Journal 40

Last night I  finished this book called Legend. What can I say about Legend......you could definitely tell it was the author's first book. I was not very  impressed. First of all, the plot was not very original at all. It was pretty much  The Hunger Games combined with Les Miserables combined with a cheesy romance.  Put those three together, and you get legend.  Now, i will admit, to one who hasn't read a wide variety of books like i have, the book would have been really good. The writing was simple and not very descriptive, and i can see how somone who is used to reading teen novels could enjoy it. As for me, I look for a lot more in a book than just the plot. I didn't feel like the book was descriptive enough. The story was told in two different first person points of view, which should have gave the author a good upper hand......but she didn't use it! For example, one of the main characters, Day, apparently lives on the streets and slums. That should have given the author a great opportunity to used descriptive words--to SHOW the reader the desperate living conditions of the character. She didn't do that hardly at all. That's like saying "He lived in a slum." instead of saying "He lived in s slum, and each lungful of air he breathed in was swarming with putrid fog, the poor lined the streets, their clothes tatterd and ripped, as the sun beat down on their bare backs, as flies buzzed around them in hordes of  " etc. etc. description. Seriously. I was sorely dissapointed. She described how each character dressed down to a tee, but didn't bother to thouroughly describe settings. What the heck? I have a good imagination, thank god, but if i didn't i would have had a terrible time trying to imagine what was happening. Another issue was the characters. She went from one to the other waaaay too fast, barely allowing readers to get to even know them. Day, for example, was like a stranger to me throughout the entire book. His character didn't seem very developed. The only strong characteristic she made sure readers understood was that he cared about his family. That was it. I would have liked to know what makes him tick, why he does what he does, how he feel's about what's happening to him, etc. etc. I wanted that so bad and i never got that from this book. I was dissapointed. I mean, it was okay. Exept for the plot seemed like something regurgitated from something else then tweaked a little bit. I kind of felt like i wasted my time.