Waiting on Wednesday, 9/25/13

Waiting on Wednesday, hosted at Breaking the Spine, is a weekly meme to feature prerelease books that we bloggers can't wait for. This week my pick is CHAMPION by Marie Lu.

CHAMPION is the conclusion to the trilogy that began with Legend and was followed by Prodigy. I read the first two books in two days over my spring break, and holy wow did I love them. I cannot WAIT to see how June and Day's story ends!

From goodreads: (beware spoilers for Legend/Prodigy)

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. With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion.

What are you waiting on this week?

Book Thoughts: Legend

Title: Legend
Author: Marie Lu
Series: Legend #1

I think I could read about Day and June forever. Very rarely can authors write a novel from two alternating first-person perspectives and actually sound like it’s two different people telling the story, but Marie Lu pulls it off brilliantly. Day and June are so different from each other but so strikingly similar, and they just sucked me in and I want to know what happens to them and ahhh I can’t wait for the third book. Okay moving on.

I loved the world-building in this. I was super confused at first as to exactly where the Republic and the Colonies were, but I always knew as much as I needed to in order to follow the story, and you only discover it slowly because it means nothing to Day and June — which only makes the dystopia that more chilling, but I’ll spare you my ramble about that. I loved (in a purely literary sense) the way the Republic was structured, I loved the way the characters interacted with the Republic, and I found myself far more emotionally invested than I ever meant to be.

I read — or maybe the better word is “devoured” — this one and the sequel, Prodigy, back to back over the span of three days, so I am super excited for the release of Champion. If you haven’t gotten your hands on this series yet, what are you still waiting for?!