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Lu, Marie

Entry updated 1 December 2024. Tagged: Author.

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Pseudonym of Chinese-born author Xiwei Lu (1984-    ), in US from early childhood. She remains best known for her first series, the Young Adult Legend sequence beginning with Legend (2011), set in a moderately distant Near Future balkanized Dystopian America with a geographical focus on Los Angeles (see California). Three loci of narrative interest are conspicuously present in the central three full-length tales: an hierarchical system based on deadly agonistic Games whose winners rise to power and perilous romance, clearly influenced by The Hunger Games sequence by Suzanne Collins; a chase scenario based, Lu has stated, on Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (1862; best translation Julie Rose 2008) (see Crime and Punishment); and the recurrent presence of a deadly Pandemic.

The Young Adult Young Elites sequence beginning with The Young Elites (2014) is set in a world distorted by the consequences of what – in retrospect – seems clearly to have been a Pandemic. The young protagonist, who has been gifted or cursed with Psi Powers as a consequence of her survival, must work to heal her nation, becoming Empress en passant. The Warcross sequence beginning with Warcross (2017), focuses Lu's Young Adult toolkit on a Near Future world dominated by the obsession-creating eponymous Videogame. The Skyhunter sequence beginning with Skyhunter (2020) places its young protagonist in a mutation-damaged world (see Mutants); the action evokes clan-based Military SF.

In The Kingdom of Back (2020), a singleton, the historical Nannerl Mozart (1751-1829) finds that any career as a composer – despite the support of her brother Wolfgang – is refused her, as she is female (see Feminism; Music; Women in SF). A fairy in Mysterious Stranger guise offers her access to the eponymous fantasy kingdom, where she will be able to fulfil her destiny. The tale is written with unconstricted conviction. [JC]

Lu, Xiwei

born Wuxi, Jiangsu, China: 11 July 1984

works

series (selected)

Legend

  • Legend (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 2011) [Legend: hb/Lori Thorn]
  • Life Before Legend (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 2013) [ebook: Legend: na/]
  • Prodigy (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 2013) [Legend: hb/Lori Thorn]
  • Champion (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 2011) [Legend: hb/]
  • Rebel (New York: Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press, 2019) [Legend: hb/]

The Young Elites

Warcross

  • Warcross (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 2017) [Warcross: hb/Cream]
  • Wildcard (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 2018) [Warcross: hb/]

Skyhunter

  • Skyhunter (New York: Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press, 2020) [Skyhunter: hb/Novans V Adikresna]
  • Steelstriker (New York: Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press, 2021) [Skyhunter: hb/Novans V Adikresna]

individual titles

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