Stacia in Progress

So what if it took me 11 days to finish Prodigy? At least I'm finally willing to look at any book again. I call that progress on a small scale, haha.

I know that many people felt like Prodigy was a step-up over the first installment in the trilogy, and I can say that it did have quite a few areas of improvement over Legend when it came to showing more world detail. There was a great amount of time spent on bringing the bigger picture into focus, and it probably satisfied many of those who felt as if Legend was skimping out on the details of what made this government and world tick.

It's probably strange that I was left feeling nostalgic for the simplicity of Legend. The relationship drama and all of the Tess nonsense didn't sit well with me. There's still something about reading these characters which feels like I'm watching kids play dress-up in their parents' clothing. Maybe that's the point the author is trying to make. But I'm still perplexed over the contradiction of these characters being completely innocent over affairs of the heart, yet they're still able to thwart the enemies in their paths and help the colonies work toward overthrowing the powers that be. 

It's all so ass-backwards to my mind. I can't say Legend started the trend of teenage boys who have lost their hormonal drive in favor of helping the greater good, but it's kind of weeeeiiirrddd. I'm not talking about the need for heavy romance (many don't care to see it in sci-fi). I just know that teen boys are well...teen boys. And that teens in general are never going to fully arrive at an evolutionary stage where they're so focused on fixing the world that they don't have normal um...drives? 

We're seeing teenagers tackle adult problems, but stepping backwards emotionally into early teen relationship mindsets. Are they kids or are they adults? I'm sure that some people would argue that this question is part of the outcome of kids being thrown into an adult world, but I'm not buying the way it's being spun. While Day has managed to hold on to some of his charm, June has become flat and emotionally unappealing to me. I'd almost liken it to being robotic. 

But...but... The last section of this book...it really pulled at my emotions. I thought it was a good call on Ms. Lu's part to do what she did on the June/Day front. This move had me rooting nervously for the characters all over again, the way that I did in book 1.

Here's hoping that the finale will bring me back to what I liked about Legend.