Champion - Marie Lu

⭐ 5.0/10

(Originally written by KathleenQ)

(Third and final book in the Legend series)

This is the first book I finished in 2021. I started several others but couldn't finish them -- I was just having bad luck finding the right fit. So I finally FORCED myself to push though this one just so I had something to put on my list, even though it was solidly meh. (As were the first two books in the series. They were both so mediocre I waited years in between each one, always hoping the next one would prove better, but always being disappointed.)

It's a YA dystopian novel, which is usually my jam, but the characters, plot, and writing are all profoundly unexceptional. (There are MULTIPLE instances of a character gripping something so tightly their knuckles go white, and the narrator even uses the actual words, "The silence was deafening.") The POV switches back and forth between the two main characters, a teen girl and boy who have extraordinary talents for, like, combat and spy...stuff. I never cared what happened to either of them. It takes places in a future United States that has divided into two major warring nations -- the Republic and the Colonies.

I'm too bored to even explain more. Go ahead and skip the series. I just wanted to prove that I have read a book this year. I have multiple degrees in literature, goddammit.