A strong finish to the series! Marie Lu does not disappoint with this final installment in the Legend trilogy. June and Day are every bit as likable, every bit as compelling in Champion. 

Yes, there’s the obligatory dystopian love triangle, but this one is markedly different. These characters are so real, so well-written that I had trouble choosing a suitable partner for June. And unlike all the others, I felt extremely satisfied with the way things turned out–both for the Republic and June. 

Marie Lu takes on societal ills and political machinations with a dexterity that belies her lack of experience. Her ability to depict human nature in all its complexities is inspiring–mostly because it doesn’t hit the reader over the head. This is a series that will satisfy readers young and old–at any level of understanding. Champion will entertain everyone and leave more mature readers thinking deeply for a long time.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  37 mild obscenities; 1 religious profanity; 3 scatological words; 1 anatomical term. 

Violence/Gore:  A character talks about torturing others; a character thinks about what might happen under torture with some detail; a character remembers killing another person with some detail; a person is knocked out with a blunt object; a person is shot to death (no blood, but some detail); two characters are caught in a gunfight with no injuries; multiple characters are threatened with execution; a character is shot at repeatedly in an extended scene (4 pgs) with no injuries; two people engage in a knife fight with serious injury but no blood; a person is shot to death with some blood; a character is shot twice with no detail; two characters fight in hand-to-hand combat in an extended scene (4 pgs)–one character is shot to death during the fight.

Sex/Nudity:  Two characters kiss, pinning one another against a wall, in an extended scene (2 pgs); a character daydreams about kissing; two characters hold hands; brief kissing scenes (5); minors are known to have had sex with no details in an extended scene (3 pgs); a character vaguely refers to previous sexual activity.

Mature Subject Matter:

Death of a family member, war, betrayal, homosexuality.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

An underage character smokes therapeutic cigarettes to alleviate symptoms of a terminal disease; wine is consumed socially.