Legend By Marie Lu: Textual Analysis

Legend by Marie Lu was a well written novel; however, there were points in the book that could have been improved. The novel was written in two different point of views. Even though this can become confusing, Marie Lu did a wonderful job at distinguishing between the different point of views. While this was enjoyable in the book, the author was able to create a connection with characters, but then she would kill them off. The author did well by creating characters that felt real to the reader, but the appeal is lost when the characters die, a heroic death or not. Within the text, the author uses foreshadowing to help to inflict a sense of dread within the reader. The author also uses local color to help move the plot along. This is shown in …show more content…
Near the beginning, a reader grows attached to many of the characters. The author gives enjoyable qualities to her characters, especially those which she had to develop quickly. Within the first few chapters of the novel, the reader has already grown attached to the boyish charm that Marie Lu gives the male characters. This is quite an incredible task, but later most of the characters that the reader becomes attached to either die or what happens to them is unknown. To the reader, this may quickly become irritating, and make it difficult to finish the book. However, without the author killing many of the characters the book would have become tiresome to read without a driving force to move the plot …show more content…
The amount of death in the novel could be considered overwhelming; however, the author is able to get the reader to ignore this by evolving her characters throughout the novel. While other books change point of views, Legend does it in such a matter that does not leave the reader questioning anything. This is one of the many upsides to the novel, and having a clear swap in point of views gives the reader another look into characters minds. By adding different types of speech for the different characters, the author begins to get the reader to understand the different types of people, thus moving the plot along. By adding local color, the author adds a new element to the novel, bringing it to the next level. Overall, the reader is able to feel like they are in the novel watching the characters, and this is what makes the novel enjoyable to the