Legendborn by Tracy Deonn | Book Review

Hello, book lovers! 💕

The following is from Goodreads:

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.

My Thoughts:

I’m going to start this review off by saying there are content warnings in this book for death of a parent; generational trauma with depictions of slavery, abuse and rape; racism; and possession and gore. If those are some things that you’re not comfortable reading about in a book, then I’d suggest maybe not picking this book up.

But anyway, what drew me initially to this book was not only the fact that I was seeing it pretty much everywhere. Any BookTube videos I watched mentioned it; I saw it all over Goodreads. And so many people were giving it such raving reviews. I figured I had to give it a try.

And I ended up loving this book so much. I read it on my Kindle, and it took me a bit longer than usual to get through (it’s a 500 page fantasy book, so that’s understandable). But the fact that I read it at a slower pace didn’t matter to me. I just wanted to enjoy the ride of reading the book. And I truly did.

There was a secret society where the members fought demons. Which hooked me immediately. But these members aren’t just any individual person. They’re descendants of King Arthur’s knights who, once Called, possess the strength or ability of a particular knight. That’s where their magical powers come from: something called aether that they can wield into armor and weapons or use to heal.

And that’s not even touching the surface of what this book deals with.

Because Bree Matthews isn’t a part of that world, but when her mother dies, Bree finds clues that might link her mother to the Legendborns. Which uncovers more secrets about Bree’s history. And it’s all so complex and intricate the way that Tracy Deonn weaves the story together in such a flawless way, and does it in a way that deals with real issues of grief, racism, oppression, and heritage.

In a way, it was like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, but only in the sense that there are trials that the initiates have to go through in the story. But that’s where the similarities end.

I don’t know what else to say about this book other than it was absolutely fantastic. I’ve never read a fantasy book quite like this one.

Also, can the sequel come out already because the ending of the book just left me wanting more! It left me with so many questions and not nearly enough answers.

But there you have it. I really enjoyed Legendborn (if I hadn’t said that enough). And if you haven’t already, I’d highly recommend that everyone picks it up. It’s seriously that good.

Have you read this book? What were your thoughts on it? I’d love to chat in the comments below!

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