'Legend' by Marie Lu

Legend, Marie Lu (3.5)

I have a series of young adult dystopian novels on my ‘to read’ list. This is partly research for my book and partly due to the popularity of the genre. They all seem to incorporate the standard common man against the dystopian ‘society’ that was best known in ‘1984’ and more recently made famous in ‘The Hunger Games’. As a Young Adult novel, the major characters tend to be ones of that same age.  ‘Legend’ is told from the point of view of two seemingly different 15 year olds. One is an outcast from the poorest area who failed the standard test of the society; the other scored the only perfect score on the test. She is from a high-ranking family and is a prodigy at the military academy. The story follows these two as their stories intersect. This unfolds as the consequences of an income divided society and a military run government are exposed. I liked that this story was not completely predictable and that it is very family focused. My main complaint is that the characters are a bit too perfect and that the love story is the one obvious story line. Did June need to moon over Day’s eyes right from the start? One of the great aspects of ‘The Hunger Games’ was the focus on family and survival for Katniss – she even manipulated the love triangle with those in mind. It made the story more complicated and interesting. I look forward to seeing if the rest of this trilogy becomes more complex.