Prodigy by Marie Lu (Legend #2): Review

Title: Prodigy
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher:Penguin Razorbill
Buy This Book: Amazon/Book Depository

Injured and on the run, it has been seven days since June and Day barely escaped Los Angeles and the Republic with their lives. Day is believed dead having lost his own brother to an execution squad who thought they were assassinating him. June is now the Republic's most wanted traitor. Desperate for help, they turn to the Patriots - a vigilante rebel group sworn to bring down the Republic. But can they trust them or have they unwittingly become pawns in the most terrifying of political games?

Prodigy picks up where Legend left off, Day and June have managed to escape from the Republic but they have been abandoned by the Patriots. Day's injured leg has left him a liability that they aren't willing to let slow them down. June knows that to help day she will need to track them down and so that's what they do, heading to the military city of Las Vegas in order to ask for their help.

This books brings us the fast-paced action that we have come to expect from Marie Lu. The pace doesn't let up, but where I felt the first book put action above character development, this one doesn't disappoint with either. I felt I got to know both Day and June so much better in this book. I came to understand them a lot more as characters, came to appreciate June more and some of the decisions she made in the first book that I didn't get in book one.

The Patriots are a great addition, they were present in the first book near the end but never really there. Here we get to know them a lot better, what they do, why they do it and where they get their resources for. I really enjoyed that part of the story and their involvement brought us more interesting plot twists. They help Day but they have their own request, and it's a good one. I was left wondering if the amazing Day and genius June could actually manage to pull it off.

June is a character that I didn't completely understand in the first book, some of her decisions infuriated me and how she didn't think too hard about some things when she always seems so perceptive. In this book I felt like I got to know her a lot better, which really helped me understand her and like her more. This book gave me the perfect balance of action and the quiet times inside the characters head getting to know what makes them tick.

Day. Where can I really begin with Day? Some of his decisions puzzled me as well to be honest. His mothers death in the first book and the eventual death of his brother is essentially June's fault. If she had studied the murder scene better, thought harder about things or just assessed all the things she knew about Day then she might have realised he hadn't killed her brother sooner. I was really confused, I have to admit, by how he quickly forgave June for this in the first book and continued to care for her. If I was him, and that had been my family, I think I may have wanted to strangle her. But during this book we actually see some anger bubbling up from him, some resentment towards June and some acknowledgement that she is partly responsible for their deaths. I actually gained a lot more love for him for that and the fact he wanted to work through those feelings because of how much he cared for June.

Tess was something I honestly didn't like in the book. Her feelings for Day and his kind of feelings for her really confused and grossed me out. She's two years younger than him and if he's sixteen and she's fourteen then yes that grosses me out if they are kissing and he's feeling stirrings. Two years isn't a big age gap the older you get but at that age it makes a lot of difference.

The story itself I really enjoyed because it honestly kept me guessing and flipping the pages way into the early hours of the morning so I could see how it ends. The ending really blew me away and at times confused me. One revelation near the end of the book did shock me but also had me scratching my head a bit in a 'what the...' kind of way. The ending really did get me, I was kind of screaming at the book the first time I read it as I needed to know what happened next. Alas I had to wait quite a long time for Champion, but finally it is here and I can continue this amazing series.

4/5 Stars

Found it more enjoyable than Legend. All the fast-paced action I came to love in the first book but with more time given to getting to know the characters. Romance is still the secondary story but it is an enjoyable part of the book- Day and June's attraction is easier to see and feel in this book. If you enjoyed Legend you need to be continuing the series.