Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Legendborn

I think this would've been a 4 star read for me if I had read with my eyes instead of my ears. I started listening to the audiobook in early summer and got about half way through before my Libby loan returned. I enjoyed it, but wasn't totally convinced on the hype this book often gets. Once I was finally able to borrow it again in Libby, I finished the second half in like 2 days and really loved how it wrapped up. These are wonderfully written characters and I'm excited to see how their story continues. Deonn has created an extremely poignant story of southern dark academia that has a lot of important things to say about race and gender in a way that's palatable without doing hard topics any disservice.

Content Warnings

patienceholmes's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

clairew97's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

erebus53's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Bree's mom has just died in a car accident, but she has just been accepted into an early College plan, and she needs to get away from the house where her Dad is pining. She finds herself embroiled In a magic school with a twist, when she is drawn into a secret society that may or may not have something to do with the death of her mother. The story is somewhat romantic, but with a little bit of a triangular.. thing.. going on. Either way there is very little mooshy stuff and no hanky let alone panky.

Being one of the few Black girls on campus, Bree finds being in an elite society of blood and oath bonded mages pretty irksome. She is continually reminded that she doesn't belong, whether being mistaken as wait-staff, assumed to have been allowed entry as "affirmative action", or just wandering in the school gardens and finding a monument to the nameless slaves who built the campus.

Her boyfriend's paranoid bodyguard is sure that she's actually secretly a demon who is trying to manipulate or kill him... and just when she feels like she might be getting a grip on what is going on, she meets with a woman who used to know her mother, who tells her that this order of Blood Mages she has met with, are colonial scum who have stolen their magic, who never consider balance, and who are causing most of the imbalance that is drawing evil manifestations into the world.

And how do you learn all this stuff and still keep it secret from your childhood best friend.. with whom you are supposed to be living the college dream? To get anywhere Bree is going to have to start being honest with herself, get in touch with her own power, and be vulnerable enough to ask for help from unlikely places.

We've got a bit of diversity despite things being very White-centric. One of the main characters has relationships with guys and girls, another is non-binary gender (they/them), and Bree's best friend Alice is Taiwanese American. I've listened to a few books that have been read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt and she does a solid job, but in this particular book where most of the characters are White, it makes my brain work doubly hard. I have to keep reminding myself that the young men she is hanging out with are not Black. It's very easy for my brain to be lulled into the idea that Selwyn is a Black lad, because that's how his voice sounds in the narration. Maybe I just need to concentrate harder.

Quite a lengthy book, but it really does close off with a "first book feel" that leaves you wondering about enough to bring you back for another round... maybe later though.

Content Warnings