Marie Lu Legend Reflective Statement

Are you tired of all the dystopian books that have seemed to fill up shelves around the world? Many people are. However the book, Legend, by Marie Lu, falls right under this new trend and for the most part was very enjoyable as it has an interesting setting. This book takes place in the west of a very dystopian United States of America. In this future the west is ruled by an organization called the Republic. The Republic is a totalitarian group that controls nearly every aspect of everybody's lives. Many slums have arose in the west and you are either part of the higher class or you live in one of these slums. This is where are main characters come in. This book is told from the perspective of two different characters Day and June. Day is a wanted street criminal from the streets of a a slum like Los Angeles,
The setting of a dystopian California was extremely interesting, it made me wonder how my home state could get this way. It also hinted on the status of other places in the United States and it was a great mystery not really knowing how things out of the Republic's zone of influence were doing. The characters were another strong point in this book. Seeing both sides of the character's views was really interesting and entertaining. You really got to see the world through the eyes of an oppressed outlaw who was trying to save his brother, and you got to see the world through a vengeful military prodigy who just wants to find her brother's killer. This book definitely passed my expectations. I honestly was not expecting much from just another dystopian young adult novel but having it being set in a California that looks much different from my own and getting to see two different perspectives really won me over. Legend is not perfect however, there were a couple out of character moments and one romantic relationship that in my opinion seemed extremely forced at