'What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbours. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.
'From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.'
YA books love a good dystopia, something that represents the injustices and hateful ways of our world, usually pushed to an extreme for the heroes to fight against. Whilst Legend by Marie Lu isn't new in giving readers a dystopian regime to rage against, it might be one of the few that takes such a deep look at the inner workings of one.
Set in a future where the US no longer exists, and the Republic now stands where California once was, the story follows two teenage protagonists. Day is a criminal of the state, an enemy to the oppressive government and the military regime they run. June is one of these people, brought up to believe in the Republic, she's been trained to be one of the best operatives the military has to offer.
Normally this kind of book would just focus on the character that's on the outside, fighting against the powers that be, possibly starting off as a regular citizen at the start of the book and learning to rise up against those in charge. But Legend splits its focus, allowing the reader to see not only how the Republic works, but shows how even a very smart person can be suckered into their way of thinking and become one of them.
We see throughout the book that June is a smart young woman, incredibly so. She is able to look at minor details and make quick, clever deductions (she made me think of Sherlock Holmes at times). She's so smart that her education and training are fast tracked, she stands out amongst both her peers and her superiors, yet she buys into the Republic.
As outsiders looking in we can clearly see that the Republic are bad. The poor are treated as less than human, children that are deemed not good enough are sent to work camps, and aesthetically they're very fascist looking. It should be obvious to all involved that they're the bad guys. But, like any real world fascist state there are people who buy into to, who work for them and believe in the system. It's comforting to think that anyone who works for a fascist state must be evil, that some moral failing is the reason why they side with the villains, but Legend shows that this kind of thing is a bit more complex.
Yes, there are some out and out villains in the book, characters that seem good to begin with, but over the course of the book we see that they have a taste for violence and no conscience; but that's not true for everyone. June, and her brother Metias, show readers this. Good, honest people who genuinely believe that they're doing good, and when they learn that they're on the wrong side do something to change that.
The relationship between her and Day is probably the most important one in the book, even more so than the relationship between June and her brother, which sets her on the road to confronting Day. Day is the person that helps to open June's eyes, to show her that there's something rotten in the core of the Republic. The way that June slowly comes around to seeing the truth is one of the more enjoyable parts of the book, and I honestly wasn't sure just how far she'd come within the events of the book. Would she go full renegade, of would she just begin to doubt the system she'd lived inside of her whole life?
The only part of the relationship that I wasn't completely sure about was the love story that developed between them. I know that this is a YA series, and enemies to lovers is a big thing in the genre, but this aspect of their relationship developed much more than I was expecting. I think I was expecting a kind of respect and friendship to begin here, with romance being explored further in the rest of the series. This is just a personal thing though, and the romantic subplot isn't a huge part of the story.
Marie Lu set up a lot of interesting things in this first book, and there are plenty of mysteries left over for loads to be explored in the next book. I'm not sure where June and Day are going in the next book, but I'm interested to find out, and to see what they'll do to take on this powerful enemy.
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