Prodigy by Marie Lu (Legend #2)

Title: Prodigy

Author: Marie Lu

Rating: 9/10

Can we all just appreciate my technology impaired brain that i've finally discovered how to put GIFs on the blog. YIPEEEE

so ya.. due to my excitement this review is likely to get a little over the top with GIFS. Anyway, back to the review..

Prodigy was definitely one of the best sequels to a book i've ever read :D In my opinion it made me mentally forgive the author for all the doubts and things i didn't like in Legend. It definitely exceeded all expectations i had for this book and for the rest of the Legend series :D

The first thing i loved in this book was the plot. Although i really enjoyed Legend i could kind of predict what was gonna happen throughout the book, but Prodigy defnitely threw me off guard in many scenes and i felt like the story was alot more complicated and unpredictable :D

Kaede was probably my favourite person in this book.. simply because she was soo unpredictable and i was constantly trying to figure out what she was thinking and if they could trust her. My liking for Day and June kept switching throughout the book. Sometimes i really liked Day and wanted to punch June and then sometimes it was the opposite. June's inability to express her feelings annoyed the hell out of me. I mean i understand some people find it hard to say how they feel but at some scenes i felt like grabbing June and screaming 'SERIOUSLY DUDE. The guy is pouring his heart out to you. Say something remotely normal back!'


And she even recognized her awkwardness!
“Idiotic reply, June. Why don't you punch him in the face while you're at it. I turn even more flustered when I remember that I have actually pistol-whipped him in the face before. Romantic” 

Aside from that..June was still the same awesome June from the first book. I loved the slow change towards her view of the Republic and how it wasn't just a 'oh-ya-don't-worry-i-hate-the-Republic-yes-lets-kill-everyone ' immediate change.  Day was little more vulnerable which was understandable after everything that happened at the end of Legend, but sometimes his anger towards the Republic was soo strong it clouded his judgement and made me appreciate June for being there to try and put some sense into him (regardless if it worked -_- ).
“The Republic's most wanted criminal is just a boy, sitting before me, suddenly vulnerable, laying all his weaknesses out for me to see.” 

 The whole love square ( I'd say it's more of a triangle but everyone's calling it a square so whatever ;P ) was interesting but it also made me realise the one thing i didn't like about this book- Tess. Ughhh Tess Tess Tess. She was soo annoying! I really didn't like her and thought most of the things she said and did in this book were really uncharacteristic of her. In Legend she seemed like a sweet girl but in Prodigy i pretty much wanted to slap her across the face every moment she was in.

Prodigy was an incredible sequel that definitely raises my hopes and dreams and excitement for the finale - Champion. The romance was really cute and realistic and the action was intense and awesome and really made me feel like i was watching a fast-paced thriller. It also left me with alot to think about.

“All it takes is one generation to brainwash a population and convince them that reality doesn't exist” 

As for the ending.. i will explain my reactions in the wonderful form of GIFs.

Legend by Marie Lu (Legend #1)

Title: Legend

Author: Marie Lu

Rating: 9/10

LEGEND! EEEEP! the truth is i read this last year waaay before we created this blog and i've wanted to review it for a while but now that i've read the second book to this series and remember the characters and all the amazing legend-ary(mwahah see what i did there?) awesomeness in this book, i feel now is the right time ^_^

So since trying to explain the plot to Legend is a little difficult.. I'm gonna be a bit lazy and just let you read the book's synopsis:
"What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. 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. "

The story is told from two POV's- Day and June, and the chapters alternate between them. The thing i liked about this was that you felt like you had a better angle of what was going on in each scene..and it was interesting to know what was going on in both of their lives before they met each other. At times it got a bit confusing since the two main characters were soo similar, in terms of the way they thought about situations, that sometimes I had to go back to the first page of each chapter to re-check who's POV it was. Having said that, they're personalities were different... and i loved both of them! June probably a little more than Day.. i mean who doesn't like a badass awesome female heroine who can fight like Jackie Chan XD I loved her character development throughout the story and that by the end of the book she became slightly softer and..more..gentle?ya maybe gentle is a good word for it. Day kind of reminded me of Flynn Rider from Disney's 'Tangled'..in a really strange twisted way :P the whole wanted-by-everyone-but-isn't-really-a-bad-guy thing probably made me think of him while reading it.

Not only Day and June, but i felt like every character in Legend was AMAAAAZING . Like literally, every single side character was so complex and clearly didn't just have a boring designated role given by the author which you can sometimes tell in some books.
*my thoughts when reading 'some books' :
' Ughhh he's gonna be the annoying guy that also likes her. uffff she's gonna end up being her best friend. I can feel it in my bones' *
I suprised myself by how sad i felt when June's brother died (i would usually say spoiler alert but it's in the synopsis so..yea ). You can tell an author is amazing when you cry for a character you're only introduced to for a very short time. I loved Kaede and Tess and just about everyone in the book =')

For me the best thing about this book was the action scenes! I'm not usually the type of reader thats big on action sequences in books since i sometimes find it hard to keep track of what's going on because of the way they're described.. but literally all the fight scenes and 'escape' moments were brilliant. Like brilliant enough for me to re-read  some of them because they're just exploding with pure awesomeness. Incase anyone is curious about my favourite moment in the entire book-it's when Day first sees June and her fight with Kaede.

The only thing that bothered me a teeny weeny bit about the book was the fact that i felt like you weren't told much about what was really going on with the whole plague issue. It was one of those books where your like hmm ok so that's the situation..but what are they actually doing it for, and where's the next book heading. Alot of people like to have that feeling of mystery and not have everything that's going to happen laid out for you right in the first book, and I'm also one of those people, but i just wish Marie Lu let us into her genius mind and gave a bit more information.

Aside from that, Legend was brilliant and definitely an amazing start to the trilogy. It's dangerously gripping, fast paced and.. as i can assure you now..has an epic sequel following it which will leave you panicking and in a scary hyperventilating zombie mood that will make you dream about the third book. No joke.

Here's some of my favourite quotes:

"I will hunt you down. I will scour the streets of Los Angeles for you. Search every street in the Republic if I have to. I will trick you and deceive you, lie, cheat and steal to find you, tempt you out of your hiding place, and chase you until you have nowhere else to run. I make you this promise: your life is mine.”

“My mother used to hope that I would rise up from my humble roots. Become someone sucessful, or even famous. I'm famous all right, but I don't think it's what she had in mind.”

"You sure you can make it by yourself?" she asks.
"I'll be fine." I smile. "If you see me floating unconscious out to sea,though-by all means,come and get me.”

I've also just discovered that Legend will be a movie! OMG ASDFJGFKLKLJGLSJ