So I have to thank my buddy Jenny for this recco. She said it was good, and she was right, of course. She even let me borrow her library copy to read. And I’ll be getting it back to the library any day now, Jenny. Really.

Inspired by the set-up of Les Miserables, but with some fashionable gender-bending, Legend is a YA dystopian with well-drawn characters, lots of action, and a little requisite romance. The MCs, Day and June, are citizens of the Republic, which encompasses what was once California. Their stories come together as not-so-hardened (softened?) criminal Day tries to protect his family from the plagues that ravage the slums of L.A., while silver-spoon fed June is hell-bent on avenging the mysterious murder of her brother. They seem to have nothing in common at first, but . . . well, they never really do have much in common. Still, they make a pretty sweet, butt-kicking couple when they eventually team up.

Lu’s strength is her world-building. She does a great job setting the scene and bringing both the parlous (new Scrabble word!) ghettos and the equally-precarious-but-in-a-different, militaristic-way upper-class of the Republic to life. I also liked how each chapter alternated between Day and June’s perspectives, giving me a strong sense of the motivations of both characters. And in the print version, Day’s chapters are a pretty gold font while June’s are a nice silvery-black. You gotta love when the font matches the cover. Kinda like matching your underwear to your outfit.

One complaint was that June seemed way too smart, confident, physically gifted, and accomplished for a 15-year-old, even a prodigy. I’m all for strong female heroines, but I think the character would have benefited from a little good, old-fashioned, pre-Apocalyptic adolescent self-doubt.

If you read and like it – not to worry. The Legend-ary sequel is coming September 2012.