Legend

Legend begins with the intertwined stories of a rich girl prodigy (June) and an elusive boy criminal (Day). You know that they will somehow become romantically connected, but don't see exactly how. Luckily, the novel doesn't dawdle. Day is looking for anti-plague medicine for his family and breaks into a hospital. In the process he supposedly kills June's older brother. June is conscripted to help hunt him down. Both are keenly observant and he eventually makes an innocent gesture that clues her in (thought not until after they have kissed.) He is arrested and sentenced to death. Then she makes some additional discoveries. She had thought she had been the only one to score a perfect score on the test that is administrated to all children. However, she discovers that he actually had earned a perfect score, but the results were faked to give him a failing grade. She also learns that the "Republic" is really not all that it is cracked up to be. Could the United States really fall into dictatorship without most people knowing? People often look at Trump shenanigans and predict a falling away coming from that direction. However, a west-coast dictatorship in the novel is more likely to be caused by a left-wing mast uprising. Could we gradually fall without knowing? Would the government willingly silence dissenters to keep the masses happy?