Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Legendborn

Absolutely amazing book. I'm disappointed that I didn't pick it up sooner. It really resonated with me; Bree's emotions reflected mine. It's amazing (and painful) how much I related to the events of the book, even though it's mostly fantasy. "It's about Black motherhood and Black daughterhood" and it's a great read. A little hard to wrap your head around at times, but it's worth the struggle.

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disneydamsel1's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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patienceholmes's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

My only real criticism is that sometimes the messages were a little heavy handed. I think the author felt the need to make things very clear but in some bits it was a bit overdone and came off a little cringey. I think considering this is her first work though that’s totally understandable.

I personally found it a little too cliche with the romance aspects but I think so many people would love it for that and that’s personal taste.

Aside from that it was really great. I loved the focus on grief, I loved the magic system and learning how it all worked, I loved the way the characters were expanded on and delving deeper into their backstories.

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lifeonasofa's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Legendborn ⚡️ Review

“Don't make your life about the loss. Make it about the love” - Tracy Deonn 💕

⭐️⭐️💫 2.25 Stars

I so badly wanted to love this book. It’s taken me over a month to accept that it’s ok not to love a hyped book…but the fact it took me 8 months to finish, says a lot 😬

Before I go on, I absolutely can see why it’s so well loved. The second half was vastly better than the first. I absolutely loved Bree and the representation, the culture she bought into the fantasy genre was GREAT! Her grief flooded from the pages so some skilled character writing! 🦹🏾‍♀️

Though the romance vibe was a little too ‘love at first sight’ for me at the start between Bree and sunshine boy Nick, I did like how it wasn’t the main focus. The intrigue surrounding Bree and Sel was there, he played the same mysterious fellow pretty well. 🥰

Like I said, the first half was SO slow, genuinely…nothing happened? Whilst the plot was a lot better later on, it just felt like the pacing for a 600 page book was completely off. 😬

Bree spends 90% of the time acting like Wonder Woman, somehow a natural in this Arthurian magic world she’s never heard of. It’s almost jolting on the rare occasions we go back to her dorm on campus.

It’s a shame because ‘normal’ teen Bree was my favourite…she’s supposed to be a vulnerable 16 year old?! I wish we’d got more of her in that school/home environment, it would’ve balanced out the story. 🏫

There was a lot of terminology and info that didn’t land with me, even by the end. Could be because I wasn’t into it, but for a YA, I think world building and magic systems need to be understood by the end of a book. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Overall, I’m super sad I didn’t enjoy it, I won’t be putting myself through Bloodmarked 📚

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oddlyghoul's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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tiredtori's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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kimilyn's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I’ve been hearing about this book for years. People raving about how good it is. Now that I think back no one ever mentioned any specifics.. probably because this book is actually pretty average. The magic system is interesting but it takes a while to understand it and there were a lot of info dumps and not many demonstrations.

Characters
The characters are pretty bland. Everyone has a nickname. Eg. Sar and Tor and Sel and Whitty. But there aren’t a lot of defining characteristics. It felt like everyone was just doing what the plot demanded and weren’t making choices based on their needs or wants. When certain characters were in mortal danger I didn’t really care because I didn’t know them enough to care.

The two main boys were your typical golden haired good boy and dark haired bad boy. Each with their own super-tragic-traumatic-secret-backstory. Given the way the two boys are connected I wouldn’t mind a little polyamory between the three of them… But I doubt the author will be brave enough to do that. Trad pub and all. unfortunate because that would have made them a lot more interesting besides them fulfilling their trope roles and being “omfg! 😳 so shmexy! 🥵 can’t focus 😍”

Bree just felt stupid. There were a couple things the author was going for here according to the author’s note. Related to trauma and secret magic reasons, but for me it just didn’t work. I didn’t ever know why Bree was doing what she was doing. And not in a fun way that made me want to know more. It was more in a frustrating way that made me want to quit reading. Also can someone go back and keep track of how many times she passed out at the end of a scene? because I’m pretty sure it was more than five.

Plot
According to the author’s note the goal was to center Bree’s relationship with her mother and ancestors. But to me the only thing that was centered were the boys she was obsessed with. There was definitely a focus on Bree wanting to find out what really happened to her mom, but that wasn’t about their relationship. That was just a mystery to solve that happened to make her spend time with the hot boys. The ancestors storyline picked up near the end but it didn’t really seem centered. More of an addendum.

Plot Twists/Reveals (No Spoilers)
I usually enjoy plot twists. But not when they come out of nowhere with no hints or setup. During the last fourth of the book it felt like every few pages was another reveal or twist. Some of them worked but some of them were kind of annoying because it felt like the author was just throwing everything at the wall to see what stuck. I’m sure it was well planned out but it was a lot and for me personally not everything hit in the way I think it was intended.

Worldbuilding
The whole Legendborn thing is a very interesting idea. But it was explained in either info dumps or from Bree magically connecting dots. It was very confusing for me for a lot of the book. I think I got most of it by the end but it took a lot to get there. I like exploring a fantasy world but every time there was a new pause in the story for another info dump I was just irritated.

Racism
Just to preface this I am a black woman and fantasy is my favorite genre. Any time I can see myself reflected in the genre is a win. This included. But I prefer when racism, especially anti-black racism, is left out completely. I get why it wasn’t here. Kind of a crucial piece of the story. but to me it could have been handled more intentionally.

The actual day-to-day racism Bree experienced felt like superficial representations. Most felt over the top or heavy-handed. Maybe my experiences with racism have been different from this author’s. But the racism I usually see is a lot more subtle when it’s face to face. More passive aggressive and disguised.

It also was weird that this was a very white, historic secret society, yet there were only one or two instances when someone made Bree feel unwelcome. From my experience it felt unrealistic. Places and people like that will make black people feel othered all day long. did you see Get Out? That was way more accurate. The looks, the comments, the body language. Wish there had been more of that here to emphasize Bree’s sense of not belonging.

And I know this book was long so there probably wasn’t room, but some nuance around the discussion of racism would have been nice. Like if either of her boyfriends had been unintentionally racist a few times so she could correct and educate them. Just a little more acknowledgment that everyone is a at least a bit racist, intentionally or not but that doesn’t make you a bad person if you learn from it and do better.

Diversity
There were five non-white characters in this book. And I think there were four LGBTQ+ characters.

It was weird to me that Bree kept talking about being black and wanting to connect with her heritage, but made no efforts to connect to black kids her age. Bree had zero black friends.

All the LGBTQ+ kids felt like afterthoughts. There was a non-binary kid and the vibe was that they were such a disruption and almost as much of an outsider as Bree. But it was just said, no one ever actually treated them any differently.

Final Thoughts
Like I said, for me this was average. Probably won’t pick up the rest of the series. But if you like a twist on Aurthurian Legend with a black lead, go for it.

**(Also am I crazy or is it weird that Bree is sixteen and her love interests are at least nineteen? That age gap is weird right?)

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