Review: Champion by Marie Lu

Champion
by Marie Lu
Series: Legend #3
Published: 05 November 2013
Putnam Juvenile, Hardcover, 369 pages
Source: Purchased

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WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR FIRST 2 BOOKS.

He is a Legend.

She is a Prodigy.

Who will be Champion?

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps-Elect, while Day has been assigned a high-level military position.

But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them: just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything.

With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion.

Rating: ★★★★★

If you’re reading this, it means I’ve finally forced myself to sit down and write a review of Champion by Marie Lu. Why have I been dragging this? Once I’ve finished this review, it’ll feel like I’ve said an official goodbye to Day, June and the entire Legend trilogy. I might never get to really wax poetry on my love for this spectacular trilogy again (unless a movie adaptation is released). However, farewell is inevitable.

I’m unsure whether I’ve mentioned this before, but I simply adore Marie Lu’s simple and fast paced writing style. It complemented the action and suspense in Champion incredibly well and had me glued to every page. Before I continue with this review, I should probably share some of my reactions to the end of Prodigy and Champion‘s synopsis:

1. DAY IS DYING?! WHAT. MARIE LU. WHAT. IN. THIS. GODDY. DARN. WORLD. ARE. YOU. DOING. TO. OUR. HEARTS.
2. I knew there would be a plague outbreak sooner or later.
3. Oh, that beautiful cover. Let me grope it!

Now, I am obviously not a very sane person but at least I’m honest.

Moving on. Day and June had a prodigious amount of growth since Legend. They were chewed up by life then spit out in a mess over and over again but instead of letting that cripple them, they came back wiser than ever. Gone were the childlike naïveté they had at 15, in its place were 2 young adults forced to grow up too quickly. Having gone through their gruesome journey with them in the whole of the trilogy, Day and June have grown on me so much, as if they were my personal friends.

I remembered back when reading Legend, I had been a little iffy about the lack of information on the world outside of the Republic. Let me just say that in Champion, the believability of the rest of the world was unprecedented. Marie Lu’s concept of Antarctica and its capital city, Ross City, was absolutely fascinating! Moreover, the world politics involved were realistic yet not overly complicated. Basically, I simply revered the world building!

I’m going to avoid any sugarcoating and outright tell all of you that Champion was an extremely emotionally crippling book. The choices faced were impossible and heartbreaking and the stakes higher than ever. All the characters in Champion, not just Day and June, were so intricate and Marie Lu portrayed each of their pains in life beautifully. I could really tell how the events in the story affected everyone, no matter what social class or where their allegiances laid.

Regarding the very end of the book, it’s hard for me to rationally express my feelings about it but I will try. I died but I survived (in a way). My heart was shattered then pieced back together all wrongly. Oh, and my eyes were leaking like problematic faucets. Leaking is actually a severe understatement. Despite it crushing me, I utterly loved the way Marie Lu ended the trilogy. You simply know an ending is perfect when you can’t imagination anything better. I completely understood and admired June and the decision she made towards the end. It was painful but selfless and I’m not sure if I would have the strength to do that had I been in her place.

Overall, I just want to wrap this trilogy up in a pretty package, lock it in a private compartment in my heart and throw away the key. Though I think I might’ve already done that… Endearing, action packed, intense and heartrending, there’s no way I wouldn’t be recommending this trilogy to everyone I know! And now I guess it’s time to say goodbye. Before I end this off, I would just like to say a huge thank you to Marie Lu for sharing Day and June’s phenomenal journey with all of us readers and I would not ever forget them nor this awe-inspiring trilogy.

Adelena