Audiobook Review: Legend by Marie Lu

As far as dystopians go, Legend rates among the top of all the ones I’ve read. There was plenty of action; not once did I get bored, because there was little to no lull in the plot. Something exciting was always happening! Danger and suspense abound; secrets, lies and government corruption! Oh my! It was everything I love in a dystopian novel (and why it’s one of my favorite genres).

In my mind, I make a silent promise to my brother’s killer: I will hunt you down. I will scour the streets of Los Angeles for you. Search every street in the Republic if I have to. I will trick you, and deceive you; lie, cheat, and steal to find you. Tempt you out of your hiding place, and chase you until you have nowhere else to run.
I make you this promise: Your life is mine.

DUDE. June is the kick-ass heroine I crave in a book. She’s strong, being military bred, and she can hold her own in a fight. YES. She still had emotional moments, but she wasn’t weak or whiny. And despite being a badass, she was easy to relate to. I loved how down to earth she was, and she kept a level head in sticky situations. In the case of a zombie apocalypse, I would want her on my side!

Day was alright. I liked him, but I didn’t swoon for him like I thought I would. I mean, I love bad boys. And he ended up being a big sweetheart. He was open and honest, I just didn’t love him like I hoped I would for some reason. Perhaps June just outshined him…

There was a perfect amount of romance for me. I can’t stand it when it’s laid on too thick. This one had just a touch of romance, and it moved slowly. Just how I like it! I especially enjoyed it because it was an unlikely romance. Poor street boy and rich privileged girl, their lives thrown together through loss. It was difficult, sometimes tragic. There was conflict, which is what made it so realistic.

The world building was cinematic. I had no problem visualizing the world Lu painted in my head! I loved her writing style, and I love it when an author can pull of alternating points of view because it allows you to see much more of the characters’ individual emotions.
Something I thought was interesting was the ritual of wearing white at funerals because of black, and the explanation of the volcano and the ash covering the bodies. And the skiz fight, that was one of my favorite scenes!

The ending…ohhh, gosh. I kinda saw it coming, but it still sucked. And things were left pretty open for the next book – which I will definitely be reading Prodigy when it comes out!

The narrators were alright. I don’t have any complaints about Marial; in fact, she did great! She had the perfect amount of emotion in her voice for the appropriate times, and it made it seem realistic. Steven, on the other hand…not so much. It’s not that he was bad, I just didn’t feel it when he was narrating. Not to sound creepy or anything. But he didn’t portray the emotion like Marial did. Plus his voice kind of annoyed me. He clicked his tongue when he talked, or something…I don’t know how to explain it. But it grated on my nerves. I got used to it toward the end, I suppose.

Random thought: Something that sucks when listening to fantasies and dystopians is the spelling. I totally thought her brother’s name would be spelled Matteus or Matteas (because they pronounced it Muh-tey-us), and it’s Metias. If I had been reading it, I would have been saying his name waaay wrong in my head! (i.e. muh-tie-us or muh-tee-us…) Which is why I like it when they put the pronunciation in the book.