Review: Champion - Marie Lu

Champion
Marie Lu 
Series: Legend, #3
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

I remember when I first found Legend as a Kindle Daily Deal, and I absolutely loved it. After that, I read Prodigy as soon as in came out and anxiously awaited Champion, the series finale. Unfortunately, I have this bad habit of putting off reading series finales (I have trust issues), so while Marlon read Champion right away, it took me over a year and a half to get to this one. I am so incredibly happy I finally committed to reading Champion because it was absolutely amazing and such a satisfying conclusion to this series.

Going into Champion, I didn't entirely know what to expect - after the end of Prodigy, the reader is left with a lot of questions, wondering what the fate of these beloved characters will be. Champion does not take place right after Prodigy but rather several months later. The situation is very different from where we left the characters, and it definitely set up a different dynamic for some of the relationships as the story continued. I really enjoyed seeing the way June and Day interacted throughout Champion, especially considering what happened at the end of the previous book. I also enjoyed the dynamic between Day and his brother. We didn't get a lot of opportunity to see Day as a brother in the previous books, so I really liked seeing his interactions in Champion. Another interesting relationship was that of June and Anden. Their relationship definitely took a different turn from Prodigy and became more complex, like the situation they were put in to.

Besides just getting to see more character and relationship development, Champion also had an exciting, action packed plot. I was absolutely absorbed by Champion as soon as I started reading, and I never wanted to put it down. Marie Lu was able to create such exciting and shocking moments, keeping me guessing until the very end.

SINCE I MENTIONED THE END, LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY FEELS. I had so many feels at the end of Champion - feels you can only understand once you have experienced them. Marie Lu ripped my heart out and stomped on it. Then she ran over it with a truck. Then she stabbed it a few more times for good measure. THEN, once I thought I was dead, she used magic and brought me back to life and restored my health and filled me with joy. It was kind of like a "first they're sour, then they're sweet" type of moment, and yes, I did just compare Marie Lu to a Sour Patch Kid. But, seriously - I'm not even kidding about the end. I cried all through the last chapter and the epilogue and for like 15 minutes after that because I had SO. MANY. FEELS! The ending of Champion was absolutely perfect and appropriate for the series. Marie Lu is a magical sorceress of perfection. I'm not sure that makes sense but it doesn't matter because THAT ENDING.

Overall, if you couldn't tell, I absolutely fell in love with Champion as I read it. It was the perfect ending to a series I fell in love with - even more perfect than anything I could have dreamed up. I absolutely recommend this series to all lovers of dystopian - the world is just so interesting, and the characters are so real - and if you've never read a dystopian but you like action and good books, definitely try this series out! Champion is definitely one of my favorite series finales of all time.

- Kiersten

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Review: Champion - Marie Lu

Champion
Marie Lu
Series: Legend, #3
Genre: Fantasy, Dystopian, Young Adult
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Breathtaking
On Goodreads

I JUST WANT TO SCREAM MARIE LU'S NAME FROM THE TOP OF EVER ROOFTOP IN EVERY BATTERED CITY THAT I CAN FIND MOTHERFRICKITY FRACK I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU TILL THE MOUNTAINS CRUMBLE AND THEN MORE, MARIE LU. I DO.

This was the most incredible ending to such a book I did not expect all of that to be happening I honestly just expected another war like novel with beautiful words and a amazing writing but a cop out ending like Requiem. But no, that did not happen.

I mean, can we just talk about the characters for a second. Can we just? June bloody Iparis absolutely does it for me. She's not real but she deserves a BAFTA.

This is June:



And Day, and Pascao (DEAR GODS I LOVE PASCAO) and Tess and everyone.

June finished her character development and grew into the strong, amazing young woman we knew she would. She handles everything so, so well and deals with her emotions far better than she did in Legend and Prodigy. She finally accepts her love for Day and does her best for everyone around. I confess my only major disappointment at the end was that Marie Lu used June's suffering and the situation around her to make June have weak moments, and her final resolutions are not true to the character at all and do not make her stronger. 'Perhaps there is such a thing as fate' is neither June, nor quite relevant to what June was thinking, nor does it make it mature and wise and healthy for her to submit to the whims of the world like that.

But anyway, only one gripe. Day was mag-fracking-nificent because he loses everything and he fights. He fights because it is the only thing he can do. He loves so much he is destroyed, his family is ripped to shreds and he fights and he fights and he fights and the willpower in this one character is so intimidatingly inspiring I don't understand how to word it correctly. Everything he does to protect Eden, how he basically changes the ENTIRE WORLD with his love, including Anden from turning into a monster and June from losing herself. When he began forgetting things? That's when I knew. Spoiler alert: That's when I knew who the real enemy was and that the Chancellor was nothing but a plot device and nothing was ever going to be okay again.

Ugh and the PLOT! The plot had around five billion intricate lengths all woven into a fabulous, fabulous cloth which I pour my tears into. Everything came together perfectly.
The ending was so perfect. It leaves you with the succulent taste of 'I really don't know what's going to happen' but everything that isn't said is implied and the struggle between these two boarders and the war between them is a story only for your minds.

- Marlon

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