Literary Devices in Legend
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Legend takes place in a setting that's both familiar and completely foreign. In the Los Angeles of the future, the United States of America no longer exists. Instead the Western (former) United Sta...
Narrator Point of View
Legend is told from the first-person perspective of two main characters—Day and June—and the chapters switch back and forth between them. We only get their point of view from their voice in eac...
Genre
Dystopian LiteratureThe future that Legend paints definitely isn't a pretty one—the government controls everything with an iron fist, slums are filled with sick and overworked people, and kids ar...
Tone
Here's the deal: no one in Legend is ever relaxed, and no one ever just kicks up their feet and takes a vacation. For June and Day everything is pretty much a life-or-death matter, so they're alway...
Writing Style
Legend is told from the perspective of two of the only kids in the Republic who scored perfect 1500s on their Trials, so it makes sense that the writing style would be crisp, intelligent, and never...
What's Up With the Title?
In Legend, the first of a trilogy, both of the main characters are definitely famous—though for very different reasons. Day is the Republic's legendary criminal; he's the one they're trying to hu...
What's Up With the Ending?
The book ends with June and Day together, running from the law and planning to go to the waterfront to pick up Eden before crossing the border and going into Colonies territory, which signifies a f...
Tough-o-Meter
The writing style and linear storyline in Legend make it pretty easy for readers to follow. After all, the language is simple and crisp, and there's no ambiguity about who is telling the story or w...
Plot Analysis
On Opposite Sides In the beginning we get an introduction to the two main characters and where their lives are. Day is a street criminal who is on the run from the Republic; he scavenges in the tra...
Trivia
Even though Marie Lu wrote Legend as an adult, she's apparently had the idea for the character Day floating around in her head since she was fifteen—coincidentally the same age Day is when the st...
Steaminess Rating
No one gets down and sexy in this book—the only thing that happens is that Day kisses June quite briefly when they've both had some stolen wine. But even so, there's a good amount of sexual tensi...