Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Legend by Marie Lu

69 reviews

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

3.5 ⭐ CW: gun violence, police violence, torture, death of a child, death of a parent, sickness

Legend by Marie Lu is book one in the Legend trilogy. This was a YA dystopian scifi about a fractured America. I typically like dystopian novels and this author, but this one didn't do it for me. I didn't really love the characters, there wasn't quite enough world-building, and the plot was super predictable. 

We follow Day, a boy living on the streets of the Republic doing a Robin Hood kind of thing and causing trouble for the military and government. The Republic's poorest districts are riddled with plague, and when Day tries to break into a hospital to steal a cure for his sick brother, already the most wanted criminal, he becomes embroiled in a plot that tangles him with June. June is a prodigy, and when her brother is killed she is given the task of finding the killer, Day. 

While under cover, June gets to know Day, but still gets him caught by the military. They both realize that there is more going on than meets the eye. June realizes that maybe her government isn't as innocent as it seems. As I said, this plot was pretty predictable. I knew where it was going the whole time, so the twists lost their impact. The romance also didn't do it for me. It was kind of insta love, and shallow at that. I just don't think the story was well executed. 

I don't think I'll continue the series. This was a disappointment, considering I loved a couple of Lu's other books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Police brutality, and Death of parent

maximus_midnight's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cursing, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse and Car accident

creolelitbelle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I read about 85% of this book in one day. Some of the topics - vaccines, plagues - hit closer to modern real issues than I would have liked, but the action and character relationships are riveting. Hopefully, the mystery of what happened to the USA to create the Colonies and Republic takes shape in subsequent books. The romance, while very quickly developing, makes sense with how June and Day mirror one another in their core ideologies. Like with Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, I do anticipate reading further into the series for learning what transpires after the great chaos at the end of book one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Police brutality

my3bb8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I found the story hard to get into until Day gets arrested. I liked it once it picked up, but not enough to continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

schencla000's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I didn’t like that most of the book takes place with Day imprisoned. I just didn’t find it entertaining

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Police brutality

unusuallyy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

the worldbuilding is insane. i loved the book, but my book club thought it was quite odd and dissed a lot of things in it lmao.

june's brother's last words are like...unnecessarily long, and he still babies june after all this time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Car accident

brooke_pearson's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I liked the characters decently and loved the idea for the plot, but the writing is pretty bad. For example, I understand that June and Day are supposed to be smart, but it gets to a point where it's annoying how  quickly they solve things. There are also some parts where it's super analytical and boring (not a direct quote, just an example of a similar scene: "We were moving at x feet per second. We needed to travel x feet. But the 23 soldiers were moving faster than us, and they'd catch up to us at x feet.")

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing and Car accident

ernis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Great read! I found a couple of select scenes were too gory for me but overall it was an enjoyable and intriguing story and likeable characters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, and Violence

lcravella's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was very fun to read. But it was sad. The characters were very well explained in this book. Lots of action in it. So if you want a very good book to read read this one.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Blood, and Death of parent

no