Prodigy by Marie Lu
Genre: Dystopian, Action, Sci-Fi
Published by: Speak
Pages: 370
Format: e-book
Rating: ★★★★.5
Series: Legend (#1) | Champion (#3)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

Prodigy is just as action packed as its predecessor, with added heart-wrenching moments! Day and June’s story continues in this epic sequel that takes place right after the end of Legend. I can’t seem to get enough of this series. If I’m not in the middle of reading the next book then I’m looking at fan art or reading as many raving reviews as I can. This series is amazing, and Prodigy did not disappoint as a sequel, even though you often find “second-book syndrome” in trilogies Prodigy didn’t feel like it was written solely with the purpose to get to the end.

Characters:

Day and June are just as great as ever, but now they work closer together as a team! Hooray! Day is witty and June is super duper clever, and they go together so well. I ship it so much. In Prodigy they have to make a lot of hard decisions. Now that they’ve learned to trust each other, they need to put that trust in someone else. Will that be the Republic, the Patriots or the Colonies? There’s a lot more tension and a heck of a lot more plot twists in Prodigy that will keep you guessing until you’re certain you’re going round in circles. But still, Day and June have kept their evaluative streak from Legend and carefully assess every situation by communicating with each other.

There are quiet a few new character in Prodigy and almost all of them are suspicious.  With the death of their families still playing in the backs of both June and Day’s minds they interpret their potential allies in different ways and we’re led to believe that maybe Day and June aren’t all that similar after all.

The main new character is Anden, the Primo’s son and the new Elector. He plays a major role, which I can only assume becomes even more important in the final book in the series. He’s mysterious and a there’s a lot more to him than what Razor – the leader of the Patriots – believes.

There are still the same friendly faces like Kaede and Tess (who becomes super annoying but I will get to that later) and the not so friendly faces like Thomas. But despite this wider host of characters the plot stay intrinsically focused on Day and June – as it should.

Romance:

Oh no. The fateful love triangle has struck, or should I say love square? It had to pop up sometime, didn’t it?

Tess is starting to move in on Day, and with June on her own single mission Day is pretty much powerless to stop her. But June herself is getting closer to someone else: Anden. I reject both of these ulterior pairing profusely. Tess becomes incredibly frustrating as she tries to feed Day lies about how evil June is. Don’t listen to her, Day! Don’t listen to her!

Unfortunately Anden seems to be a pretty great match for June, and I can’t fault him because he’s lovely. Dang it. Don’t be alarmed, there are still plenty of DayXJune moments that will have you squealing with joy, but the cliffhanger ripped my heart out. It seems like the long run of communicating with one another has come to an end.

Pacing:

Prodigy once again had me on the edge of my seat. I become totally absorbed in this series, and the writing style is wonderful. There isn’t much more world building that is necessary, but somethings are still in need of explanation. In Prodigy there are a few secrets that are revealed, and they make absolutely perfect sense, I can’t believe I didn’t notice them when I was reading Legend. Nothing is confusing, and all the new revelations fit into place effortlessly. Mari Lu is an excellent writer and I’m sure Champion will be an excellent finale.

Overall, I gave Prodigy 4.5 stars, it was an excellent sequel but the added love triangle was a little too cliched for my liking. Otherwise, the plot was dynamic and exciting. There’s so much more I could say about this book, but I don’t want to spoil everything. If you’re yet to pick up this series then I highly recommend it! It’s a real treat of a read!