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?

Uhh, guys, you know what always warms my heart – when sequel I had low expectations for turns out to be better than the first book!

June and Day's story continues two weeks after Day's escape from Republic prison. His leg is getting worse and the two of them are running out of options. They find shelter in Patriots headquarters, but their help isn't free of cost. In order to get Day's brother Eden out of laboratories, they have to risk everything and agree to help patriots assassinate young Elector.

After 2/3 books I am still not a big fan of the Legend series, but this time I actually got interested in the plot and fate of the characters. Marie Lu managed to throw me in this book with her amazing, ever-improving writing. I know Legend are first books she has ever written (and I am a good 7 years late by reading this just now xd) and I can see the development and improvement in her style, as well as her growth as an author. During Legend I've been having difficulties with fluency of the narrative and descriptions, but reading Prodigy was surprisingly easy and the story went naturally, even though for the first 70% or so nothing actually happens.

The weakest part of this sequel was definitely the plot. As I said nothing really happens until the actual execution of the assassination, the rest of the time they just plan it. I wasn't particularly impressed with dystopian pattern of teenagers fighting against totalitaristic government alongside with some secret rebel organization, but *spoiler* I liked where the ending has gone. I definitely did not expect that plot twist with Razor and it brings the last book and the finale of this trilogy in an interesting place. 

I started even enjoying this futuristic world Lu created as soon as I found out more about the history of the United States, Republic, and the Colonies. Political schemes and intrigues grow more complex and Lu created quite a political scene in there. While in Legend there wasn't much more than people against Republic's tyranny, now there is young but ambitious Elector who wants to change things for better, surrounded by Senators who want him dead so they can keep Republic as it was. Then they are patriots, who want to unite Republic and Colonies into once glorious United Stated, well, but Colonies have a bit different idea about the fate of the Republic. As I said before, there are a lot of sides, which severely adds to the intensity of the plot and has a question opening at all times: where will Day and June find themselves among these parties?

I'm still not feeling overly attached to the characters, but I can say I am not feeling so indifferent about them anymore. June and Day were developed more and I started to like them, although I really can't see them as a couple, there is just noooo chemistry. I haven't noticed how cool June actually is - little military badass, super-smart and brave and not to mention she has the cutest dog. She started thinking for herself and fighting for her beliefs no matter what anyone says. Besides them, Lu brings several new characters in the story, like Anden – the ultimate cinnamon roll, who is the best character in this book so far, and some Patriots, including Tess, who gets to play an annoying possessive bitch (seriously tho she could have done so much more with her character and whole jealousy towards June was badly written).

I'm not regretting my decision to keep reading this, especially because books aren't too long and easy to read. Also, I felt kind of embarrassed for not reading this before.