Review : Prodigy by Marie Lu
Prodigy by Marie Lu
Pages : 525
Genre : Dystopia, YA
Series : Legend, book 2
My Rating : 4/5
From the book’s jacket :
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 :
Just like last week with Insurgent, I was at a loss when trying to summarize this book. So much happened between these pages, and it gets so hard to tell you what it’s about without spoiling it. So instead, I decided to use my time to talk about how I felt about the book. Here we go!
Like its predecessor Legend, Prodigy is a dystopian tale told both from the voices of June and Day. Marie Lu did a great job of giving the two protagonists distinctive voices, a distinction I felt was even more present in this book. I liked both of their narrations, too, and liked how the author ended each of their chapters leaving you wanting more, without the suspense feeling forced into the story.
Prodigy’s story is so full of action! The pacing is well balanced, with quiet times between the action sequences, without one boring moment. I was in turn hooked to the characters’ thoughts, to the mysteries, to the conversations. I loved learning more about the world Day and June grew up it, and I enjoyed even more that it wasn’t black and white, either. This brings the duo to question themselves and what they know of the world, adding to the complex feel of the world-building.
When reading Legend, I had been thrilled with the lack of love triangle. It’s such an overused device these days in YA fiction that it was very refreshing to have a romance be between only two characters. Prodigy changes that a little, although nothing is really clear; it could be a triangle, or a square, or neither. June and Day’s feelings are complex, because they both are in a very complex situation. I hadn’t realized how shortly they had known each other in fact, which gives a lot of weight to their hesitations and doubts. I’m still rooting for them, but considering the book’s ending, I am ready for anything, really.
Because that ending! Oh, that ending! How I wish I could say more, but it would be horrible to spoil it. But, wow. I sort of saw it coming, but really I didn’t. Which made my jaw hit the floor even harder. I’m not sure where this will lead. Most authors would find some cheap ploy to take the easy way out without any real consequences for the characters, but with Marie Lu, I’m really not sure. Hum…
So, yeah, I like this series. I feel that Prodigy confirms, for me, that it is one of the strongest current dystopia stories on the YA market. I am really, really looking forward to the third book.
Series Reading Order :
- Legend
- Prodigy
- Champion (coming November 2013)
Awesome review! Agreed these sequels are hard to summarize or discuss without spoilers. The romance side of things took an unexpected turn, didn’t it? Even though I’m burned out on dystopia I like this series too. November is not too long a wait for Champion I guess 🙂