Prodigy

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Title: Prodigy

Author: Marie Lu

Series: Legend, #2

Publisher: Penguin

Release Date: January 29th 2013

Rating:

Injured and on the run, it has been seven days since June and Day barely escaped Los Angeles and the Republic with their lives. Day is believed dead having lost his own brother to an execution squad who thought they were assassinating him. June is now the Republic’s most wanted traitor. Desperate for help, they turn to the Patriots—a vigilante rebel group sworn to bring down the Republic. But can they trust them or have they unwittingly become pawns in the most terrifying of political games?

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

This review may contain spoilers for previous book(s) in the series.

My Thoughts On…

…The Plot

“Few people ever kill for the right reasons.”

June and Day have barely managed to escape Los Angeles with their lives, Day’s brother took the fall for him and was executed in his place but it still leaves June and Day with nowhere to go and no idea what their next move should be. However needing to know that Tess is safe Day heads towards the Patriots where he and June can also, hopefully, find someone to help treat Day’s infected wounds.

Arriving in Las Vegas Day and June practically fall into the waiting arms of the Patriots. However where they have always made efforts to recruit Day before, to be one of their Runners, the Patriots now have a very different job for him. In escaping the Republic Day and June have become celebrities, everyone knows their faces and despite the Republic broadcasting John’s execution as Day’s the people still believe he is alive. The job the Patriots propose is a challenging one, in the wake of the Elector’s death his son has now taken over, and the Patriots see an opportunity to finally make the changes they have been working towards.

They just need to kill the new Elector.

“The elector is young and ambitious, but he is not his father. He wants to fight for you, just as I fight for you, but first you need to give him that chance. And if you put your might behind him and lift him up, he will lift us up.”

With no other choice, not if she wants to help Day, June heads back to the heart of the Republic, spinning the story the Patriots have devised to get her as close to the new Elector as possible. Meanwhile Day waits for the perfect opportunity to kill Anden and bring in the age the Patriots see coming. However the more time June spends the Anden the more she starts wondering whether the Patriots are telling her everything, and whether what she and Day are doing is really the right thing for the Republic.

Prodigy is a book that does not, in any way, suffer from Second Book Syndrome. It takes everything we learnt in Legend, everything both Day and June went through, and takes it to the next level. There are lies on top of lies which June and Day each need to sort through, and in the meantime they need to work out what side of the battle they’re standing on. There’s a lot at stake in Prodigy, and it made for some tense chapters where I honestly had no idea what would happen to any of the characters, let alone where the story would go next.

…The Characters

“I want to run. To do what I always do, have always done, for the last five years of my life. Escape, flee into the shadows. But this time, I stand my ground. I’m tired of running.”

Day has lost everything. His mother and older brother are dead at the hands of the Republic, and his younger brother has been taken to the warfront as a biological weapon. If Day is ever going to free Eden he needs help, and the only people he can get help from are the Patriots. Day has always seen the worst side of the Republic, and after everything he went through in Legend he’s not inclined to believe the new Elector’s empty promises, but deep down Day truly wants what’s best for the people. After Legend he has their hearts and their loyalty, even if he’s not sure what to do with it he just wants to make his home a better place for everyone who has ever been trodden down on by the Republic.

“You risked an awful lot for someone you hardly know.”
I narrow my eyes. “That doesn’t say much about your character. Perhaps you should wait until someone’s about to be executed for a mistake you made.”

June again has some amazing character development in Prodigy. In Legend she started to see the dark side of the Republic; the side that kill innocent children who fail their trial, the side that control the plague that terrorises the streets, and the side that murdered her older brother. However in Prodigy she starts to once again see the Republic she knows and was prepared to devote her life to. The more time she spends with Anden – seeing the work he is trying to do for the Republic, the battles he is fighting with his senate, and his ideas for the future – the more she starts believing in the Republic and what Anden is trying to do.

“You know, sometimes I wonder what things would be like if I just…met you one day. Like normal people do. If I just walked by you on some street one sunny morning and thought you were cute, stopped, shook your hand, and said, ‘Hi, I’m Daniel.'”

Despite not being together much in this book Day and June are never far from the other’s thoughts. While Day is with the Patriots, reunited with Tess and working from the shadows once more, he starts thinking about the differences between his and June’s backgrounds. She belongs in the same world the Elector does, that of the higher class, however June remains loyal to Day above all else. She follows him to the Patriots and no matter what she learns about them and Anden her loyalty remains with Day first.

I wasn’t a fan of where Tess’s character development went in this book. In Legend I enjoyed her dynamic with Day because it reminded me of a sibling bond, in this book however that changes. While I can understand some of Tess’s actions, her being worried about June breaking Day’s heart and worried about the relationship the two of them have, especially when June returns to the heart of the Republic, there was something about the way she acted that irritated me more often than not.

…The Setting

“All it takes is one generation to brainwash a population and convince them that reality doesn’t exist.”

The world this trilogy is set in really expands with Prodigy. In Legend we learnt all about the Republic; the way people like June see them, the way people like Day see them, and all the dirty secrets they try to hide from everyone to remain in control. In Prodigy we come away from the Republic and start seeing the other side of the war, including the people fighting the battle. The Patriots believe in a United America, like they used to have before the floods, and they believe the Colonies are going to achieve that. We see a little of the Colonies in this book and it was interesting comparison to the Republic, the way they worked, and how they remain in control over the civilians without enforcing a military presence. Once again we see very little of the war between the Republic and the Colonies; instead we focus on June and Day’s world as they fight alongside the Patriots inside the Republic.

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I started Prodigy back in 2014 and now, finally after three years, I can say I’ve finished it. This is an incredible book; Prodigy really opens up the world and the characters after Legend, telling a much bigger story with more serious consequences for everyone, not just June and Day. It was tense to read but an extraordinary journey as well.

What did you think of Prodigy? Was it a favourite of yours or could you just not get into the story? Let me know.