Author:Marie LuEdition: hardcoverSeries: Prodigy #2Released Date: January 29th, 2013Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Goodreads / Amazon June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.
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?
In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action.
June and Day have left the Republic and something strange happens: the Elector Primo has died. His son, Anden, comes into power and secretly hopes to turn the country around. Finally, June and Day give in and join the Patriots, where they are given their first assignment: kill the new Elector Primo. Day has to go undercover, while not-so-secretly showing the country he is still alive, and June has to become close to Anden and pretend to beg for pardons. Then June starts to question the Patriots and what they're goal is, and starts to understand Anden's point of view.
There's no doubt that I loved Legend last year. I read it early in the year of 2012 and it stayed in my top five favorite books all year long. When I read Prodigy, I had high expectations. It met some of those expectations, but sometimes it failed them.
I loved the way Legend made me feel - all the emotions that it brought out and tore at my heart. When it came to Prodigy, some of those feelings seemed to disappear. There was no dramatic romance, kick-butt action, or remarkable dialog. In all of those categories, everything fell short. The only thing that really stood out to me was the plot.
There were so many twists and turns in this one, that it was hard to wrap my head around it. Don't get me wrong, it was an AMAZING feature of this book. Finding out about Thomas and his feelings, Anden and his new power - everything was well planned out on Marie Lu's part. I was constantly gasping and squealing at the plot and it's amazingness.
The relationships with Day and June was all over the place... There was a wall put up between them that carried over from the first novel. Thankfully, this wall started to crumble a little. It still seemed weird that for one second it would be crumbling, and then something would happen and that wall would go back up. Day and June both had thoughts of other people; Day thought of Tess, and June though of Anden. Honestly, if you think there could be something with someone else, why are you with the first person? I thought throughout most of the novel that these two should just end it and go with the other people. I could EASILY picture Tess and Day together, and June and Anden together. Both of those couples just seem to work easily together, but I doubt it would happen.
Also, everything these two characters do is SO intense. They have to have reasoning for everything. I was constantly just telling these characters to just do it and live with the consequences. After all, YOLO right? ;) Sometimes they were so intense that it was a good thing. I know that doesn't really make sense, but it causes them to succeed at some times.
June has always rose to the top of my list of favorite female characters, and she's still going to stay there. She sometimes annoyed me, but I love that she was confused and sometimes didn't know what to do. No one wants to read about a character that knows how everything is going to happen and has no flaws. I think the reason I like her is because of her intelligence. I always seem to like characters that are actually smart and skilled - not average or dumb.Sadly, one of the only good features was the plot, but since it brought everything together it brings the ranking of this novel way up. If you're looking for a novel with lots of twists-and-turns, secrets, and intense characters, then Prodigy and the rest of the Legend series may be good for you!