June and Day are one of my favorite couples. What has always been special about this series is the characterizations of these two. I want good things for June and Day SO BADLY!
In Champion, the Republic is again on the brink of war with the Colonies. It seems that the Colonies believe that the Republic has infected their population with the plague, and the Colonies are demanding the cure or else. Well, there IS no cure. This is the main problem I have with Champion. The Colonies could have found out that there is no cure. I'm not going to say how, but several times during the book I thought, "See, that should be how they find out there is no cure." This isn't a huge issue with Champion, and I still really enjoyed it, but I didn't get the whole threat thing. It made no sense. At the end, where we find out more about why they don't have a cure, well, that just made it more confusing to me.
OK. Lets get on to the good stuff. June and Day have to do their own thing. Day has to protect his little brother, Eden. He's also very sick himself, so he's dealing with a lot. June, because she's Princeps-Elect, has to follow Anden around like a puppy. But June and Day manage to get enough time alone to really make some progress in their relationship, and I loved it.
I enjoyed the re-appearance of some old characters, and how they also grew up and matured. The
The ending confrontation was tense and pretty painful. Champion didn't end the way I wanted it to. But rarely does an author end a book the way I want them to, and if they do, I complain that it was "predictable." So, go figure. Anyway, I liked the ending. It was good. Appropriate. I just have to keep telling myself, "Annette, you are NOT the author! You don't get to decide!"
Well, you MUST read Champion if you've read the first two books, Legend and Prodigy. And, if you haven't begun the Legend series, and you are at all interested in dystopians, this is one of the BEST series out there. I'm so sad to see them go. But as Lu says in her acknowledgements, "They are off to live beyond the confines of the trilogy; I am left waving to them from the sidelines." I love that.
Published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, November 5, 2013
Copy obtained from the library
369 pages
Rating: 4/5
Haha, I totally understand needing to remind yourself that you are not the author—I have to do that all the time, especially with big series endings. I thought this was a realistic and overall satisfying ending for June and Day. They are one of my all-time favorite YA couples, and anything less wouldn't have been acceptable for me. It didn't quite go down the way I hoped, but I was satisfied in the end. Lovely review!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Champion too! It was a really great end to the series and I loved June and Day in this. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who wasn't happy with the ending and wanted it to end a completely different way.
ReplyDelete