Respect the Legend. Idolize the Prodigy. Celebrate the Champion. But never underestimate the Rebel.
With unmatched suspense and her signature cinematic storytelling, #1 New York Times–bestselling author Marie Lu plunges readers back into the unforgettable world of Legend for a truly grand finale.
Eden Wing has been living in his brother’s shadow for years. Even though he’s a top student at his academy in Ross City, Antarctica, and a brilliant inventor, most people know him only as Daniel Wing’s little brother.
A decade ago, Daniel was known as Day, the boy from the streets who led a revolution that saved the Republic of America. But Day is no longer the same young man who was once a national hero. These days he’d rather hide out from the world and leave his past behind. All that matters to him now is keeping Eden safe―even if that also means giving up June, the great love of Daniel’s life.
As the two brothers struggle to accept who they’ve each become since their time in the Republic, a new danger creeps into the distance that’s grown between them. Eden soon finds himself drawn so far into Ross City’s dark side, even his legendary brother can’t save him. At least not on his own . . .

Call me a believer because my faith in sequels for series-that-should-have-ended has returned.

My honest opinion of books like these? Fanservice. But! But, Marie Lu did leave a lot of things unfinished at the end of her Legend Trilogy, especially the outcome of June x Day reunion ten years later, so I actually took my skepticism goggles of and decided to give this release a shot as more than just a lengthy closure.

It’s been ten years since he escaped the Republic’s cruel experimentation labs and Eden’s still living in his Day’s shadow from his past days as Republic’s hero. He is the brightest and most accomplished student in the entire Ross City, but wherever he goes he can’t escape from being called “the brother”. Ross City is all bright and shiny – Antarctica is the world’s most prospective nation, or well, only for those who live on the good side of the town. The Level System isn’t as fair as it seems, and the disaffected population of Undercity is getting bigger. Aside from mob, drugs and crime lords, it is mostly known for street drone races, by which young Eden feels slowly attracted to as the only place where his talent is truly appreciated. He found the way out from his demons in the thrill and glory of building the best drone on the streets, but breaking the law is getting kind of hard when his brother is working for the Antartica’s Intelligence System. Day only wishes his rebellious brother was the only problem, but a vicious and coldblooded murderer Dominic Hann has found his way on the top of the Undercity and has a few interesting ideas about changing the way of the Level System. In the time of June and Elector Primo’s arrival, things quickly escalate from bad to terrible.


Marie Lu is one of my favorite YA authors and reading this book reminded me precisely why. Her simple and easygoing writing makes any story and every scene readable – her words feel so ridiculously natural, her stories flow like rivers of thoughts she puts together exactly like she wants them to be. Her work is so easy to follow, interesting but not overwhelming, with just the right amount of dynamic action and character development. I devoured this book, if not for anything else, then for the thrilling descriptions of the underworld, new scraps of Lu’s old, but never forgotten the dystopian world and Eden’s desperate fight between the things he believes in and the right thing to do.

Despite my infinite love for this book’s plot and framework, I felt like I couldn’t connect myself with it completely. For the most part, it goes back to characters and my utter disinterest in almost anything about them. June and Day, as the old heroes and guys I still have mixed feelings about, shouldn’t have such an important role in a story ten years after their time, but they managed to find themselves in the center of the action, yet again. It’s not that I have anything in particular against them, but except for Day’s recovery and their final getting together after ten years, they should have been sided so Eden gets some spotlight. And there is Eden, who is probably one of the least interesting characters I’ve read in a while and his love interest whose name I’ve already forgotten. The former has changed his personality about 20 times in the course of the book, while the latter has no personality at all and is just there for the mere purpose of a nice cute girlfriend. I know I’m mean, but I really couldn’t see anything that will interest me in these characters’ development.

It was a nice addition to the Legend trilogy, although it could’ve gone without it. I still don’t know how I feel about this book, but I wasn’t a big fan of Legend either so I guess that settles it. It was nice to get some closure after that sad-ish love story, even if it was a bit of fanservice.