Lu, Marie. Legend. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2011.
I love post-apocalyptic/failed utopian society books (Matched, Hunger Games, City of Ember). So when the inside cover said "Once known as the western coast of the United States, the Republic is now a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors the Colonies...." it sounded perfect. Only it wasn't. First, I couldn't tell what made it post-apocalyptic. In fact, I kind of wondered if maybe the people of California had just decided to secede from the United States. Especially since the rebels had this flag with red and white stripes and a blue square with stars on it. Second, it got really violent at the end. I know that sounds crazy, given that I liked the Hunger Games, I guess it was just that the violence in this was...umm...not unexpected, maybe unprepared? Yep, I sound like a crazy person since a pivotal plot point (also mentioned on the cover) is a murder but nothing in the first half prepared me. I also found it jarring when Lu sprung things on me like when the blond hair blue eyed main character was listed as Mongolian for his dominant ethnicity and Caucasian as his secondary, actually the whole Asian thing really caught me off-guard. He had light blond hair and blue eyes! But whatever. I guess what really bothered me was I couldn't tell if it was the lamest ending ever or the beginning of a series because it could go either way. And I hate that!!!!!
