"Rebel" by Marie Lu

Rebel (Oct. 1, 2019) by Marie Lu.

Ten years have passed since Daniel “Day” Altan Wing incited a revolution to bring down the Republic of America. Eden Bataar Wing continues to live in his shadow, despite being a top student at Ross University of the Sciences, the top university in the world. Eden is brilliant and loves to tinker; he’s going to graduate in seven years when it’d normally take a student ten years. Daniel and Eden live in Ross City, the only city and capital of Antarctica, which is encased in a biodome, because Antarctica is, of course, arctic. They live in the upper echelon of society, residing on the Sky Floors. Daniel is an agent for the Antarctican Intelligence Service (AIS), and along with being a brilliant student, Eden is a rebel drone racer. The races are held in the Undercity, where the poorest barely eek out an existence and cannot afford education, healthcare or housing, nor land decent jobs. Everything is based on the Level system. The higher the level, the  better your life, and the system is expectedly unfair to the poor. Say a man lost his job because he’s sick and can’t work. In this system, his Level decreases because he isn’t working, but the further his Level drops, the further he is from being able to enter a hospital for care or medications. Ross City’s system is like a living game; points are earned for good behavior and taken away for ill behavior, and all of this is noted with one’s Level above one’s head like a glowing plumb bob that’s almost impossible to hide from.

            The injustice of the Level system and how it skews toward those with high Levels in the Sky Floors versus those in the Undercity vexes Eden, and it frustrates him that Daniel doesn’t understand him. The fact that Daniel works for the AIS further ignites Eden’s frustration. Eden, the tinkerer, enters an illegal drone race and captures the attention of Dominic Hann. Hann’s been linked to multiple gruesome murders, but no one’s recently laid eyes on him until Eden and his amazing drone. What does Hann want from Eden? This is the best opportunity that’s ever come up to get someone on the inside, but all Daniel wants is to protect his younger brother and love June Iparis again (did he ever stop?), but that is another side story. Eden is going to need any help that he can get: from Daniel, June, Pressa Yu (his janitor friend at the university who lives in the Undercity with her father), the AIS and the Antarctican military. But will that be enough to take Hann down?

            My initial reaction to this book was, “Why?” A fourth book in the Legend trilogy isn’t a trilogy anymore, but a tetralogy, which means I’ll put it with its predecessors. Why couldn’t it at least be a duology? But bookshelf-nitpicking aside, this story should’ve long drawn in Legend fans, and I would hope it kindles interest in new readers to read the first three books if they haven’t already. Although Daniel and Eden live in a gamified world, they still deal with tiers of socioeconomic status and the privilege that’s offered those of the highest Levels, not unlike we might see presently in anything from classroom cliques to the Hollywood elite to the ridiculously wealthy. Lu writes with the expertise of a professional gamer, confident in her storyline and the return of familiar characters. For this story, she’s figured out the algorithm for adventure, fear, want, rebellion, intelligence and romance. She is a powerhouse author.