Emdawg's Book Blog: Champion by Marie Lu

Title: Champion
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher: Penguin
Published: November 5, 2013
Genre: Young Adult / Dystopia
Source: Bought - Easons

He is a Legend.

She is a Prodigy.

Who will be Champion?

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps Elect while Day has been assigned a high level military position. But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them once again.

Just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything he has.

I thought I knew what I was getting into when I decided to read this trilogy. It seems most, if not all Dystopian endings nowadays, are written to tear your heart out!

'Champion' starts off with our protagonists Day and June, dealing with the aftermath of the previous book, 'Prodigy'. The various plots are set in place very early on in the book, which I liked because sometimes when books wander too much in the beginning, I tend to loose interest and the next thing I know, I'm moving onto a new book! On the flip-side, however, the bad part of it was that we, the readers, were left quite depressed really. You know, with Day's illness constantly getting worse, and his actively separating from June. Oh, let's not forget the war between the Republic and the Colonies either. Altogether, though I liked that we weren't left hanging for long in the beginning, and that the plots as a whole flowed perfectly, it kinda made me sad to read on.

Speaking of Day's illness (I'm not exactly sure if it was cancer or not), am I the only one who was a little disappointed with our protagonists this time around? Firstly, I hated the way Day felt compelled to distance himself from June because he was sick. I understood his excuse for doing it and got the impression that he wanted to be the hero, but it made me really frustrated to read the chapters where they were kind of ignoring each other! If he'd told June earlier on, about his diagnosis and stuff, maybe he would've been taken to Antarctica or something. That's probably just me selfishly wanting them to spend more time together, but I don't care haha!

We really got to see into our characters more in this book. We've always known that Day is a family guy, but getting his brother back, getting Eden back really brought this side of him into focus. The same goes for June. The executions of Commander Jameson and Thomas, or the time leading up to the executions, really impacted June and brought back memories of her brothers. The way we see the protective and slightly selfish sides of Day, we see a more vulnerable side to June. This break from our previously known awesome-around-the-clock characters shows that they are almost real people. It was brilliant!
I don't want to dwell too much on the two protagonists, because I also thought the other characters were brilliant! It's hard to pick just a few, but as for the likes of Tess, and Eden, and Anden, and Thomas, they were all really well-developed too, and made the story that much better!

The Legend trilogy has already shown great world building, but this last book took it to a whole new level of awesomeness! I didn't think we'd be allowed to see outside of the Republic and the Colonies, but man was I wrong! Of course I'm talking about Antarctica! The brief world-building in the rebuilt country was just fantastic! I watched a booktalk on Youtube, by Cristine, and she said that life in the new Antarctica was like a video game, and I couldn't agree more! It was so cool, how everyone in Antarctica was ranked by their points are the points system was used to keep bad behavior under wraps! It just seems like a really clever idea, and very futuristic!
Africa too! We didn't get to see any of it, but hearing that Africa was one of the most advanced countries was so different and really interesting to read!

Okay, onto what really matters. The ending.. agh! I've read many many reviews, claiming that the ending was unsatisfactory, and I agree to an extent. Yes I would have liked Day to get over the amnesia and he and June could walk off into the sunset, hand in hand and into a brighter tomorrow, but after all that happens, is it really realistic? You could argue that dystopians aren't supposed to be realistic, but come on, it just wouldn't have had the same impact on you. It's the same thing as the end of the Divergent trilogy. The ending that the author gave could have been happier but it might not have been better. So that's why I loved how Champion ended. Oh and anyway, it was completely up to how you perceived it. I don't know about you guys, but in my mind, June and Day did fall in love again.

Alright, with all that said, I think I've gotten my opinions across. I loved this book, even what you can argue were 'flaws', and thought that the trilogy ended perfectly! Definitely recommend it!