Book Review: Prodigy (Legend, #2) by Marie Lu

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BOOK review

Started on: 15.May.2015
Finished on: 20.May.2015

Prodigy (Legend, #2) by Marie Lu

Title : Prodigy (Legend, #2)
Author : Marie Lu

Publisher : Speak
Pages :  371 pages
Year of Publication : 2014

Price : $10.88 (www.bookdepository.com/)

Rating: 5/5
*for those who haven't read the furst book, this review may contain spoiler.
Review for Legend (Legend, #1) by Marie Lu here.  

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"The world outside of the Republic isn't perfect, but freedoms and opportunities do exist out there, and all we need to do is let that light shine into the Republic itself. Our country is on the brink—all it needs now is a hand to tip it over."

After escaping from the Batalla Hall, Day and June are currently escaping to Las Vegas to make contact with the Patriots—who helped their escape. On their way, both of them discovered the death of the late Elector Primo. And automatically, the late Elector Primo's son, Anden Stravropoulos, will be taking his place. When Day and June finally meet up with the Patriots, they received an offer. In exchange for fixing Day's leg and finding Eden—Day's younger brother, Day and June will have to help the Patriots accomplish their mission. And that mission will be to assassinate to new Elector.

"I want to run. To do what I always do, have always done, for the last five years of my life. Escape, flee into the shadows. But this time, I stand my ground. I'm tired of running."

The Patriots declared that the death of the new Elector will spark a revolution for the Republic. June is assigned to gain Anden's trust, while Day will stay with the Patriots to complete the mission. However, when June started to discover something else about Anden, she became hesitant about the whole mission led by Razor—the Patriots' leader. Through Anden, June found out the history behind how the Republic became what it is today. And she realized that Anden might not be the same person as his father. So June is forced to make a quick decision; whether to stick with the plan or betray the Patriots.

"By assassinating him, they claimed, we'd be stoking the fires of a revolution that would free us from the Republic. That we could bring back the glory of the old United States. But what does that mean, really? What will the United States have that Anden can't give the Republic? Freedom? Peace? Prosperity? Will the Republic become a country full of beautifully lit skyscrapers and clean, wealthy sectors?"

image source: here. edited by me.

I LOVE how the story progressed so far. So many things have changed since the first book, more secrets are revealed, and I literally don't know who to trust. I really enjoyed all the crazy twist and unexpected situations that happened throughout the book. The story is still written from Day and June's perspective as they went on separate missions given by the Patriots. And it's very nerve-racking because when June discovered something and is planning to change her mind, it was very difficult for her to tell Day about it. It's even more frustrating when Day is trying to figure out the signals that June gave to him. Ugh. This book gave me so much FEELS. I can never predict what's going to happen next and that made everything feel so intense. We also get to finally see the Colonies, that have a system which I'm quite confused about. I'm not sure if the Colonies will make another appearance in the third and final book, but I hope they do. The part that hits me the hardest in this book is, obviously, the ending. My mouth was literally hanging open when 'something' about Day was revealed. For those who've read the book might know what I'm talking about, but I definitely won't spoil it for those of you who haven't read this trilogy. And because of that shocking discovery about Day, I have no idea what to expect from the third book, Champion. But hopefully it'll be good. Please don't disappoint me, Marie Lu.

"Do you remember when I trusted you, even though everything I'd ever known told me that you were an enemy? I gave you the benefit of the doubt, and I sacrificed everything for what I believed."

I did say in my review for Legend that I wasn't very fond of the romance between Day and June. But thankfully I'm starting to warm up to the idea of it. Their feelings are explored a lot deeper in this book; they bond through their families' death and have sacrificed for each other a lot. The two of them also came to a disagreement when Day could not understand June's decision; and thus Day brought up June's wealthy background in which she never had to suffer her whole life. I cannot blame any of the two because Day had his own reasons for feeling that way, and June also had her own thinking. And I really like that about their interaction, because it made everything feel a lot more realistic and relatable for me.

I was like....

and then suddenly...

There are so many shady characters in this book; which is the reason why I had trust issues with most of them. After the Elector Primo's death, Anden Stravropoulos (the late Elector's son) took his place. Even until I finished reading this book, I'm still unsure whether to trust this character or not. Because I don't know why, he seems really shady to me :1 Or I'm just being paranoid. I'm not sure. Anyways, Anden revealed a lot of important things related to the history of the Republic—and what his father, the late Elector Primo did. All the craziness that's been happening since the first book made a lot more sense now. And I really like how this reflects the political issues in real life nowadays; in which we question whether the country leader's decision is right or wrong, because everything was done for a reason.

Thankfully, Thomas doesn't show up much in this book. But he did reveal something extremely shocking and definitely caught me by surprise. He explained the story behind Metias' death from his perspective; what happened before that and his own reasoning. I don't really care much about Thomas, but this revelation gives a lot more depth to his character. I won't describe in detail what shocked me the most from Thomas' story, but I certainly needed to read it twice before saying, "wait, what?!".

"I'm not loyal anymore. Am I still loyal? I am right here in the Republic's capital, helping the Patriots assassinate the new Elector. A man I once pledged my allegiance to. I am going to kill him, and then I'm going to run away.... I'm distracted, consumed with the conflict of needing to make things right with Day, but hating to leave the Republic at the mercy of the Patriots."

I love how much the story progressed in the second book; a lot of things are explained and most of the questions I had from the first book are answered. I love the characters development and how each characters are conflicting with themselves, doubting their decisions—pondering over which one is the right thing to do. I really enjoyed all the twist and turns in the story and I literally cannot stop reading. All that's left now is the third and final book for me to read. Like I said earlier, I don't know what to expect from it, but I'm hoping that it'll be awesome :))

by.stefaniesugia♥ .