One of my favorite book series is the Legend trilogy by Marie Lu.
It's a young adult dystopian series. There are three books- "Legend," "Prodigy," and "Champion." A fourth book wasn't originally planned, but fortunately the author went ahead and wrote one anyway. "Rebel" takes place ten years later and is somewhat separate from the trilogy but still has a focus on the main characters from the trilogy but mostly follows one of the main character's brother this time.
The trilogy takes place 100+ years from now, in the US. Except the US is now split between the Republic and the Colonies that are at war. It follows two teens named Day and June who live in the Republic. There are "trials" that kids have to take at the age of ten. These trials pretty much determine their future. Kids who pass with high scores get to go to college and end up with good jobs. Kids who fail get sent to "labor camps." (Or so they say!)
Only one person got the highest possible score. And that person is June, who was born in the wealthy district. June is the youngest person to attend the best college in the Republic and starts working in the military. She has a bright future ahead of her.
Day, however, failed the trials and was therefore sent to a "labor camp." Without spoiling anything, he ended up on the streets instead. His family, living in the slums, think he's dead and he keeps it that way because he's afraid of what will happen to them if they find out the truth. Only his older brother, John, knows Day is still around. Day sometimes sneaks John money and supplies to help out the family. Living on the streets, he has to resort to theiving and such. But he also fucks with the government which is pretty cool. He's considered a wanted criminal because of it, though he's impossible to catch because he's good at not getting caught.
June ends up on a mission to track Day and she succeeds. But a bunch of bullshit happens where she discovers the government's secrets and comes to the realization that it's bad actually. Ultimately she sides with Day and helps him escape and they fall in love and shit. It goes on to follow the typical YA dystopia formula of youngsters overthrowing the government and making everything better.
One of my favorite things about dystopian literature is reading about the fucked up world the people are living in. I find dystopian societies to be very interesting. In most dystopian books, we only get to see one fucked up society. But in Legend, we get to see three of them!
The first one we're introduced to is the Republic. This is where Day and June were born and raised. It's run by the Primo Elector, who is basically a dictator. Technology is limited, very few people have internet access and the people who do have it, it's restricted. There's also a plague going on that the government created and is experimenting with. They go around "inspecting" people's houses and putting a red X on the door of those who have it. Or, in the poor sectors anyway. The rich sectors all have access to vaccines. Anyways, it's the typical stuff you read about in other dystopians.
Then, we're introduced to the Colonies. They are winning a war against the Republic, though the Republic won't admit that part to their people. They are basically capitalism to the extreme. Ads are everywhere. You have to pay for literally everything. Like, even calling the police costs money. Even though there's a Chancellor, it's mainly run by four major corporations. Cloud Corp, DesCon, Evergreen Enterprises, and Meditech. Everyone works under one of those four. I can easily see America becoming this.
The one I find most interesting is Antarctica. People in Antarctica live in a climate-controlled bubble. And their entire system is gamified. Every action someone does either gives them points, or loses them points. Like a video game, these points cause you to level up. The higher your level, the better access you have to things. People with low levels have limited options. Like, you can't even take the bus unless you've hit level 7. And all the good stores require a higher level too, so there's only certain stores low levels are able to get into. Same with healthcare- you have to be at a certain level to access it. Everyone has a chip inserted in their head that allows them to see everyone's name and their level. Visitors wear special glasses instead. People with low levels are poor and end up stuck being low leveled, because they have to do bad things just to survive, and doing bad things lowers your level. And if you commit a major crime, part of your punishment involves losing levels.
I first read the books in the early 10's, when I started binging young adult dystopian books after reading the Hunger Games. And out of all the others I read, it was my favorite. It's also the only one I've read more than once. I read it a second time when I caught COVID back in 2022. My first couple days with COVID I was either passed out or reading these books. I don't know why I chose to read this series of all things, but I found out a fourth book in the series had been published which made me happy and I read that too. I read it all a third time in April 2024 and I'm just, in love with these books now. It feels like everytime I read them, I love them more.
I absolutely love the main romance. It's extremely rare for me to ship characters, but I ship Day and June so much. I can't figure out why. Maybe it's because June is high class and Day is just a street boy and I love that romance trope. But also, I just love Day and want the boy to be happy. He deserves it after everything he's been through. Lots of bullshit kept happening to him.
My heart has been broken many times throughout the series. The third book in particular is the biggest offender of fucking with my emotions.
My complaints? The one-word titles makes it hard to find content on them! Also I feel like Day and June should have been made a few years older. Like, they start off being 15 and are pushing 17 by the end of the trilogy but they feel like they're older than that. And the story could have been written with them older without having to change anything.
Despite that, I absolutely love these books and feel like they're way underrated and deserve much more love than they get.
