Prodigy (Marie Lu novel)

Prodigy
Author Marie Lu
Country United States
Language English
Series Legend, the Series
Genre Dystopian, young adult
Publisher G. P. Putnam's Sons
Publication date
January 29, 2013
Media type Print (Hardcover)
Pages 374
ISBN 0399256768
Preceded by Legend
Followed by Champion

Prodigy is a 2013 dystopian young adult novel by Marie Lu. It is the second book of a trilogy, preceded by Legend [1] and followed by Champion.

Plot

Prodigy begins with Day and June traveling in the military city of Las Vegas to make contact with the Patriots. Day acts like he is a drunk soldier to hide his injured leg in order not to blow his cover; June acts as his escort. When they arrive in Vegas they are shocked by an announcement from the Republic government that the supreme leader, the Elector Primo, has died. According to regulation, the Elector's successor, in this case his son Anden, immediately assumes office without a period of mourning.

They are discovered by the Patriot rebel Kaede and brought to the office of a high ranking Republic officer, Agent DeSoto, who leads the Patriots under the name Razor. The two use their statuses as celebrities to work out a deal with the Patriots: in exchange for helping to find Day's younger brother Eden, fixing Day's severely injured leg, and migrating to the Eastern Colonies of America, Day and June agree will aid the Patriots in assassinating the new Elector.

June is taken to a Vegas airship hub, wherein she is discovered on purpose by a team of Republic officers, led by her former friend Thomas, whom she despises as he murdered her brother Metias. Day, after having his leg fixed, is sent to the northern warfront city of Lamar. Before they part, Day gives June a ring that he has fashioned out of paperclips.

June is handcuffed and questioned by Thomas. June realizes that Metias loved Thomas, although this relationship was forbidden as they served in the military together. This only inflates her fury at Thomas for the murder. June requests to be taken to the new Elector, as part of the Patriots' plan, but she disguises the request by saying she has important information for him.

Kaede shows Day a series of tunnels running under the warfront between the Republic and the Colonies. Day also gets a glimpse of the world outside the Republic, as Republic citizens live lives sheltered by their country's lies. Much of the world is underwater, due to a shift in the sun that saw the South Pole melt away. The major world superpowers are Africa, China, and Antarctica. The Republic is viewed as a heavily militarized secretive aggressive state.

June is taken to the capital city of Denver, a snow-covered city protected by a large shield war known as the Armor. There, she meets the new Elector, Anden, and is surprised by how different he is from his late father. Anden faces heavy opposition from the Republic Senate, who wish to maintain their control over the nation. June informs him of an assassination plot, a decoy to gain his trust, and works to do just that so that she can lead the Elector into the real assassination location.

June eventually manages to convince the Elector that the decoy assassination is real, and receives a pardon from the Republic. As she spends more time with Anden she realizes how different he is from his father and the power-hungry Senate and how he wishes to change the nation. She also notices that he is falling for her, a fact which becomes obvious after he kisses her. Anden wishes to remove the Trial system that divides the nation and also make the Republic a better place. June begins to have doubts, and attempts to send a signal to Day to stop the assassination attempt.

Anden tells June about how the Republic began and how its intentions were good in the early years. Global flooding submerged most of the Eastern United States under water, and anarchy reigned as thousands fled into the west. The Republic was formed by the military to establish order, and the Easterners were blocked off. Soon, though, the military gained too much power and the Trials, originally optional and fair, became mandatory, biased, and were used as a means of population control as all who failed were killed. Anden wants to change the Republic and bring it back to the way it used to be. June is further convinced that Anden is not a threat and repeats her signal to Day.

Day, meanwhile, is sent on a mission by the Patriots to make a fake attack on a train to provide proof that there was in fact an assassination attempt. Day makes himself known to soldiers to feed the rumor amongst the people that he lives. He has mixed feelings about June's warning signal–how far does he mean for her to go? After seeing Anden and June's kiss on camera (audio was unfortunately removed) he suspects she might only want him to stop because she is in love with Anden.

While Day is jealous of Anden, Tess is jealous of June. Day protected her while she was on the streets for years and has been influenced by a Patriot Runner named Baxter that June is a double agent. Tess's feelings for Day only make the tension between the two even worse. The two argue and never fully resolve their issues, but Tess forgives Day.

Day finds a train carriage where a young boy is contained in a large glass enclosure. At first Day thinks the boy is his younger brother Eden, but he is wrong. He figures out that the Republic is using victims of the mutated plague as biological warfare against the Colonies. When Republic soldiers begin approaching Day is forced to abandon the boy, but swears that he will kill Anden.

The day of the assassination arrives and June decides that she must prevent the assassination. June, who has been ill, pretends to faint, but against the orders of the Elector, Commander DeSoto (Razor) orders the car to continue along the assassination route.

June makes an appearance and stops the assassination, forcing her and Day, only just reunited, to flee. They make their way to one of the tunnels that connects the Colonies and the Republic. They destroy the Republic entrance and make shelter in a bunker.

June and Day have a fierce fight. Day tells June he is jealous of her relationship with Anden, annoyed that she forced him to separate from the Patriots, and angry because a part of him still holds her responsible for his mother's and his brother's deaths. He also thinks June is still on the Republic's side. June argued, but nothing she says changes his mind and they seek peace a bit away from each other. In an attempt to soften him, June teaches him to fight. It works and they forgive each other, but June grows very ill.

Day carries June to the other end of the tunnel and out into the Colonies. The Colonies city they emerge into is much like they dreamed, an enormous shining metropolis. However, they realize that it is not as perfect as they thought, and that the Colonies is a heavily consumer dominated, corporate police state.

They are taken to a hospital, and Day is ousted due to his being a celebrity. Day discovers that Kaede has come through to the Colonies as well. As June dreams and works it out for herself, Day is informed that the leader of the Patriots, Razor, is in fact working for the Republic. The Republic Senate, angry with the new Elector's changes, wished to remove the Elector, and used Razor to do so. However, Anden survived, and many Patriots were arrested.

June passes out at the hospital in Tribune City, Colonies of America. Later when she wakes up, she is captured by Colonies soldiers, June is handcuffed to a bed and she manages to escape from the cuffs using the paperclip ring. Kaede, June, and Day escape from Colonies soldiers who wish to sell them to a military company as prisoners of war. Kaede, a former Colonies pilot, takes them to a jet, and flies to the Republic.

Kaede maneuvers the jet through a train tunnel in the great Armor wall and the trio crash in Denver, though Kaede does not survive the gunfire that follows. It is obvious that something is amok, and they realize that the Elector is losing control while the Senate sits back and lets the Republic fall as the public revolt.

Day climbs to the top of the Capitol building (the same building Anden is in) and wins over the Republic by telling them he supports the new Elector.

In the aftermath, most of the Senate is arrested, and the military is shaken by the removal and arrest of many high-ranking officials. Day is reunited with his younger brother Eden. But he is also informed by a doctor that the experiments done by the Republic when he was younger have left him with an illness that will imminently kill him.

June is asked by the Elector to become his Princeps, the leader of the Senate and his second in command. She wishes to deny as she would never see Day, but Day informs her that she should take the position, and that a relationship between them would be impossible, leaving out the truth that he is dying. June is confused and upset, but Day doesn't want her to have to deal with the pain of his death. He kisses an agonized June before he leaves.

Characters

Critical reception

The novel has been warmly received by critics. In The Los Angeles Times, Sara Scribner wrote, "Marie Lu has beaten the curse with 'Prodigy,' the second book in the 'Legend' series...Unlike 'The Hunger Games,' which delivers its adrenaline rush by giving kids bows and arrows, this series' power is derived through its layered atmospheres and the way its characters reflect and fight their worlds — and one another. With 'Prodigy,' Lu proves that a Book Two needn't play second fiddle, providing intrigue and deep pleasure all its own."[2] The trade publication Publishers Weekly gave Prodigy a starred review. "June and Day were once divided by ignorance and circumstance; now they are held apart by principle and choice. The portrayal of their dilemma is taut and insightful, and while the story line resembles a high plateau of tension rather than a conventional arc, there are enough unfolding questions to propel the narrative to its aching ending." [3] Kirkus Reviews also gave the novel a favorable review, writing that "The pathos of Day and June's erstwhile romance shines through without detracting from the tension of their rebellion; both riveting action and entertaining characterization keep their quest engaging." [4] Legend also went to number two on the The New York Times Best Seller list, underneath The Fault in Our Stars.[5]

References

  1. Legend. Legend The Series. G. P. Putnam's Sons. Note: Also includes information about Prodigy.
  2. Sara Scribner, "In 'Prodigy,' Marie Lu burnishes her 'Legend' series," The Los Angeles Times, 24 January 2013.
  3. "Prodigy". Publishers Weekley. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  4. "Prodigy". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  5. "Best Sellers - The New York Times". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2015-10-27.

External links

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