Alexandra Elend Wolf's Reviews > Rebel

3.5 stars.

“Because sometimes, broken pieces find a way to make a new whole.”

Rebel is the continuation to the Legend trilogy. Situated 10 years in the future. In a new city. We follow Daniel and his brother Eden while they try to pick the pieces of their former lives and move on.

Obviously, after so many years discovering that Legend was to have a sequel of sorts was so incredibly exciting. After all, it was an opportunity to see our beloved characters again. And after the epilogue in Champion it seemed like a terrific idea.

Full of action and familial feelings we are once again immersed in a politic drama when a nation enters a crisis time.

The question that it didn't occur to me to ask was, is it really all that necessary?

“Some pasts can’t be left behind. They must be fought.”

With POVs alternating between Daniel and Eden we get a whiff from the past and new voice all at the same time.

It's an interesting idea.

Of course, having Day again was great. Nostalgic and our connection with the past. He is the one that most bring the past and present together and help make peace between both.

Eden, on his part, brings the new aspects and help us explore this new nation. One of the things I was more apprehensive about before starting Rebel was his voice. I remember reading Lu's little snippets that she would post online and thinking that he sounded like a brat. I was glad to be proven wrong.

Yes, Eden turned out to be a lot more palatable than I thought he was gonna be. Yet, he often felt like a 15-year-old kid to me. He is 21-years-old...

And that is just one of the things that irked me must. Eden, a grown-up man, was acting pettily and childishly. His reasoning and actions often didn't reflect his age. I think I would have been a lot more okay with him had he been younger, then his actions wouldn't have irked me as much.

“The world shifts, tilts, sometimes collapses. But sometimes, it bends toward you, and everything feels right.”

Another thing that frustrated me was the complete lack of communication between Daniel and Eden.

Sure, I get that talking about certain things is difficult. They hurt and often avoidance is easier than confrontation but, but some explanations that don't need to be all that pointed or deep can certainly be done.

This book could have been solved so much faster if they had sat and talked sooner. And not even talked about the deep, burning, pungent topics that needed to be addressed but just about the things that were bothering each other. Heck, even just about their days.

Again, I can kind of see why that was so difficult, but it was ridiculous how these two grown-up men couldn't sit and have a little chat.

“June has adjusted better than any of us. But even so, she’s afraid of the past. Just like I am. We may not be the same people we used to be. Maybe we’ll never find our way back to that place. But we bear the same scars from the same old wounds.”

Daniel's and June's story arc was by far my favorite.

I really loved how their relationship was treated and how it evolved and, well, just how it happened. It was what I had been looking forward to.

And, even though I really missed it, I can appreciate not giving June her own POV. For once, I appreciated that certain air of uncertainty that came with not knowing June's thoughts. Though, to me, they were pretty clear through her actions.

Still, she plays her part in the story and we get plenty of time with our girl.

“If you asked me to tell you about myself, I’d say first that I like to understand things.”

Here is the thing.

The answer to that first question I poised.

I appreciate what the book did. I appreciate having another moment with these characters I've come to care so much about. I appreciate the furthering of the world and the reinforcement of the idea that nothing is quite so perfect.

But I find most of this book completely irrelevant.

That simple sentence has been a hard revelation and has taken me a fair amount of time to make my peace with. I'm still not happy with it but I'm starting to accept it.

Why do I find it irrelevant? Well, simple. A lot of these ideas were established in the epilogue of Champion.

As heartwrenching as that epilogue was it was a well constructed, rounded, and filling way to end the trilogy. It left you with a sense of hope and a million possibilities. You already knew things wouldn't be easy right off the bat. That there were issues to be resolved -funny enough the more pressing issues were never really treated in this book - and that things were never gonna be the same. But you also knew that things were gonna be okay because they were there. Together.

All Rebel did to me was go over and over, circling endlessly the same things that were already established in that short, powerful, epilogue.

Sure, we got a lot more of Eden but we could have done that with a well placed novella. Shorter. To the point. But long enough to add that little something that Lu clearly wanted to add.

The political drama in the book was interesting, yes, but at the end of the day, I didn't care very much about this new city. To me, the point seems to be to make sure we got the point that no government is perfect, something that I think the original trilogy did a great job of.

“We may always struggle with our pasts, but we can rest assured that we’ll always have someone else who can pull us forward.”

I'm not saying that the book was dull or filled with nonsense or that it didn't have action. No. As an alone book it was wonderful and thrilling. But as a part of this trilogy? Unnecessary.

Which, I find, it's often the case when an already finished trilogy/series gets renewed years later.

I truly wish it had been different. But it wasn't. I'll treasure the good bits and parts -like that ending - and I'll make my peace with the more unsavory ones.

“A past. A future. Something that can be ours.”
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I'm surprised.

I ended liking it more than I thought I would.

When Lu was posting her little snippets on Instagram I remember reading some and hating the voice that Eden seemed to have. It made me really apprehensive about starting this book, even though I was dying to pick it up.

Anyway, in the end, it was way better than I thought it would be.

I'm still gasping about that ending.

RTC.
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I'm finally starting this beauty.

I'm so excited, and a little apprehensive, about reading this book. I love the world and characters Lu created and having the opportunity to revisit them and get a bit more of their story is just wonderful.

Re-reading the previous three books in order to refresh my memory was a great idea, after all, some years have passed since Campion was published.

I hope the book lives to the standards that the previous books have set.