Title:  Champion
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher/Year:  Penguin 11/5/13
Length:  384 pages
Series: Legend #3

Overview

The explosive finale to Marie Lu’s New York Times bestselling LEGEND trilogy—perfect for fans of THE HUNGER GAMES and DIVERGENT!

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

My Thoughts 

Where do i begin – WOW – there was a lot that i definitely didn’t see coming even though a majority was quite expected.  We are picking right up where we left off, June is the Princeps Elect (or one of 3) that’s to shadow Anden who is the new elector of the Republic.  The princeps will become the leader of the senate so it’s a BIG DEAL.  Day is still the people’s favorite given that he’s what they want – a rebel that will fight for them….and Anden will do what he can to make Day stay on his side.

Where this story opens up though is several months after we last left these guys, and the colonies and the Republic are at it again.  The colonies are planning to attack again, and the only way that Anden thinks that he can keep them at bay (especially now since the colonies have an ally in Africa who apparently is a super power) – is to turn over Eden, Day’s brother in the search for a cure of the plague since it’s spread into the colonies.  Anden decides that he has to use June to get Day to respond to requests and she reaches out to him to come back to Denver the capital in the hopes of convincing him (which she knows is a lost cause).

While everyone’s together though, the colonies decide that they are going to strike anyway – without waiting for a deal to be made.  This means that chaos ensues.  people are at risk, we know that the colonies want to capture Day and Eden, and they want to kill Anden, June and the other princeps elect.  Day has to work with the patriots to keep everyone safe, while evacuating the city.

We get to see Thomas and Commander Jameson stand trial and get their sentence doled out, but while we’ve always held out hope that Thomas isn’t as bad as his actions, we know that commander Jameson truly is, and she doesn’t disappoint.  we learn that she’s working for the other side and that causes issues of it’s own.

Throughout the story, we see the constant battle of trying to get to Eden to use his blood for a cure, we see the constant fight that Day has with his health since we know that his brain is infected – we see the relationship develop at times between June and Day but it’s never fully taken to where it needs to go overtly at least.

Anyway, what i loved about this story is

1) they bring into play Antarctica – i don’t know about you guys but i NEVER would have expected that bit of things.  what they’ve done there and the power that they’ve become – i mean WOW!

2) at this point you don’t even know what’s going to happen to the republic or Colonies or anyone – and that’s kind of nice.

so, while i think that i may have expected a different ending, i’m pleased with it.  I liked that it wasn’t clean and cut and dry – but i was a little sad which i know was the intention.  I’ll continue to compare to Requiem and Allegiant at this point.  Requiem left us high and dry – and Allegiant definitely didn’t give me what i was hoping for.

In this story though, I did get what i was hoping for, just not in the same path and form that I expected.  All in all though, great closure and a great resolution to the story.