Champion by Marie Lu

5 Stars

"until the day we meet again I will hold you in my heart and protect you there, grieving what we never had, cherishing what we did"

Holy shit, that ending has left me with a hole the size of the Republic. Here's a gif to accurately describe my current emotions.

I love this trilogy so much and I love Day and June. I ship them so, so hard. I'm sat here just stroking my book because I loved it so much and I'm so sad that I finished it. It's been a long process for me, I first read Legend back in February of last year and I really loved it. I saw a lot of potential for a really good series there. I didn't get Prodigy until that Christmas but I didn't want to read it until I got Champion so I didn't have to wait like I did so much after Legend. So a couple weeks back when I finally ordered Champion, I decided I'd finally read Prodigy and a few days later Champion arrived and I needed it so badly. Marie Lu knows how to leave you wanting more, that's for sure. After each of the books, I've been hungry for more and now I'm afraid I'm going to starve.

It's crazy to see how much the series has improved from the beginning, I still thought Legend was fantastic but Prodigy got better and Champion was even better. Marie Lu took my expectations and exceeded them, for gods sake. I love it when an author can do that, Legend set up such a perfect ground for something really fantastic and she managed it. I've seen a lot of authors set up a really promising story and then just not pull through and it's so disappointing, that's how I felt with the Divergent trilogy. I am so glad the Marie Lu fulfilled my expectations and beyond.

 I think my favourite thing about this was, it didn't let all the lovey dovey romancey stuff get in the way of all the action and war and fun stuff. Don't get me wrong, I obviously adore Day and June but Marie Lu has found that perfect balance between work and play, I guess. I appreciate that Day and June both had their priorities straight, they're narration wasn't constantly thoughts of the other, if you get what I mean. It's just a really good balance.

I loved the point system thing Antarctica had going on. Give me a whole book on that, someone, please. That is completely irrelevant to my review but I loved the idea so much and I wanted to mention it, I wish we got to see a little bit more of it.

Now, I need the perfect way to conclude a review for the perfect (heartbreaking) conclusion to the Legend series. I absolutely loved it and I'm so sad that it's over and now, I'll probably clutch my book to my chest and contemplate all of my existence now without it. I can't wait to read the Young Elites series now and experience more of Marie Lu.