Champion by Marie Lu

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.

I scream for everything that has gone wrong. I scream for everything broken in our lives

Legend is definitely one of my favorite series. I just love Marie Lu's writing style. Love it.

But this final book was much too hopeless and incomplete. Everything was wrapped up too quickly. I barely got into the atmosphere of the book before it was over. And that open ending.... I was like: “No, no, no, not this again (thinking of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins)! I need a happy ending. June and Day deserve a happy ending!”

I enjoyed this as a part of the trilogy, but I don't think it delivered enough closure, not for me, at least.

I must say that Champion was a wonderful conclusion to this action packed, romance filled, and political read. This book had much more of a political side than any of the others. I think the way I described it was exactly how each book went individually. The first one was very action packed with all of the hardships that each character had to go through to become who they are. The second book had a lot of romance with June and Day. They even had other side romances that intertwined with Tess and the Elector. Then the third one was full of the hardships that the Republic is going through. This made politics become a big part of Champion.

[ WARNING THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ]

In Champion, Day and June are pretty much separated for most of the book. After Day found out that he is dying, he decided to let June take the job where she will be by the Elector's side most of the time. This would of made it difficult for them to see each other anyway. Day tries to forget about June and let her do her job.

This novel had much more of a political side. It was nice to see that history does pretty much repeat itself to a small extent in this book. When reading it, it reminded me a lot of the history that has happened in the past with the USA. It may not be as drastic but the same ways that they deal with issues like war have pretty much transferred over. I guess you wouldn't think much since that is how they are still solved today? You use what you know and the tactics that have been used in the past to write about.

As selfish and weird as it sounds, I would of liked more with June and the Elector. I like to see all of my options when it comes to the side romances. I think that both men would of been good for June but of course, Day is the superior one to choose due to emotions.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I devoured it in about 2 or 3 hours... making sure to read every detail still and understand everything that was being said. The ending was perfect. I really liked that Marie Lu let us know that June tried to make everything work without Day. She went on with her life for a decade before seeing him again. She tried to find a new love and make that work. She became who she was supposed to be. Therefore, Day and June could be together finally.

I would recommend this series to anyone! It was overall wonderful and covered so many aspects of the real world like poverty, romance, violence, politics, betrayal, death, murder, and more. Even though so much negativity happened during this series, the world was able to find that light and make everything come back together.

When I read a really good book, I can't seem to put it down and can easily finish it within a day or two if I want to. Which is exactly what I did with the first two books of this trilogy. Now, this final book? This final book was so good that I found myself putting off finishing the last 25% of the book because I wasn't ready to be done with the characters and their world.

As sad as I am to be done with this series, Marie Lu made it so worth it to finish. I have never been so emotionally invested and satisfied with the ending of a story. I kept bracing myself for the worst and thinking I had things figured out, only to be whipped over to a new possibility that I hadn't thought of.

Devastating, exciting, joyous– these characters and their stories will stick with me for a while.