Prodigy by Marie Lu

Prodigy is a story with a romantic beginning, action-packed middle, and emotional ending.

June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long. 

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

When this book first came out last week, everyone was talking about two things: the bathtub scene and the very emotional ending. Both were excellent.

This book picks up a few days after Legend. June has helped Day escape his execution and they are headed to Las Vegas to find the Patriots. 

Characters:
In this book I actually preferred June over Day. She had to make so many difficult decisions and had to decide where her loyalties are. She keeps having visions of Metias and has to figure out if she really loves Day.

Day annoyed me at times during the book. He starts to question June because of doubt planted by Tess. He really grows as a character. I did question some of his decisions, especially the decision made at the end of the book.

The character that really pissed me off was Tess. She despises June and tries to turn Day against her. You find out that Tess was in love with Day all this time.  I thought that was kind of obvious)

Setting:
In this book, more is revealed about the Colonies and how the country was once the United States of America. Marie Lu went in to great detail describing what Earth looks like in the future.

Favorite Scenes:

I must mention the bathtub scene, but my favorite was actually around page 266. This is the scene where June and Day are in the tunnels. Day finally confronts June about all of his doubts. They are attacked and Day has to carry June to safety. My heart melted at this part, because even though Day is mad at June, he would still do anything for her.

The Ending (spoilers included):

I'm not going to lie, this ending made me an emotional wreck.  We find out that Day is dying, yes dying. He goes to tell June, but instead tells her to become the Princeps. This means that she will spend every day with Anden and could go weeks without seeing June. He also tells her that they will never be together. June realizes that she loves him and doesn't say anything.  Needless to say, I'm already clamoring for the next book.  This ending affected me very much, so much so that I was in tears.

Overall, I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.  It would have gotten a five if the middle was not as boring.  The third book, titled Champion, comes out in 2014.