Review: Prodigy by Marie Lu

Published January 29th, 2013
Putnam Juvenile
371 pages (Hardcover)

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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? (From Goodreads)

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Prodigy didn't do it for me.  I get the love for it, but it just didn't quite work for me.

My biggest concern with Legend was the characters.  I can't say Prodigy really solved those concerns for me.  I still didn't buy in to either Day or June.  I still felt like the characters were older than the writing suggested they were.  It's a difficult thing to explain, but neither character felt *real*.  I didn't feel a connection with either. 

The romance did improve slightly.  I'm still not digging the insta-love, but there is at least some tension now.  The tension comes in the form of a love triangle (Rectangle?  Quadrangle?), which isn't fantastic but at least it added some tension.  Seriously, these two are just a pair of horny teenagers and their insta-love makes no sense to me.  Hookup?  I get it.  Undying love?  I need some serious convincing.

The world-building was all over the place.  You thought you knew what was happening, then you didn't and then we're on another track.  It worked though.  The society here is complex and each country and group has a different perspective on the situation.  I found it a little confusing, but it definitely worked.  Similarly with the plot, it was back and forth.  One minute the Elector is to be hated, then loved, and back and forth until I just gave up trying to figure out where the story was going.

And I was *sooo* bored for a good half of the book.  Nothing was happening and I just wanted some action or something.  I am shocked that I actually finished the book.  I was a good two/thirds through the book before I got interested whatsoever, and you know what got me interested?  ACTION and RELATIONSHIP TENSION.  Serious.  If it weren't for the "oh-no-he-didn't" moment at the very end, I'd likely give up on the series here.

Prodigy didn't work for me.  There was a brief chunk that I did really enjoy, and it was mostly because shit was hitting the fan.  Fans of Legend will likely enjoy the sequel.  As for me, I am going to give Champion a shot, if only for the events of the last couple of chapters in Prodigy.