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A review by calistacyq
Life Before Legend by Marie Lu
5.0
Starring the protagonists of the Legend trilogy, Life Before Legend by Marie Lu consists of 2 short stories, featuring 12-year-old Day and June respectively.
Summary: Before June and Day met, they were two children living in two different worlds. Here are two short stories: one about Day's first real kiss, and the other about June's first day at Drake University.
Tropes/Genres:
• dystopia
• science fiction
• post-apocalyptic
• young adult
Review: I think the short stories show readers the Republic through the eyes of two children with vastly different backgrounds and circumstances: Day is a poor-born runaway presumed dead who resorts to crime to survive, while June is an elite-born prodigy who's highly regarded due to her Trial score.
Episode One: Day
This short story features 12-year-old Day as he tries to steal food, only to get caught. It's quite sad to see how Day could've had a place to belong to but chose to leave because he didn't want to get the kind people who helped him into trouble. For a kid like him to say that he was a phantom and belonged nowhere shows readers how the system had failed him. Anyway, this short story is also a great sneak peek of what a cool kid Day was!
Episode Two: June
This short story features 12-year-old June on her first day at Drake University. June is portrayed to be a bit of a snob, but thankfully Metias is there to teach her not to look down on the poor. In a society that systematically oppresses the poor, it's nice that June has an older brother to teach her empathy, something that she possesses in the series. She's still cocky, though, and I'm living for it. This girl knows how to stand up for herself!
It's interesting how their lives intertwined even before they officially met, as shown through the overlap of some details and events in both short stories. June and Day may be from vastly different backgrounds, but they definitely have one similarity: they don't feel like they belong anyway. Day had been forcefully ripped from his life, including his family, the day the Republic failed him at the Trial. June was systemically advantaged due to her perfect Trial score, yet that was also the reason why she had a poor social life.
Overall, if you're a big fan of the Legend trilogy, particularly June and Day, you can read these two short stories. I think they really put into perspective just how lonely the two characters are.
Summary: Before June and Day met, they were two children living in two different worlds. Here are two short stories: one about Day's first real kiss, and the other about June's first day at Drake University.
Tropes/Genres:
• dystopia
• science fiction
• post-apocalyptic
• young adult
Review: I think the short stories show readers the Republic through the eyes of two children with vastly different backgrounds and circumstances: Day is a poor-born runaway presumed dead who resorts to crime to survive, while June is an elite-born prodigy who's highly regarded due to her Trial score.
Episode One: Day
This short story features 12-year-old Day as he tries to steal food, only to get caught. It's quite sad to see how Day could've had a place to belong to but chose to leave because he didn't want to get the kind people who helped him into trouble. For a kid like him to say that he was a phantom and belonged nowhere shows readers how the system had failed him. Anyway, this short story is also a great sneak peek of what a cool kid Day was!
Episode Two: June
This short story features 12-year-old June on her first day at Drake University. June is portrayed to be a bit of a snob, but thankfully Metias is there to teach her not to look down on the poor. In a society that systematically oppresses the poor, it's nice that June has an older brother to teach her empathy, something that she possesses in the series. She's still cocky, though, and I'm living for it. This girl knows how to stand up for herself!
It's interesting how their lives intertwined even before they officially met, as shown through the overlap of some details and events in both short stories. June and Day may be from vastly different backgrounds, but they definitely have one similarity: they don't feel like they belong anyway. Day had been forcefully ripped from his life, including his family, the day the Republic failed him at the Trial. June was systemically advantaged due to her perfect Trial score, yet that was also the reason why she had a poor social life.
Overall, if you're a big fan of the Legend trilogy, particularly June and Day, you can read these two short stories. I think they really put into perspective just how lonely the two characters are.