Appreciation Post: Harper Lee

R.I.P. Harper Lee

On the 19th of February 2016 the beloved author, Harper Lee, passed away. Her work is iconic, being taught in schools across the world. Lee's famous 'To Kill A Mockingbird' explored the complex issues of racial discrimination in the Deep South of the USA, through one of the most memorable narrators, Scout.

I first read this book when I was younger and is, by far, one of my favourite modern classics. The book not only is written beautifully but deals with themes that have not been dealt with in other modern classics. Harper Lee truly created an iconic piece of literature that is still appreciated today by a range of different age groups and across the world.

The successes of 'To Kill A Mockingbird' just emphasise the iconic nature of Lee's work. From the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Pulitzer Prize, it is clear that Lee's work has made a monumental impact on modern literature and its effect on the world.

To celebrate and commemorate the work of Harper Lee, here are a few of my favourite quotes from her works;

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

"It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.”

“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”  

"Every man's island, Jean Louise, every man's watchman, is his conscience."

Prodigy By Marie Lu

Book Details

Author: Marie Lu

Ages: 12+

Rating: 6/10

Number of Pages: 354

Plot: Seven days after narrowly escaping Los Angeles, Day is believed dead and June missing by the people of the Republic. What they don't know is June and Day are on the run from the Republic after escaping Day's planned execution. Day is still reeling from the sacrifice of his brother whilst June is coming to terms with coming the Republic's most notorious traitor. Desperate and alone, June and Day seek help from the Patriots - a rebel group whose main ambition is to bring down the Republic. But changes are occurring in the Republic, the Elector is dead and his son, a young and inexperienced politician, has taken over. The Republic is at its weakest and the Patriots have a plan - to use the Republic's old 'prodigy' to get close enough to the new Elector and assassinate him. June is conflicted - help the Patriots in a staged coup and turn her back on the Republic or abandon the Patriots and Day. Torn between the Republic and the love of her life, June must choose but can her and Day trust the Patriots and their leader? Or is there a bigger force at play?

Review: So if you read my review of Legend you will understand that I had some apprehensions about this series and my main motive behind continuing with the series was to see how the political aspect would develop. I started this book at the end of January and to be honest found it difficult to get in to right away and I don't know if this is because I wasn't completely enamoured with the first instalment or because the first part of the book seemed to drag. The first fifty pages or so seemed incredibly slow and placid in comparison to the first book, there lacked the same level of action and twists and turns that made the first book so interesting.  However, once the plot was finally set up I must say the that the action and the coup were depicted beautifully and in such a way that made the plot quite gripping and compelling.


Lu did, as I had hoped, explore the whole political aspect of the Republic which made the plot more interesting for me. The planning of the coup, especially, made the plot even more intriguing; I feel that other dystopia writers have used the notion of coups and uprisings but, unlike Lu, fail to effectively set up the possibility of failure and consequence. In addition, I love the contrast between the Republic and the Colonies. Lu doesn't follow the traditional path of having a corrupt and almost dictatorial system and a dream-like world which the characters wish to be a part of, Lu presents both the Republic and the Colonies as being corrupt and dangerous. This again made the book more interesting and the story more compelling.


However, there were some aspects of the book that I felt were a disappointment. The character of June, for example, I feel lacked believability. In the first book I had my apprehensions about the main protagonists, mainly about their relationship, but in the second book I found myself hating June and her narrative. I feel that her true potential, as a character, was not truly realised. Lu had a stereotypical focus on her love life, setting up yet another love triangle that Young Adult books seem to favour. This may be because I seem to have read a lot of YA fiction recently, but I am truly sick of these love triangles - they add little to the plot and ultimately just bore me. If anyone has read this book, you will know that even the ending had an unnecessary focus on June's love life.


Overall, I can't say I hated this book because it explored themes that other dystopian novels have failed to do recently, like political dangers. The plot also, much like the first in the instalment, remained to be unpredictable, full of twists and turns that made the story compelling. Despite this, there were aspects of the book that I didn't like. The book, unlike the first, seemed to drag at the beginning which ultimately lengthened the time I read the book in. As well as this, Lu's focus on the love triangle and June's love life made the book uninteresting and similar to all the other dystopian Young Adult books. This sequel I felt was mediocre, much like the first book, I feel that I am left needing to know more. I feel that because of this I cannot truly judge this series as a whole without reading the final instalment just to see if Lu finally reveals more about the fantasy world she has created and whether she abandons this ridiculously unnecessary love triangle that she has suddenly included.


Have you read 'Prodigy'? Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below!

February TBR

Although it is a little late, sorry about that, here is my February TBR! this month I have decided to choose a longer list of books to read to try to encourage me to read more books over the month.

Prodigy By Marie Lu

Despite not 100% liking the first book in the Legend series, read my full review from January, I have decided to persevere with the series to see if the fantasy world has been developed any further.

Champion By Marie Lu

I really want to finish this series just to see where the Lu goes with the narrative. I really liked how that in the first instalment there was a subtle political theme and I really hope that this is furthered in Prodigy and Champion.

A Clash of Kings By George R.R. Martin

I absolutely adored the first book in this series and I can really see why there is such a huge following behind the franchise. I didn't want to read all of the series in succession because I was afraid that there was a possibility that I would get bored of the story and characters. However, after reading other fictions in January I am really missing the series and can't wait to see if the next book in the series is as good if not better than the first.

Tender is the Night By F. Scott Fitzgerald

As most of you are probably aware I am a massive fan of classic literature as well as the Young Adult fiction I usually review here. I received a copy of Tender is the Night for my birthday at the end of last year from one of my friends. Having only read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of my favourite classics of all time, I am intrigued to see how this lives up to Gatsby.

The Diary of Lena Mukhina: A Girl's Life in the Siege of Leningrad By Lena Mukhina

As well as loving classic literature, I also am very interested in historical literature. This particular book was a Christmas present and is an account of one teenage girl from Russia during the Second World War. Having studied both Russian and German history at school, I hope that this will give me a greater insight into the effects of war on the Russian people.

January Wrap Up

So as some of you may be aware I decided that 2016 was going to be the year that I increased the amount of books I read by posting my monthly progress at the start and end of the month in the form of 'TBR's' and 'Wrap Ups.' And whilst I only put 3 books on my January TBR I was only able to read 2 this month, which I was really disappointed with. But instead of just moaning about it, formulating elaborate excuses for why I wasn't able to read more I thought I would take this as a lesson from myself. In February, instead of being determined on finishing my books that I had put on my TBR, I'm going to focus on picking and reading books I feel in the mood to read. At the beginning of January I made the mistake of picking either fantasy books in huge series' or really thought-provoking books that require a lot of thought and concentration. As a student with a huge work load, this was probably the worst choice I could have made. In next week's post, my February TBR, I'm going to include a range of books so that I have a broad selection of genres and writers so that I don't get myself stuck in the same rut as I faced in January.

After that little rant, I'm now going to briefly detail the books I have read in the month of January! I will include just a few of my opinions about each book and whether or not they lived up to my expectations but if you want to read more, all of the books I have included I have written lengthy reviews with plot descriptions in the last couple of weeks.

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin 10/10

Having not read the television series or read any spoilers online, I went into this series knowing very little about the characters, plot or the fantasy world created by Martin. The first instalment was truly incredible. The multiple narrators and the fantasy world itself made the book a real page-turner from start to finish. It has been a while since I had read a fantasy series that explored such interesting themes and I know that the story will remain in my mind for some time to come. I can't wait to read the next instalments of the series and maybe explore other work by Martin.

Legend by Marie Lu 7/10

An interesting concept with some great characters, but, overall, it just wasn't my favourite example of a dystopian. I am probably a bit biased, having read quite a lot of dystopian YA series', but I just felt that the book itself was far too short and didn't really have enough time to effectively develop the whole world and concept Lu creates. A book is meant to make you wanting more, however, with this I felt that I was left wanting too much. I will say though that if you are interested in politics that the political aspect to it is rather interesting, being a politics student myself I think this is why I still liked certain aspects of the plot.