Title:  Prodigy
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher/Year: Penguin Young Readers Group 1/29/13
Length:  384 pages
Series: Legend Series #2

Overview

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?

My Thoughts

At long last, and you all can’t possibly imagine my level of anticipation on this one, the second installment of the Legend series has finally arrived.  What’s even worse is that life got in the way over the past week so it took me several days to read vs. the 1-2 that it would usually take for a book that i’m this excited about.

All that being said, Marie Lu hasn’t disappointed and the story was amazingly well written and really held my interest.

We are brought up to speed while on a train from Los Angeles to Las Vegas where June and Day have stolen on board so they can escape LA where they’ve managed to avoid Day’s execution with the help of June’s brilliance and the Patriots.  The Patriots are based in Vegas and this seems to be the last hope for Day and June if they want to get Eden (Day’s brother) back and some how hide and get to the Colonies

As can be expected – nothing is ever cut and dry.  Upon arrival to Vegas, they find that the Elector Primo has died and his son Anden is taking over.  Day and June manage to cross paths with Kaede who they learned was part of the Patriots in book 1 and she helps them get medical care for Day who was injured in the escape as well as help develop their path and future roles.

Kaede takes them to meet Razor who is the ‘leader’ of the Patriots who has a plan to assassinate the Elector and feels that June is the best person to lure him into position since she has met Anden, is the Prodigy of the Republic and well, Anden has a thing for her.  Day it’s decided will be the one to actually kill the Elector, and June and Day agree to this deal only because they have no other choice in freeing / finding Eden and getting themselves to the Colonies.  So this is where the story goes, twists/turns and develops.

One of the things that i LOVE about the writing is that throughout the story, June’s perspective remains on of extreme awareness – she’s always taking in the details of her surroundings like she’s preparing for Plan B.  she’s always therefore aware of when people are telling her the truth and when something just doesn’t seem right.  This is where she’s really useful since she learns things about the Republic/Anden and The Patriots/Razor that really impact her decisions.

Day on the other hand has his mind set on things, knows what he has to do to get to his brother, but realizes that he has real feelings – feelings of love for June that somewhat complicate things for him.

Tess…not she comes back in a way that i hoped would happen yet i wasn’t sure if would . See, from the weeks that she was separated from Day, she seems to have come into her own, grown up a little, and of course decided that she’s got this crush on Day.  when they reunite, the thing between Day and June complicates things further for her.

so…this story is full of excitement while we’re watching what unfolds for June in her role w/ Anden, Day as we see what he has to do for both his own sake and for Junes….as well as deciding who we should really believe and trust.

What’s killing me right now is that apparently we’ll have to wait until 2014 for Book 3…which is WAY too long to get my questions answered

1) who is to be trusted

2) will Anden survive and what will he do if he does?

3) What is June going to decide- what side is she on?

4) What’s Day’s role in everything and what is he going to do with his personal relationships?

5) what’s the deal with Razor – will he get what’s coming to him?

soo many more questions yet i don’t want to put spoilers here so that’ll be all.  if you haven’t read it yet – PICK IT UP.  i’m usually not a fan of bridge books in a trilogy but this one was AMAZING