Legendborn

After an accident takes the life of Bree’s mother, her life begins to fall apart. Bree bottles up all the anger and grief she feels so tight she is unable to move on. To escape the memories and anything that may trigger what she’s hidden inside herself, she enrolls in a beginning college program at UNC-Chapel Hill. But her first night on campus will reveal a hidden world of magic, demons, and ancient Arthurian legends. A world that may have taken her mother’s life. Determined to find the truth about her mother’s death, Bree infiltrates the world of the Legendborn. And as she forges her own path within the secret society, she will uncover hidden truths about her ancestry and her mother’s death.

There is a heavy dose of world-building as the Legendborn story unfolds. Between how the hidden world of magic works, and the Legendborn secret society itself, be braced for a large amount of information. However, don’t fret, because even though readers are given a lot to process, the story will build on what is given to the reader. The plot will call back to pieces of history and world-building as Bree journeys farther into the depths of Legendborn society, accenting what the reader knows with plenty of action and drama.

A wide variety of relationships are displayed throughout this story; familial, friendship, and community alike. When Bree is among the Legendborn community, there are many displays of racism, microaggression, and unconscious bias toward Bree. Tracy Deonn has woven these eye-opening experiences so well into the story, and it is heartbreaking to see them happen. But they happen every day in our world, not just in the world of Legendborn. I grew angered at members of the society who treated Bree as if she were less simply for having a different skin color. Bree did gain a support system within the society, but prejudice is long ingrained in a number of the society members.

Learning to cope with the loss of a parent is another strong theme within Legendborn. By bottling everything up, Bree is unable to process the emotions raging inside of her mind. Frustration and anger quickly rise to the surface and impact how she deals with people and situations. Witnessing Bree uncover her family’s history to learn how to let go and allow herself to experience grief was powerful.

There are so many elements to Legendborn, and the amount of challenges Bree faces are astounding. Seeing her develop and overcome these challenges was as heartbreaking as it was rewarding. And with the way Legendborn ended, I cannot wait to see what direction the next story takes.

CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Writing: 6
Plot: 3
Intrigue: 5
Logic: 3
Enjoyment: 4

This had so much potential and I enjoyed the beginning. The middle dragged significantly for me. This book is almost 500 pages and has no reason to be that long. Then the ending completely ruined it for me. I will not be continuing with this series.

4,5 ⭐️
What a surprise!
Really didn't expected that. I am not found of retelling but I loved this vision of the Arthurian legend and its inheritance.
I loved to read with a young African-American girl as the main character and openly talking about the racisms and discrimination she has to endure everyday ( even when you live in a world with magic).
This was so good. Highly recommend.

ngl, that was... a lot

but it wasn't bad a lot? it was all very obviously well thought out and planned, and at one point i never felt too overwhelmed by the information that was necessary to know to understand what was going on. it really helped 1000% to listen to the audiobook, especially hearing some of the words being pronounced, in order to keep everything on track.

i can imagine it gets a little difficult keeping up with everything but it kind of felt like a mini series binged and i absolutely loved that. i also loved how tracy deonn was unafraid to call out a lot of behavior, from weird things like touching bree's hair (y'all wtf stop doing that) to white people calling every BIPOC college student they see “affirmative action”. lots of heartwarming and heartbreaking moments, and also a swoon worthy white love interest (that's right i said it)

it really did feel like a TV show especially with the audiobook, but it was an exceptionally written one that did not leave any plot holes or too much time between important plot points and thus avoided any pacing problems. cannot wait for the rest of this series!

Read cover to cover in 24 hours. Every delicious thing about YA fantasy–the secret and dark world of magic that our main character enters; the mysterious powers she just discovered in herself; the charming and powerful love interest who captures her heart at a breakneck pace. (And of course the hint of a potential love triangle.) The writing was well-paced with a large but well-delineated cast of complex characters and richly descriptive, often lyrical writing. Most people probably saw the twist at the end coming, but I didn't because I'm thick when it comes to plot twists (but it was great). Deonn writes about grief in an especially poignant and poetic way. I also loved reading a YA fantasy set in a place so familiar to me: NC, not NYC (and it engaged with UNC's legacy being built by enslaved people). Deonn pulls what is most compelling about Arthurian legend, the lineage and myth, the power and loyalty, while also engaging the horrific history of the secret magic world's colonialism and enmeshment with white supremacy. As Deonn writes in the end notes, this book asks the question of who gets to be legendary, and anchors a Black heroine as the heir of multiple lineages of power–and specifically contrasts the magic grounded in white supremacy with the magic of Bree's family and their resistance to it.

Very excited for book 2 and all to come.

I tried to read this twice. Both times I had to put it down. The first one at like 5% and the second one at 20. The writing is so juvenile and feels like I’m being handheld. 20% in and I still also have no sense of importance—ie, who should I care about and why?! I have other books on my to read list that won’t feel like such a slog, and this one feels too amateur to bother continuing.

okay i did really like this book a lot. i loved the magic system so much and how it combined traditional african american root magic in with the aruthrian magic system. i enjoyed the setting because it is a school i've visited before and i did enjoy bree as a character as well as how grief played into the story. this also had a trial element which i love. this was a bit info dumpy tho and i wish there was more diversity in the book besides bree and her therapist. this book also would have made sense to be aged up to new adult and just been set in college rather than ya with an early college program. it's important to have these types of stories for teens but i would have preferred bree just be in college. overall, this story was super interesting and a i've never read a king author retelling which i loved how it was done, but there were a couple issues i had with it 

Exceptional. Regretting that I didn't wait until the sequel was released before reading. Stupid anticipation.

Rereading now sequel is out: the premise is quite genius and the pacing is perfect but the supporting characters are largely indistinguishable. I also find the romance subplot wanting; the attempts at banter are weak and I'm not feeling the chemistry. Excited to read what happens next!

“Don't make your life about the loss. Make it about the love.”

WOW.

I have been starting a lot of reviews like this lately but I think this is worthy of it being in all caps because..... WOW

I can't express how annoyed I am that I haven't picked this book up earlier than I have (Which I know my friend, Si is going to proceed to tell me that they had told me to read it).

It's not often that a book that is hyped as much as this one lives up to it. To be honest, I think Legendborn deserves more praise than it gets. This has to be one of my favourite magic systems that I have read so far, it's creative, unique and so unlike anything else I have read.

There are times when you read a book that you know is going to be a comfort read and Legendborn was one of them. Everything about this intrigued me and made me want more.

Bree is the most fantastic protagonist and she is a force to be reckoned with. I loved that underneath the fantasy, this book also touched on serious topics such as grief and racism.

I truly can't get over how beautiful and well-written this book is. I am completely obsessed and I can't wait to read the next book.

An imaginative take on Arthurian legend, but I guess I'm not really the target audience; a bit more Y than A for my tastes. More than a passing hint of Twilight. Despite this, it is largely well-written, and works towards a satisfying conclusion (while firmly sign-posting the next in the series).

One side note: The narrator for the audiobook had an odd cadence, with sudden changes of tone that kept bringing me out of the story. It was still a good reading, but I wonder if something went wrong in the edit.

I was curious about the hype and I'm glad I read it. Legendborn draws on the myth of King Arthur and The Round Table. It's one of the better YA fantasy novels I've read ??? with the obvious tropes, but also... not clich?? at all. Grief is a huge theme, and I'm surprised by the level of maturity it's handled with. It wants more than to just entertain the obvious YA audience. Even if you're not a usual YA reader; if the blurb sparks your curiosity, it's definitely worth a read. I found it difficult to put it down.