Legend by Marie Lu

OK, so far so good, def blogging more than last year. I joined the goodreads 2012 reading challenge and I've set my goal for 100 books this year. Thus far I have read 4 and I am on book number 5. I have also decided that I will blog about all the books that I have read so in theory this means at least 100 posts this year, we'll see how this goes. Anyway onto today's book which actually came out last year. When I read the plat summary for it, I felt like it was an ehh book, but I was going to read it because it was dystopia and I love me some dystopia. After reading it I can still say that it was an ehh book, though not as ehhh as I thought it would be if that makes any sense? So now onto the review.

The book is told through the alternating viewpoints of the two main characters, Day and June. June is the prodigy of the country. She is the only kid to score a perfect score on her Trial (think of it like an SAT and an aptitude test for 10 year olds) The higher the score the better your placement in school and then the better the job you get after you finish. Day is the most wanted criminal in the country. He failed his trial (or so he thinks) and then escapes after being experimented on and lives on the streets acting as a modern day Robin Hood, stealing money and plague cures from the wealthy, destroying republic battleships, and other general acts of vandalism. The story starts off with Day seeing his family that he left behind for his life on the streets being quarantined because his youngest brother has developed the plague. Day then endevors to break into the hosptial to steal the cure for him. This is where the plan goes awry, there are no plagu cures, only suppressents. While Day is making his daring escape, he meets June's brother Metais, whom he injures in his attempt to get away. Later we find out that he has died and its made to look like Day has killed him, when in all actuality this isn't true. And there are plots afoot and big government coverups, like any dystopia.

Much of the story takes place on the streets of the poor sector where June is trying to track down Day for her brother's murder, then once Day is captured in the military base and through flashbacks, done by both characters. While I admit that the flashbacks are important, the book moved a little slowly becasue of it. While June is trying to get to the bottom of the murder and the coverups, she begins to believe Day and starts to fall for him. The two begin to work together, and try to figure out the mysteries, all the while Day is on death row and June is trying to figure out a way to break him out.

Personally I think that the world could have been developed a little better. All we know is that the United States doesn't exisit anymore. The Republic that is left is at war with the rebels in the colonies, but that is all we really know about the outside world. I am hoping that the rebel and the colonies are better developed in the next book since it feels that the way this first one left off that that is where our hero and heroine are heading. So my overall review is that the book/series/triology shows some promise but ultimately it is not the next Hunger Games.