Early Review: Prodigy by Marie Lu
Prodigy by Marie Lu
Legend #2
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?
Scared and on the run, Day and June turn to the Patriot Rebels for sanctuary. But their assistance comes at a price, the assassination of the Republic's new Elector, Anden. Considering how cruel the previous one was, Day and June don't object, and quickly agree to the plot. But as things start in motion and June is placed close to the new Elector, she starts to question whether they are doing the right thing. Anden doesn't seem to have the same agenda and genuinely seems to want to help the people. With more on the line than she ever could have realized, June will have to decide where her loyalties lie once and for all.
I've always thought the best books were the ones where the line between the good guys and bad isn't so clear cut. In LEGEND, the Republic was labeled as the bad guy, and considering the atrocities they committed, it was a well earned title. Just the simple fact that June, their most loyal soldier was turned from them speaks volumes. So, in PRODIGY, both June and Day are on the run from the Republic and have hooked up with the Patriots, the underdogs from the first book. Since they are against the oppressive nature of the Republic, one would think that they were the undisputed good guys. However, the lines quickly got blurred in PRODIGY once the new Elector took over the Republic and seemed to have a different path. Yet despite this, the Patriots continued on their quest to assassinate him, making their path seem more like destruction was their only goal rather than doing what was best for the people, thus making their good guy status questionable and only further twisting the plot, vamping up my enjoyment tenfold.
I have a love hate relationship with love-triangles. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that I love to hate them. There is just something that draws me in about them even while the drama involved typically makes me want to grind my teeth. That being said the scales of my love/hate opinion hang by a delicate balance as if not handled well that triangle can easily become a tired plot ploy. The thing about PRODIGY is that two separate love triangles seemed to start developing. Although there was one central character to them both, making it even more twisted and complicated. It was a daring move, but one that Marie Lu pulled off beautifully, to the point where I honestly couldn't tell you how I want things to play out. She has me so torn between all of the characters that I can't possibly choose, and honestly that was what made this book really stand out to me.
Whenever a debut book really impresses me, there always is the worry that the second book won't live up to the first. Also, a lot of times the middle book in trilogies can suffer from a sophomoric slump, but that just isn't the case at all in PRODIGY. In fact, other than a slightly slow start, there wasn't a dull moment in this book. Fans of the first installment will be more than pleased. Every bit as good as the debut, PRODIGY is not to be missed!
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