Many of Marie Lu’s works take place in dystopian settings which she uses to reveal complexity in her characters. Her use of dystopian societies presents a broken society as a whole.
The use of a dystopian setting in Marie Lu’s book “Legend” shows the reader a broken/bad society in which the United States is divided into two warring nations, the Republic and the Colonies. Dystopian setting is also used in War-cross, in a future Tokyo where virtual reality becomes a casual part of everyday life and in "The Young Elites" which is a fantasy world inspired by Renaissance Italy, where a group of people with special powers known as the Young Elites. "Skyhunter" is set in a war-torn world where a group of elite soldiers known as the Sky-hunters fight against an invading empire and lastly in "Batman: Night-walker" which is in Gotham City and follows a young Bruce Wayne as he becomes the hero known as Batman.