I can’t. I just can’t.

This was really bad.

I wish this was one of those “this was so bad, it was good” things. Like that movie The Room, or anything starring Lyndsay Lohan.

But this one is just plain old bad.

I know, I sound like a broken record when I say that I need to stop with the bad trilogies already. A promising first novel is great, but it rarely seems to mean that the quality will continue throughout the forced trilogy. I was re-reading my reviews for the first two books in this pile of drivel (Legend, which was actually ok, and Prodigy, which was not as ok), and noted that I had actually predicted that the ending would fall short, as the plot was being pulled too thin. Would it have been better as one, longer book? I think so.

I’m not really even going to bother with a plot recap at this point. If you haven’t read books 1 & 2, proceed at your own risk. Also, this isn’t really any sort of book review. Its more of a laundry list of what bugged me about the book.

Here’s what I liked.

Marie Lu has flashes of brilliance. The scenes in Antarctica were pretty cool. A society based on a virtual points system? A living video game? I could get into that, tell me more.

But she shoves it into the story, for pretty much no reason, and then yanks it away from us almost as suddenly. And then we’re back in the world of Day and June and blah blah blah…zzzzz.

I would have liked more of the Antarctica world. And the super soldier suits? Those were pretty cool. But it made the rest of the battle detail pale in comparison. Just like in the first book, where I wanted more about dystopian LA — These little bits of cool sci-fi great, but they were also annoying because they were few and far between.

Also, Marie Lu has a great author photo on the back flap. Good for her.

Now, here’s what I didn’t like.

Pretty much everything else.

First of all, what the hell is Anden’s deal? He’s pretty much the president of the country, right? And he can’t keep his hands & mind off of a 16 year old? GET A GRIP, ANDEN. PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER.

And speaking of 16 year olds, what the hell kind of government would allow teenagers to plan any sort of military operations? Its not like other dystopian books where only teenagers are left. There seem to be tons and tons of able-bodied and intelligent adults in the Republic. And yet, all of the major decisions are made by a bunch of kids. The adults make a few grumpy noises and shake their heads, but NONE OF THEM DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. I can’t with this.

Of course, I also hated the love triangle. Or love square? Whatever. I’m just glad that they didn’t have Pascao in love with Tess (I really thought they would make this happen). A love pentagon would have been too much.

And Marie Lu, why do you drop all of these details that are supposedly important in earlier books — June has OCD, Day’s necklace is so important — and then barely ever mention them again? June’s weird OCD was mentioned one time in the third book, and then never again. It was weird and it stuck out. Bad editing job there.

Lastly, here’s what I hated.

The ending. No.

God and amnesia? Just no. The last 15 pages were like a plot from a completely different book. A worse book.

So glad to be putting this trilogy behind me. I was going to give it one star, for Antarctica, but no. Zero stars. Thanks for letting me vent.