“If you want to rebel, rebel from inside the system. That’s much more powerful than rebelling outside the system.”
-Marie Lu, Legend
What was once the United States has now become the Republic, a country that’s always fighting both inside and out. June is the Capitol’s prodigy–groomed to be an important part of the government from the beginning. Day is the Capitol’s most wanted criminal–stealing in order to help his family survive.
When June’s brother is murdered, Day is the one wanted for the crime. But as their paths cross, June begins to learn about the Republic she’s always defended and the secrets that it is desperate to keep hidden.
Told in alternating points of view, we get two extremes from the Republic–one that has everything and one that has nothing. This helps to not give the reader a biased view of this society, giving the reader a clearer overall view of the new society. As someone who reads a lot of dystopian fiction, this book was able to utilize a different take on the post-apocalyptic future, and one that I’m interested in learning more about in the later novels.
Not only is this book fast-paced, its characters are also well-developed and contribute a lot to the world-building. June is someone who’s been groomed by the Republic, so we’re able to see a lot of their beliefs and values in her, especially in the beginning. We’re able to also see the negative side of the Republic though Day, who has only been hurt by the government who is supposed to be protecting their people.
I also loved how this book was formatted. June’s story is told in black, Day’s story is told in gold. This is continued in the other books–Day’s story is also told in the color of the cover. I like when books do creative things with the formatting, and this one works really well, especially to remind me which character I’m reading. Definitely always helpful for the reader.
4.5/5 stars