Rebel: A Legend Novel (Legend, 4) Hardcover – October 1, 2019

I want to preface this review by saying that this is my all-time favorite YA series and one of my favorite series overall. Legend, Prodigy, and Champion are a work of art and so engaging that I find myself wanting to reread them time and again. No other books have ever connected me so well to a fictional word and Day and June are probably the most dynamic, impactful, and memorable characters I have ever read.Needless to say, when I found out about Rebel, I wasted no time in preordering it.That being said……I find that an honest list of pros and cons is necessary for this addition purely because it is a little different than the first three books.**Spoilers Ahead**PROS:Writing – The author does an incredible job of delving into the hearts and minds of our protagonists. When I read her work, I can really feel and connect with what the characters are experiencing. Her descriptions are simple yet vivid and the dialogue is about as realistic as one can achieve on paper. Each character has their own voice and their own mindset and she shows this in the craft of her writing.Eden – I had expected that the usual dual-perspective would be told by Daniel and Eden instead of Daniel and June. I secretly hoped June would have told the other half, but I really enjoyed getting to know Eden better. This book is definitely Eden's story (which is why I say it's a little different than the original trilogy). He became a very relatable character and I understood his struggles. While nobody can replace June, Eden did a fine job of telling us his side of the story.Plus his fight at the end with Dominic Hann was just pure awesomeness.Daniel – while to me he will always be Day, I believe that Daniel Altan Wing is (and probably always will be) one of the most objectively relatable characters to ever exist within the pages of a novel. Everything that happens to him, everything he does……you just feel it. You understand what he’s going through. He is my favorite protagonist I have ever read. I love him. That being said......he's a little different in this book, overshadowed (in a small way) by his younger brother Eden.But still......he's Daniel Altan Wing. He's Day.June – I was so worried that June would only make a short cameo in this novel. Not so. She played a vital role in this story and am very pleased with her screen time.Drone Races – a fitting tribute to my beloved Skiz fights of Legend with an Antarctican twist. Very nice.The Ending - ……I have no words for this. Just read it. I don’t honestly think it could have been more perfect.CONS:Slow Start – admittedly, this novel started far slower than the other three. Obviously a certain degree of Antarctican world building had to take place, and we had to get brought up to speed on the new lives of Daniel and Eden but outside of the drone racing, not much happens in this book until you’re at the midway point. There is a sense of foreboding with Eden’s involvement in the Undercity and some tension with the rebuilding of the relationship between Daniel and June, but nothing that makes your stomach squirm in anticipation to find out more. Unfortunately, not quite the page turner that Legend was until much farther into the book (of course it picks up very nicely in the second half).The Level System – I’m with Daniel on this one: Antarctica’s Level system sucks. Not just for the citizens of the Undercity, but just how inconsistent it was throughout the novel. There are so many instances where I would expect points to be added or lowered in certain situations, but none of that happens. Daniel kissing June? That should be some points. Attending a special gala? Got to be something there. Maybe even something as simple as the heated arguments between Daniel and Eden. Shouldn’t they lose a couple? If watering a plant will give you +1, I have to believe that these few examples warrant something.Unless all this leveling up is implied? We’re never told and never find out.I also find it hard to believe that it is so difficult for people in the Undercity to raise their level. Simply doing beneficial things for yourself or others seems like a pretty straightforward road to the Sky Floors. This implies that all the people in the Undercity are criminals which simply isn’t true. The Level system sounds like a cool idea but in the writing, it becomes difficult to enforce on a page-by-page basis.Shallow Characters – ok……building a diverse cast of deep and meaningful characters can be a difficult feat when your story is in 1st person. Even with a dual perspective, this is not easily achieved (especially here within the span of only one book). However, this is exactly what happened in the first three books with Tess, Kaede, Thomas, Anden, Commander Jameson, and even Pascao. These characters were all developed from the perspectives of Day and June and each of them was unique and memorable in their own way. Not quite in Rebel. We get a few glimpses of Pressa and Dominic Hann and who they are, but that’s all it is: glimpses. Nobody else introduced really matters.Overall, this book was a superb sequel that wrapped up the questions about life after Legend and where the future sees our beloved characters. The ending was emotional, gripping, and I am so glad to have embarked on this journey from the very beginning when I first picked up Legend. Two big thumbs up.

Book was everything I expected and more both physically and story-wise!

I thought I loved the trilogy of Day and June...it was SO nice to find that there was another installment featuring Eden and Daniel after that. My wife got me the trilogy back in I think 2015 after Christmas, after I had finished The Hunger Games. I wasn't sure I wanted to read it. I tried, and then it just dropped off my radar. But I picked it back up this past fall and couldn't put it down...then I discovered that Rebel was added onto the trilogy (essentially)! Loved it. Eden, Pressa, Dominic Hahn, June, Antarctica, Anden, the Republic, so many characters and places that were so great from the original books (plus the new additions like Pressa and Hahn), and I love the names she uses for her characters too. Well-written, swelling with tension and purpose. Another great read from Marie Lu!

I finally picked up Marie Lu's Rebel, the epic finale to her Legend trilogy turned quartet that further expands the dystopian world she created almost ten years ago! Since I hadn't read the series in years, I decided to do the quick and dirty re-read by re-reading the graphic novels, which really did help with recapping everything that happened in the original trilogy and I was of course brought back to tears when things ended ten years later and June and Day were finally meeting again after Day's memories had been missing. Although this time we get Daniel aka Day and his brother, Eden's point of views.Daniel and Eden have made a life for themselves in Antarctica. Daniel works for the ASI, an elite police force, if you will and Eden is finishing up college, being a prodigy himself. Though, Eden has always struggled to connect with people. The "kids" his age are more bullies than comrades. His only friend is Pressa, the janitor at the college. But Antarctica has its own series of rules where everyone has their points and the more good you do, the more privileges you have. Since Pressa comes from the "wrong side of the tracks" she pretty much has no privileges.Then one day Eden and Pressa decide to partake in illegal drone races in the Undercity in order to win some money. Pressa wants to help buy her ailing father medicine, for that is one of the "privileges" only afforded to those who can earn points. It's there that they meet Hann Dominic who agrees to be Eden's sponsor in the races. But what Eden doesn't realize is that Dominic is not a good guy at all.Daniel is actually working to bring Dominic in. He's a notorious crime lord who has hurt and killed many people all for his own gain. And now, he has his sights set on Eden to help him with his evil plans!What I found so amazing about this book was really how no character in this story is a teenager anymore. In fact, I was surprised we were still calling this a YA novel since our past heroes are in their late 20s and Eden and Pressa are in their early 20s. Talk about trippy! Lol. It was still as enticing and intriguing as the original dystopian trilogy though.And of course, what would this book be without June! June makes a return as well. She pays a visit to Daniel and Eden while on assignment with Anden, the Republic leader. And through Daniel's point of view chapters we learn that he and June have reconnected since that tiny moment after Champion. This book actually starts just a few weeks after that moment.I think the saddest thing of all was how June and Daniel spent an entire decade apart before reconnecting. I get that Daniel's memories weren't all the way there anymore and June was going to let him restart his life, but still it was so tragic. And yet, Daniel remembered June even if only in the vaguest recollections.This story was also for Eden as well. For years he grew up being Daniel's little brother and he was just a young man trying to find himself, trying to find his place in the world. He wanted to help people, just like he did as a kid.The story definitely had its highs and lows. It's been awhile since I read a dystopian, so I guess I wasn't prepared for all the "normalcy" even with the high tech. I still enjoyed every moment of it, mostly because I was positively dying to see how things were going to truly end this time. We were given that tease of a hopeful happy ending for Daniel and June in the Champion, so naturally with an add-on to the trilogy, you were really wanting the HEA ending, for Eden too.This is definitely a book to read if you read the original trilogy as it pretty much picks up where we left things back then. It would not be an easy read to dive into if you never read the previous books. True, the story revolves partially around Eden, it also has Daniel and June there too. The Legend quartet was an action packed amazing dystopian series that I would highly recommend if you were looking for that edgy kind of read!Overall Rating 4/5 stars

I was pleasantly surprised to see a fourth book released for a series I already owned and loved. A great read. ☺️

Eine tolle Geschichte 😭😍Und ein tolles Ende 🥹Diesen Abschluss hab ich gebraucht 😊🤩Die story hat mich mit gerissen

Eu amo toda a série! E depois de tanto tempo poder entrar nesse universo novamente foi incrível. A interação entre Daniel e Eden foi muito legal, e ver que mesmo após 10 anos a vida deles não é perfeita, que ainda existem muitas cicatrizes e traumas, porque a vida real é assim, não dá pra simplesmente esquecer tudo que eles passaram. E poder ver Daniel e June juntos novamente me fez lembrar porque eu amava tanto essa série! Só amor por esses personagens! Eu ainda quero mais, não tô satisfeita!

Todavía no lo leo pero para empezar la portada del libro me encanta y lo estaba esperando con ansia este libro, ya que la trilogía de Legend se quedó por decirlo muy casual y yo necesito más información.

On the one hand, this Rebel novel was addictive. I NEEDED to know what was going to happen between June and Day. It had been years since I had not feel that urge to know while reading. For that, Rebel is great.On the other hand, Champion's end was so heartbreaking while full of hope. It was a perfection, a flood of emotions. The Legend triology is a whole and Champion was written to be its end. Rebel has something less in comparison with Legend, Prodigy and Champion. Less original, less powerful, less spellbinding, less new. For this, Rebel is disappointing, just like it always be when an author keeps writing about characters when their story had already run out. The story behind Rebel is lovely, but that's all.To conclude, I loved Rebel because it rides the wave of the love story between Day and June, but otherwise it is kind of insipid if you compare it to the Legend trilogy.