The third book in Marie Lu’s Legend series is Champion. I bought Champion the Graphic Novel with some of my Christmas money. It was well-done, stayed true to the original, and is a pretty quick read.
In both the original book and in Champion the Graphic Novel, the Colonies are winning the war against the Republic. The colonies are angry because the Republic’s biological warfare has unwittingly unleashed a disease that nobody has a cure for. They think Eden might have the cure in his blood… but Day doesn’t want the Republic touching him again.
Day not only has to worry about his little brother, he also has to worry about his own mortality and perhaps even June’s life as well. There’s a lot of political maneuvering at the end of this book, but I won’t give it away. I will say that this book does end in a little heartbreak, but there’s hope too. Life after Legend (I and II) and the Rebel quotes I have seen just tell me that it’s only temporary heartbreak. The ending didn’t leave me unhappy like the ending of Allegiant did (although it did make me want to write fanfiction).
The graphic novel doesn’t go into as much detail as the original Champion does. It doesn’t touch on how Day is upset that the wealthy people get preferential treatment in the evacuations, nor does it reveal who the true patient zero is for this strain of the virus (and neither will I because spoilers) but it does cover most of the big points in the book. Both books end the same way, so you’ll be ready to read Rebel this fall after reading this book (although Prodigy the Graphic Novel doesn’t have the scene where Day talks about how he wanted their story to begin so it’s not quite as sweet).
If it’s been a few years since you last read Champion and you don’t really want to spend a lot of time reading the whole Legend series before Rebel comes out, I recommend this book. I might let my boy borrow this series. It takes him a lot longer than it takes me to read a book, and he was enjoying Legend the other day on audiobook when we were in the car together, so this might be a good way for him to become acquainted with the series.
Although the graphic novel isn’t a complete replacement for reading the original books, it is a lot of fun. I recommend it.