GoodRead - Life Before Legend

This was an accidental purchase! I feel I have to state this before I start this review. I didn't want to buy it! I wanted to read a sampler of it as I was, at the time, reading Legend at the time (review here, by the way) and I wanted to read a sampler in case of spoilers. Shouldn't have worried, though.

In this prequel, readers get a glimpse in Day's and June's everyday lives several year before the events of Legend took place and the two met. We see how, via some distance, their lives affected each other. The days in question is June's first day at Drake University and Day trying to survive on the streets.

Now, I am torn over this. I'm not sure if it's because I read it so soon after Legend or because I liked Marie Lu's writing style, but I did like slipping in and out of reading this novella. It was nice to see their lives BEFORE the events and the tiny hints of foreshadowing to the rest of the series. It's a good way to introduce yourself to Marie Lu's writing and the series if you haven't read the series and you want to know if you would like it. It was a good taster into this world.

However, I do have two big points I want to raise and one of which has NOTHING to do with the author but the publishers.

The first is me wondering what exactly was the point of this novella? It kinda didn't give us anything new. If anything, we see Day's first kiss (which wasn't as amazing as it sounds), his first act against the Republic (this could have gone more in depth) and June's relationship with her brother (again, this could have gone SO MUCH MORE in depth). But, if you think about this, we kinda go over these details (barring the first kiss) at the beginning of Legend, so you wonder why these points are so crucial?

My second point is price. If you know me, you know I have issues with pricing with eNovellas and it's not the author's fault. Some eNovellas's prices I agree with due to length, while others are priced ridiculously! We readers want our money's worth! And with Life Before Legend, I think the pricing is too high. For an eNovella that, according to Goodreads, is 38 pages long, it's £1.81. Which, when you compare to other eNovellas's page lengths and their prices (The Prince by Kiera Cass [64 pages] is 99p, Die For Her by Amy Plum [60 pages] is 99p & Radiant by Cynthia Hand [94 pages] is 99p), you have to wonder why, on this eNovella, the price is double but the length is shorter?

Fans of the series will enjoy this and I think if you want to start this series, you might want to check this out. But at that price, me thinks you should wait till a sale happens on your eReaders...

GoodRead - Legend

You've guys have caught up with me and my reading. CURSE YOU WORK!!! So, looks like the next few weeks/months/FOREVER, you guys will get my reviews on books as soon as I have finished the book. 

So, Legend. Legend was actually chosen by my other half. After reading Throne of Glass (Review here, by the way), I asked him to choose my next read. I like it when I don't have to pick my next read, and I seemed to be in a weird book slump mood. Nothing excited me! So, I was going to ask Twitter, but other half took over. He demanded a few random books and then he would choose one. And he choose Legend because of the "shiny cover". 

In Los Angeles, Republic of America, there's a boy and a girl. Day and June. They haven't met. And why would they? Day is a criminal and June is the Government's prodigy. When the plague hits a member of his family, Day decides to break into a hospital for a cure. This sets off a chain of events in which June's brother is killed and she vows to find his murderer. And all the evidence is point to Day... 

I am going to admit this: I knew very little about this. I know that might sound weird, but all I knew was the vaguest details (the synopsis on book and on some reviews), it's a trilogy and it's a dystopia (something I haven't read in a while because... well, I got sick of dystopian books and needed time away). That's it. So, I went into this kinda blind. 

And you know what? I was genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed reading this. 

I got caught up in the world and the pacing was great once June and Day actually meet. Before that, I felt it was a bit slow, but once they met, it was like reading a thriller with the fastness and the chapter point-of-views going back and forth. I liked reading from both their point-of-views (that's rare, I think. To like both characters equally) so I never felt like I had to rush back to a character as the other was boring it. There was always something happening and that kept me turning pages. 

I admit this now, the first few chapters were a tad slow for my taste. I just wanted them to meet and I wanted the fireworks! I wanted see how it would happen and the fall-out. And the relationship - I'm not 100% certain that I buy it. It feels a bit like insta-love. But this is a trilogy, so Marie could explore this in the next two books (and with the film rights bought by the team that bought us the Twilight Saga, I think the movie's in safe hands). 

I am surprised how much I enjoyed the mad ride. I do hope I get to read the second book in the series, Prodigy, soon. Not sure when, but I did accidentally buy the "prequel" eNovella Life Before Legend (stupid iPhone! I wanted "Try A Sample", not "Buy Now"!) soon. Am oddly looking forward to seeing what these characters were like before the events of Legend.