Marie Lu was born in 1984–and for those of us who love our dystopian fiction, this is of course an extremely significant year. Along with a boom in a certain genre of fiction always comes an answering fatigue. I really do mean it though when I say that if you enjoyed The Hunger Games, you will enjoy Legend.

Legend presents us with a nightmarish future America. The states have split in two, with the totalitarian Republic (California and other western states) locked in a seemingly endless war with the Colonies (the middle and eastern states). The setting is a futuristic Los Angeles: a decimated urban shell full of half-destroyed office blocks, high rise car parks and giant TV screens blaring a neverending stream of propaganda. An evocative portrait of a dirty, decaying city rife with poverty, violence and militarism is the setting for a game of cat and mouse between the two 15-year-old protagonists: Day, the Republic’s most wanted fugitive and June, a child prodigy and military cadet sent to hunt Day down.

The dystopian world of Legend is reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984, which is the blueprint for totalitarian dystopias. What makes this book stand out is the immediacy of the voices of Day and June. The first-person narratives told in alternating chapters carry a gritty immediacy that is enthralling. Lu is a former game designer and her ability to realise the physical world of this nightmarish America and deliver well-staged action sequences mean this world feels very possible.

Marie Matteson is from Readings Port Melbourne