by Tracy Deonn
Fantasy, Fiction, YA.
Rating 4.8/5
Synopsis: 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.
Bree’s own unique magic gets unlocked and a buried memory with a hidden connection to the Legendborn and the night her mother died.
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.
Review: If you like fantasy novels, GET THIS BOOK TODAY!
Where do I begin. This book has a little bit of everything. Here we get a brand new take on the Knight of the Round Table, urban fantasy, grief counciling, inherited trauma, the legacy of colonization and slaver, life as a black person in the South, and a reimagining of historic fraternal organizations. My only slight criticism of this book was the use of a couple cliches that are common of YA novels - see love at first sight, love triangle, blond-haired blue-eyed guy that we are also supposed to think is gorgeous. But still, is in the running for my favorite fantasy novel of the year.
I'll get my criticisms out of the way. The love interest feels rushed and unnecessary. The entire novel takes place of the span of about 3 weeks. In that time Bree meets her love interest, who she doesn't initially respond to and by the end of the 3 weeks they are head-over-hills, I-will-guard-you-with-my-life, in love. It seems a lot for a distrusting girl who is grappling with grief and finding out that her whole life is a lie to be also falling in love with someone deeply tied to the organization that she distrusts the most. Also, with all of the anti-blackness she is fighting in the novel, instalove with the blond, blue eyed guy feels forced. The flirtation with the development of a love triangle is another YA cliche that seemed unnecessary. Lastly, here is the trigger warning for any of our readers who are directly apposed to stories with demons. The Round Table is a war with all demon kind and some of the description are very colorful and very thorough.
The world building in the story was incredible, which is really saying something because there was quite a lot of it. As the reader, you stumble alongside Bree as she encounters this whole new would for the first time. There is a lot of explaining of the positions in the strict hierarchy of the Order of the Round Table, as well as use of some different languages. However, it is done so smoothly that you do not feel like you need to keep flipping to the appendix just to keep up. Initially however, I did have a little confusion keeping up with the characters names just because you are introduced to a lot of characters at a time.
The banter in this story is A1. Bree's internal dialog is hilarious. I also loved the scenes with Bree and Alice, especially their references to movie and book quotes. Also, Bree has really great clap backs against any bigots that try to come for her thought the novel.
Also, the fight scenes are epic. They really make your heart rave and tie in smoothly with the book's big twists and plot lines.
The best part of this book it has so much diversity, and we love that. It is not the "in your face, this person is just here to say we are diverse" kind of diversity either. Bree is Black, her best-friend Alice is Taiwanese-American and lesbian. The order is essentially all white kids, except one mixed kid who is passing, but there are two bi characters, a gay character, and a non-binary character. There are other black characters in Bree's community, which also makes the book seem very realistic in terms of community building.Legendborn doesn't just acknowledge what it means to be Black in America, or to be any sort of different from the cis-het white norm, It confronts modern-day anti-Blackness and its roots in the nation's history of colonialism, disenfranchisement, and violence. It celebrates and champions the ways in which Black folk survive, resist, and thrive.
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