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bculver's review against another edition
4.0
Hard to get into at first but once I got into it was hard to put down! Has me wanting more though.
debi_g's review against another edition
On the one hand, I was fully invested and living this story as I read it. This is likely because it involves a path I could easily have taken: environmental activism and alternative colleges magnetized the teen me.
Elements of the writing style did pull me out of the story from time to time. For instance, the narrator sometimes refers to characters as "kids," and the late teen characters certainly would not have thought of each other in that way. There are also a few anachronisms, like the slang "cool cool." Likewise, there are places when the narration slips from first to second person: "I know what to say: I don't have to think about it every time. You just tell the truth, over and over, until it doesn't scare you anymore...Nobody taught me this. I taught myself."
As far as the language and behavior, none of it seemed out of the realm of realism. People act out. People seek comfort. If anything, the main character is surprisingly straight and narrow among those who revere deviance as a substitute for strength.
Elements of the writing style did pull me out of the story from time to time. For instance, the narrator sometimes refers to characters as "kids," and the late teen characters certainly would not have thought of each other in that way. There are also a few anachronisms, like the slang "cool cool." Likewise, there are places when the narration slips from first to second person: "I know what to say: I don't have to think about it every time. You just tell the truth, over and over, until it doesn't scare you anymore...Nobody taught me this. I taught myself."
As far as the language and behavior, none of it seemed out of the realm of realism. People act out. People seek comfort. If anything, the main character is surprisingly straight and narrow among those who revere deviance as a substitute for strength.
jackie_recommends's review
4.0
So I believe I've figured out why I've been having such a tough time with YA recently: I keep choosing fantasy over rl and thrillers. We all know how hard it is to successfully word-build, and to not fall into overdone tropes and plots. Nowadays I feel like all of the ya fantasy I've been picking up has been exactly that- obvious, overdone, and obsequious (big word, but I have to go for the alliteration over here). You get my drift, drifty?
Meanwhile, I pick up books like Legacy (provided as an ARC through the publisher and my fellow teen librarian), and I'm in love. This felt real, and raw, and it made me think, reminding me of growing up and all of the crazy 90's punk and grunge things I was so enamored with (but never actually did, because my ma would kill me haha).
Legacy is set in the early 90's, and the main character is *for sure* 90's grunge allllllll the way. SHE PAINTS HER NAILS WITH WHITE OUT Y'ALL. Who else did that? Ok, maybe that's not totally grunge, but Allison is definitely the type of character who will make you smirk if you're a true 90's baby such as I.
After her boyfriend gets in a fight with his dad and gets kicked out, the two (and a tagalong named Dirtrat...yes. You read that right...) find themselves on a trek up to Cascades National park to join a group of radical environmentalists trying to stop loggers from clear-cutting the old growth up there.
What ensues is classic character growth and self-discovery, as well as a description of the woods that makes me want to run away and go live in a tree top.
In short, between the heavy dose of nostalgia and wanderlust, I appreciated this book and how different it's been from what I keep picking up.
Meanwhile, I pick up books like Legacy (provided as an ARC through the publisher and my fellow teen librarian), and I'm in love. This felt real, and raw, and it made me think, reminding me of growing up and all of the crazy 90's punk and grunge things I was so enamored with (but never actually did, because my ma would kill me haha).
Legacy is set in the early 90's, and the main character is *for sure* 90's grunge allllllll the way. SHE PAINTS HER NAILS WITH WHITE OUT Y'ALL. Who else did that? Ok, maybe that's not totally grunge, but Allison is definitely the type of character who will make you smirk if you're a true 90's baby such as I.
After her boyfriend gets in a fight with his dad and gets kicked out, the two (and a tagalong named Dirtrat...yes. You read that right...) find themselves on a trek up to Cascades National park to join a group of radical environmentalists trying to stop loggers from clear-cutting the old growth up there.
What ensues is classic character growth and self-discovery, as well as a description of the woods that makes me want to run away and go live in a tree top.
In short, between the heavy dose of nostalgia and wanderlust, I appreciated this book and how different it's been from what I keep picking up.
thisgrrlreads's review
3.0
We go back to the 90s in the Pacific Northwest for this tale of growing into yourself. Allison has had a crappy couple of years since her brother died while driving drunk. Her father left, her mother has been drinking, Allison has just been getting by--getting good grades so she can take her brother's scholarship to UCSB and not making any lasting connections. She's got Jeff, the guy she's dating, who is not into the man or capitalism, and doesn't work. Somehow, this ends them up in a situation where they go to a Free State, protecting Legacy--a thousand year old redwood tree. And then Allison finally has some space to breathe, think and realize what she wants for her own life.
It is that emotional journey that Allison takes that is so important here. And it isn't just emotions--she's realizing what restrictions society puts on people. Even on people like Jeff and the rest of the dudes hanging out at the school bus at the Free State. They are still worried about status and who's in charge even though they pretend to be free and throwing off the shackles of the man. I loved watching Allison grow here, especially in the shade of so many redwoods. This isn't really a book about a cause, but more a book about what fighting for a cause can do for you.
It is that emotional journey that Allison takes that is so important here. And it isn't just emotions--she's realizing what restrictions society puts on people. Even on people like Jeff and the rest of the dudes hanging out at the school bus at the Free State. They are still worried about status and who's in charge even though they pretend to be free and throwing off the shackles of the man. I loved watching Allison grow here, especially in the shade of so many redwoods. This isn't really a book about a cause, but more a book about what fighting for a cause can do for you.
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