MTV’s Hollywood Crush caught up with author Marie Lu at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con and got some information from her regarding the final book of the Legend series, Champion. As with most YA literature, not everything ends in a fairy tale classic ending, but surprisingly, she apparently didn’t kill off as many characters as she had originally planned:
“When I first started writing ‘Legend,’ I just assumed everyone was going to end up dead at the end of the story. It just seemed like where it was going to go,” she said. “But the deaths that happen are hopefully significant ones and ones that will sit with everyone a little bit.”
I’m not sure whether this is actually a good thing or a really horrible thing, but it’s something for the fans to dread, either way.
Not everyone will be happy with how the story concludes, and Marie knows this. She just hopes that fans will be satisfied with how things wrap up. “Everyone has a different definition of what their perfect ending will be,” she said. “I hope at least that it feels conclusive and people won’t be left with a million questions.”
She understands how readers feel, though – and as readers, we’ve all been somewhat disappointed with some endings to books.
“I think the last book in a series is always the hardest one to win the fans over. For me, as a fan, when I read book series, I tend to be the most judgmental of the last book,” she said. “So I know if I do it, everyone else does it too. There is definitely that added pressure of ‘Is this the way the fans want to see it end?’ They’ve been following the story for so long they want to see the characters come out of it in a certain way. It’s something that I do worry about a little bit. The third one was the hardest for me to write, so let’s see if people like it.”
via Hollywood Crush.