Reviews with content warning for Violence - Legend

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

writersrelief's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Marie Lu’s debut novel, LEGEND, starts her writing career off strong, telling a believable story in a dystopian America that could easily be our future. June Iparis, a rising prodigy of the Republic, has spent her whole life being groomed for success in the military. June’s work for the military begins abruptly when her brother, Matias, is killed—her first mission is to find and capture Day, the alleged killer. Day lives in the slums and cares for his family from afar. In a desperate attempt to save them, Day tried to steal plague medicine from a Republic lab. When confronted by Matias, Day stabbed him in the shoulder in order to escape, thus becoming the main suspect in his murder and Republic Enemy Number One. In a harrowing game of cat and mouse, June tries to capture Day. But as they meet in the slums under hidden identities, the two unexpectedly grow close. And June learns the Republic may not be the righteous haven it claims to be.

Those who love the Hunger Games series will enjoy this first installment in Lu’s science fiction romance series. Lu’s vivid storytelling easily grips readers and immerses them in the story as these two people from different lives unexpectedly come together. Her compelling characters have their fair share of flaws and traits to make them worth rooting for, but it’s the story that’s the main attraction. Lu’s twists and turns change the characters and bring danger they never expected. LEGEND is a great read for anyone looking for another dystopian thrill ride.

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katebird's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.5

Lol

Content Warnings

jfield351's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Reread for the millionth time. Love this book and so glad I picked it up at an op shop one day in 2015 because now it’s one of my favourites ever🫶🏼

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sammymilfort's review

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dark informative reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

piperrhoads's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

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avocados_from_mexico's review

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.5

Legend. Where do I start with this book? There were so many things to dislike about this book, from the unlikable, unrealistic characters, to the dry writing, to the government, to the one scene where

Spoiler

a man in his twenties tries to kiss a fifteen year old??

. Anyways, the book was terrible, and throughout my reading experience, I wondered why it was so popular.

The story follows June, a young prodigy who’s the only person to have gotten a perfect score on the United States’… sorry, Republic’s aptitude test… sorry, Trial, which is meant to find the best children to join the war effort against the rest of the United States, the Patriots. She lives with her twenty-something year old brother Metias because their parents were killed, and goes to a top university where she trains to be in the military. Her commander tends to be a bit… trigger-happy, and so does her friend Thomas, but they justify it enough to the point where she’s convinced what they’re doing is correct. There’s also no reason for this war that is provided. Also they kill the kids that fail the Trial, but their parents are told they work at labor camps.

And then we have Day, the Republic’s most wanted criminal despite the fact that most of his offenses would only be enough to classify him as a large nuisance. He’s never killed anyone, but now he’s being accused of killing Metias. The only thoughts he is capable of having are about how attractive all of the girls he meets are. He’s on the run because he’s never been caught by the Republic, but he rescues June while her commander sends her to catch him undercover. And then June finds out who he is because she conveniently goes down tangents of extremely unrealistic thoughts that advance the plot!

Spoiler

And guess what. He also got a perfect score! But he’s from the slums so they tried to kill him off!

So Day nearly gets executed. But since June likes him and kissed him before she knew who he was, she’s sympathetic. She goes down another convenient tangent and finds out that

Spoiler

Thomas killed Metias and her commander is trying to hide it

. But also she hikes who knows how far (there’s no map, but the author constantly mentions sectors, which was really confusing) to find some known Patriots to try to set off a plan. So Thomas shoots everyone and June and Day nearly die, Day conveniently has a brother that looks identical to him and has a June-esque unrealistic tangent and figures out what happened, and his brother gets killed instead and now June and Day have to hide from the evil government, which has no reason to be evil as far as I know.

The writing was incredibly dry and it was really hard to get through at times. I had to finish it because I had to read it for a school assignment, but if I could, I would have put this book down for good. Maybe the author’s other books are better, but I could not get through this one.

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bri__'s review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this, it was thrilling and kept me hooked from the beginning. I am terrified as to how the series will play out because I know it will somehow end with me emotionally scarred (kidding, hopefully, probably). I love Day and June I find them to be interesting characters and although their relationship doesn't have much depth I am very much still rooting for its success. Definitely recommend, strongly suggest checking content warnings.

Content Warnings