This book. I could sit down and talk about it for hours. I remember picking it up by chance, having heard a couple good things about it, simply expecting to read a good book, and move on. How wrong I was. Not now, not ever, will I shut up about how much I love Legendborn. It lives rent free in my mind. If i got a cent for how often I talk about this book I'd be able to afford a hardcover copy for each and everyone of you. And believe me, I'd do it.
And can we please talk about the cover? The colors, the defiant glint in Bree's eyes. It is so perfect I'd have it tattooed somewhere in my body to forever carry it around with me.
Legendborn follows Bree's journey through grief, self-discovery, and an intricate magical world. She has to navigate a world having just recently lost her mother; the beginning of her Early College experience is nothing short of awful. One measly party gone wrong has her witnessing a magical attack and the people responsible for taking care of it. The spell cast by the mysterious Merlin to erase her memories doesn't work, awakening something in Bree—her own magic, and the possibility that her mother's death might be linked to this Arthurian secret society. So she does what she knows best: she decides to dive right in to investigate. What could possibly go wrong?
Book: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Release Date:
Representation: Black MC written by a black author, nonbinary rep, sapphic rep, mlm rep, character with Venezuelan heritage, AsAm side character.
After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.
A flying demon feeding on human energies.
A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.
And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.
The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.
She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.
(Description taken from Goodreads)
5/5 stars
I do not have enough words to praise what this book does, but I'll try.
I went into Legendborn expecting a simple King Arthur retelling, Order of the Round Table and whatever, but let me tell you—it is so much more. Among the many Arthurian retellings in YA I have not come across something as unique as this book. Nothing that's such a scorching mark on my soul. It is a tale of dismantling, a tale of decolonizing, a tale of grief, of growth and acceptance. Above all, it is a tale of love.
I'm usually not a huge fan of first person POVs in fantasy settings, but in Legendborn's case it is absolutely necessary for us to see the world exactly how Bree (our bold, brave, and badass protagonist) perceives it, because no matter how gripping the magic is—we're also supposed to be paying attention to how deeply coated in blood (and racism) the Order of the Round Table, and the people surrounding it, are. The writing is gorgeous. Bree's voice is compelling, the pace is perfect, and everything comes full circle. I will never, ever tire of recommending this book.
Bree's character is absolutely amazing. She moves the plot, refusing to let it sit static. She's resilient, she's stubborn, she wants to know what happened to her mother and she won't stop until she meets her goal. In her soul-crushing grief—explored in the book in such a way that it wrenched apart my own soul—she stands up every time she's dragged to the floor. And when the time comes for her to break down and embrace the whirlwind of everything that she is, well, I can only say that I cried tears of pure joy. Her character development is one of a kind. In the face of a darkness that threatens to consume her, and the mysteries surrounding the Arthurian secret society, she braves the unknown; fists clenched, eyes ablaze. Having to face painful truths as the world around—and inside—her continues to collapse, challenge after challenge, never giving up, quickly made her one of my favorite characters, ever. Reading her grow is like a revelation.
Not only that, but her journey as a black woman in a mostly white environment needs to be talked about. It was written so, so well. Her struggles with racism made me clench my teeth and raise my fists. It was so real; a punch in the gut to remind us that it is very real. To watch her have to defend herself in the face of bigotry is a snap back to reality. Do not miss the opportunity to read this book and have Bree fuel your inner desire for justice. Being unapologetically herself, I loved those bits about her hair, the work that has to be put in caring for it, and the utter disrespect of people thinking it is okay to touch.
The book is never boring, it never drags; it's always action after action, and with each revelation and plot twist I was left, literally, with my mouth gaping. It was the exquisite kind of unpredictable that at the end makes you smile a little bit, and then keep on reading.
This book sent me into a whole identity spiral, and now I truly want to know more about my ancestry as a Latine and a spiritual practitioner. The organic addition of "Rootcraft" as a branch of African spirituality into this tale is masterful and 100% necessary. I don't want to spoil the book, but this is what I mean when I say that Legendborn is more than just about King Arthur and his legacy. If anything, that is a mere plot device to something much bigger. Believe me, you won't regret picking up this book. In a world in which black folks have limited access to their ancestry, Legendborn is a reminder of what was lost to blood and violence. It is a reminder of what cannot ever happen again, yet continues to unfold right before our eyes.
There is so much more than what the whitewashed versions of modern spirituality tell us. So much that was stolen from African practices. It was a heartbreaking call back to the real world. It made me angry in that way that's meant to mobilize us to demand change, the way Bree connected with her ancestry and her gifts. It tells us that we must recover what was taken by force.
So maybe I'm biased because this book simply made me feel in ways I'd never felt before. Pick it up and discover for yourself.
Legendborn is a tale of love. The love we need to find in our darkest times; the one that shines and thump, thump, thumps inside us even through the broken bits. Bree begins this book feeling herself crumbling to dust and emerges still beautifully broken, but knowing that her grief—her growling emotions, do not tarnish the true whole.
The romance? Beautiful; perfectly paced in that way that's sweet and dorky and very teenager-y. It is written in such a way that it is never a hindrance to the plot. However, it is not quite at the center of the story, and I believe this book is simply setting up for what's going to come in the sequels. And we get into the book thinking it's going to be an easy choice. Won't say anything else! Other than this: Nick, brave and beautiful and kind and caring, finally someone that's good (flawed still; I'll admit some Nick moments did make me angry) in a sea of brooding dark-haired men with a troubled past. And then there's Selwyn Kane: a character that got some incredible development that ties to what's bound to become an amazing love triangle. One of those that's worth going through.
Trust me, I could spend an eternity gushing about Selwyn Kane. There's heartbreak, devilish grins, and a complete 180 that left me in awe. An all-black clothes fashion icon.
This is one of those books that I easily gave five stars, no thoughts spared. It awoke something in me. Lit me up like no book has ever done before. I felt molten fire in my veins. I still do any time I think about this masterpiece. Tracy Deonn was what I needed to finally tell myself: I need to diversify my bookshelf. The mastery of diverse tales is already at the tip of our fingers. Why not begin with Legendborn, and find yourself thrown into a story so beautiful and insanely good you'll emerge gasping, itching for more?
Death of a parent and traumatic grief/flashbacks, alcohol consumption, mind control/memory manipulation, racist macro and microaggessions, emesis (vomiting), blood, mild gore, combat violence, mention(s) of: physical abuse, racist violence, sexual violence.
Tracy Deonn is the New York Times bestselling and Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award winning author of Legendborn, and a second-generation fangirl. She grew up in central North Carolina, where she devoured fantasy books and Southern food in equal measure. After earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication and performance studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tracy worked in live theater, video game production, and K–12 education. When she’s not writing, Tracy speaks on panels at science fiction and fantasy conventions, reads fanfic, arranges puppy playdates, and keeps an eye out for ginger-flavored everything.
Tracy is a champion for diversity and representation in science-fiction and fantasy literature and media. And when Tracy’s mother told her that the women in their family were Black Bene Gesserits, she believed her.
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