Review: Prodigy by Marie Lu

Prodigy
by Marie Lu
Series: Legend #2
Publication Date: 29 January 2013
Putnam Juvenile, Hardcover, 371 pages
Source: Library

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WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR LEGEND.

June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action.

Rating: ★★★★★

After reading Prodigy, Marie Lu is inarguably one of the best YA authors I’ve come across (meaning I desperately want to meet her) . Prodigy was impossibly even better than Legend, every moment so real I just fell headfirst into the world of June and Day. I was pleasantly surprised that all the characters had so much depth and I could picture them all as real, actual people. Basically, Prodigy completely swept me off to its dystopian future.

June and Day’s relationship faced many difficulties in this book as they were separated. Although all the doubts coming between them had me bleeding on the inside, I understood why said doubts appeared in the first place. They came from such different background and it was bound to cause problems sooner or later. Moreover, they’re only fifteen/sixteen (my age) so it was really relatable.

However, the one problem I did have, was that June and Day seemed a little too young for the intensity of their relationship. One way of looking at it is that they are way beyond their years, but this age issue still bothers me a little, being sixteen myself. The great things about this book though, far outweighs this little drawback.

I found June’s dependence on being analytic to prevent nerves utterly endearing and it completely sets her apart from other characters. I cannot reiterate enough how much I admire her prodigious (pun totally intended!) skills and downright genius brain. Although said genius brain wasn’t so genius when it came to figuring Day out. Her conflicting feelings about assassinating Anden was utterly justifiable because she’s been raised to protect the Elector her whole life. We can’t begrudge her inability to ditch a life-long instinct in the blink of an eye.

As for Day, although he too wasn’t wholeheartedly for killing Anden, his anger at the The Republic for ruining his family and using his younger brother, Eden, as a guinea pig, overshadowed sensibility. I didn’t mind his lack of rationale thinking (much) though because he is after all, just a teenage boy, albeit one that has gone through much more than your average teen boy. Regarding Day and Tess’s… friendship? Or one-sided relationship? I knew Tess had feelings for Day and disliked June since Legend. However, I couldn’t bring myself to hate her as we all know jealousy can do ugly things to good people.

Touching a little on the other characters (because they all deserve some recognition), Kaede is my favourite sub-character, although definitely not from the start. Her fire and strength was wholly admirable and no matter how annoyingly jaded she might seem at first, I realised that she was just a girl trying to find her place in this world. I could say the same for Anden and that I knew he was a good person from the start! Yet, I am hands down a Day & June shipper. DAY AND JUNE FOREVER!!!

Please excuse my nutty fangirling. :)

Anyway, I’m keeping my lips sealed about (mostly) everything concerning the conclusion of Prodigy. Trust me when I say you’ll want to go into it blind. I didn’t but it still crushed me anyway. Prodigy has me drooling for Champion, the third and last installment. Thankfully, that’ll just be a 6 month wait until 4th November 2013 (very short compared to the usual YA books that take a year or more). If you’re planning on reading this, note that you should be equipped with a box of tissue and stay away from public places in the second half of the book. Happy (or, uh, weepy?) reading!