I'm sad I didn't enjoy it as much the second time around. Maybe it's because I'm less into dystopians? Or maybe I'm just more of a seasoned reader? It just felt a bit less awesome than I remember.
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Original Review (5 stars)
As posted on booknook - Young Adult book reviews
If you're a cover whore like me, do not push this book aside because of the cover! There were at least 5 times where I saw a review or post about this book and just skipped over it because I thought the cover was dull, boring, self-published-looking, and not that eye-catching. Finally, after some pushes and prods from fellow bloggers, I gave this book a chance. I'm so glad I did. I'll let this quote speak for the awesomeness of the book:
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.
Okay, so when I finally got passed the cover, I opened up the book and was shocked. The typeface. It was different. The colour. It was.... gold? It's so unique! I had never seen anything like it. All of Day's chapters are in this never-before-scene-in-a-book typeface (it's not that extravagant — it's just different from the standard so often seen), and June's are in a more standard typeface with black ink. So cool!
The story in this book is just so incredibly intriguing. We have June: the amazingly intelligent genius prodigy who's training to join the most exclusive military branch. Then there's Day, born in poverty and a criminal on the run. Then Day is suspected of killing June's brother, so June vows to hunt him down and seek revenge (see epic quote above). She goes undercover, tracking Day and pretending to be a poor girl from the slums. Then she meets Day, but doesn't know it's him, and starts travelling around with him. Soon enough she finds herself liking him (and vice versa).. like really liking him. Like "You're a sexy beast" liking him. OH MY GOD!! Tell me that doesn't sound awesome! It sounds like the kind of action thriller TV shows or movies I like to watch.. but wrapped up in a YA dystopian sci-fi romance! Hello, incredible book. My name is Ashley and I love you. Would you like my unborn children?
I don't even know where to really begin with this review (although I guess I've started already lol). All the characters are amazing. June is totally kick-ass. She almost reminds me of Sherlock Holmes in her attention to detail. She's the kind of person who truly observes everything around her and uses the tiniest details to draw conclusions. She's incredibly strong and proud, but more than anything, she wants to do what's right. Even when she absolutely hates Day for supposedly murdering her brother, she still doesn't want to see any unwarranted violence or torture. And Day... Day is kind of like Robin Hood. Sure he's a criminal, but he only steals so he can survive and help his family and community get food and medicine. And that only touches the surface. All of the side characters are equally as interesting and I either love them or love to hate them.
Legend is so action-packed and there's never, ever a dull moment. The plot is always progressing and kept me on my toes the entire way through. The romance that develops is one of the most interesting I've ever seen because of the circumstances, but it's also totally swoon-worthy. Legend also toyed with my emotions quite a bit. June takes us through some of her memories with her brother Metias, and after knowing what happened to him, I was totally getting teary-eyed. It's devastatingly sad and made me wish I had a brother like him (one who doesn't get killed!).
There was zero doubt in my mind that I'd give his book 5 stars and mark it as one of my all-time favourites. I didn't even have to stop and ponder. I ended this book in a complete daze; my imagination was in overdrive and trying to process all the awesomeness in this book!