only child to score a perfect 1500 on the Trials. At fifteen, she is on the cusp of college-graduation and is ready to join the military as an agency officer. June is graduated early when a high-ranking, Republic Captain is killed by a notorious and most-wanted criminal. The Captain is June’s brother, Metias.

The criminal is fifteen-year-old Day. Day is June’s opposite. He comes from an impoverished, working class family. He failed the Trials and should have been sent to a labor camp – except there are no labor camps. Failures are terminated. Day should have been dead. Even his mother believes him to be dead. Instead, he terrorizes the military that tried to kill him and he steals from the rich to support this career. More importantly, he does all that he can to protect his family from hunger and plague.

June’s military superiors give her the job of finding, trapping and bringing in the illusive Day. June is a skilled tracker, but she also has vengeance in mind. She should be unstoppable. Unfortunately, she gets hurt while undercover. Fortunately, a knight in shining armor rescues her. And is it any surprise that the knight is Day himself.

The romance is a trifle contrived, but the suspense more than makes up for it. I was nearly always on the edge of my seat and really couldn’t see how it would all work out – at least for now. I am itching for the sequel, Prodigy, should arrive in January of 2013. And there are plenty of questions left unanswered as well as hints to secrets to be uncovered. Recommended to junior and senior high. They’ve already started asking. YEA!!