Champion by Marie Lu

Summary:
He is a Legend.

She is a Prodigy.

Who will be Champion?

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps-Elect, while Day has been assigned a high-level military position.

But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them: just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything.

With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion. (from GoodReads)

Review:
After I read Legend I merely liked this series but then when I read Prodigy I was in love. I was curious to see how Champion turned out. Luckily for me I enjoyed it very much, though it wasn't my favorite of the trilogy.

Champion throws us into the action a couple of months after the events of Prodigy have unfolded. June and Day have gone their separate ways (which is a tragedy in it of itself). June is the princeps-elect, which means she works closely with the Republic's Elector. Day, on the other hand, has been seeking treatment for his illness, while also looking after his younger brother who has been sick as well. A lot of sick people in this book, folks. It was never fully explained why Day is having these severe headaches (unless I missed it) though it's alluded to some experimentation that he underwent previously. If you say so book. Luckily for the readers, Day and June are reunited pretty quickly.

Champion takes on a different tone than the previous novels, because this time it's not the Patriots against the Republic. There is a new enemy (the Colonies) which serves to unite the two feuding groups of Legend and Prodigy. This dynamic was certainly interesting and showed that people would rather fix their own broken government than be invaded by another foreign one.

Marie Lu certainly had her hands full because there is a lot going on this trilogy! Not only does she create two dystopian governments, but a third one is thrown in for good measure. June and Anden travel to Antarctica, where people get points for good deeds and lose points for bad behavior. The more points you have, the better paid you are and the better status you have in society. I think she should have saved that concept because you could write a whole book about it! This author has a wonderful imagination.

Champion was very fast-paced and action-packed. The romance between June and Day continues to flourish. I loved reading from June's perspective because she thinks like Sherlock Holmes. She can calculate the amount of steps it will take to get from A to B and the amount of force she should use to knock someone out. I love seeing her in the streets as a soldier, which is what she's suited to. The only thing I didn't really like about Champion was the ending. It's pretty cliché. I'm not going to say but you'll see when you read this novel. Overall though I really liked this trilogy and can't wait to see what Marie Lu writes next!

Rating: 8 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from the library.

2013/Putnam Juvenile/369 pages.