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booksalacarte's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
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 UNC-Chapel Hill scems like the perfect escape until Bree witness a magical attack her very first night on campus.
A flying demon feeding on human energies.
A secret society of so-called "Legendlborn" students who hunt the creatures down.
And a mysterious teenage mage who calls him self a “Merlin” and who attempts -and fails- to wipe Bree's memory of every thing she saw,
The mage's failure reveals 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 Legendlborn 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 or she'll go for the truth and whether she should us her magic to take the society down- or join the fight
✨My Opinion✨
I really loved this book! The depiction of Bree’s grief, the knights of the round table lore, the acknowledgement of southern slave history and how messed up it is. There was so much I loved. It was awesome!
I do wish that Bree had been older than 16. It makes me wonder how many books will be in this series and if it will move from YA into NA territory. There is plenty of sexual tension… I am torn between if I want that to happen or not. With how fast the plot progresses, I think that this series won’t span a very long period of time.
My other mini complaint is that a little more physical descriptions of the characters throughout the book would have done wonders. At one point I couldn’t remember what one of the main characters looked like, and I had to go back to their intro to get the picture of them back in my head. I wasn’t thrilled to have been pulled out of the book for something easy to implicate just a tad more.
Other than that, I loved the exposition and learning about everything involved in the Lore of this magic system along side the MC’s. I can’t wait to get my hands on the second book!
Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Grief, Vomit, Slavery, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood
Moderate: Murder, Cursing, Blood, Medical content, and Racism
Minor: Car accident and Racial slurs
evelynyle_88's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Legendborn is a really take me to a whole new world of understanding the world of King Arthur's retelling story in modern way; through Bree and her anncestors.
I love Bree as a strong female character here and how she is confused and have no clue about all the Legendborn world. But, come to understatement that she wants to know and learn all of this new world to her. I also love her character development and also her relationship with Nick. It is so sweet.
"Don't make your life about the loss. Make it about the love."
-Edwin Simmons Matthews
I love her relationship with Sel too. It's straight a enemy to friends relationship as I myself grow reading this from hating Selwyn to love him as part demon part human. I adore William too. He is simply a lovable character with an excellent medical knowledge. A true healer.
William's ability to heal people using aether is a top notch! Well done, Tracy. A nice open-ending with the plan to rescue Nick from his vigillant father and Isaac.
Let's go Bloodmarked! Can't wait to continue this journey of rescue with Selwyn and Bree 💞
Minor: Car accident, Death, Slavery, War, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racism, Kidnapping, and Murder
saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
I did a breeze-y reread of this so I can finally dive into the second book and I have some new thoughts:
-this really is doing it better than like most YA fantasy and should be getting the hype Hunger Games and Percy Jackson got
-Selwyn Kane my beloved
-the pacing is a little off due to the amount of exposition
-tbh I didn't care much about Nick this time
-but did I mention Sel?????
-the way this and Iron Widow both effortlessly proved that if you make the love triangle queer it actually makes it interesting
-this better end in a polycule or Bree and Sel together
First read March 2021
The hype is real.
Legendborn is an incredibly rich YA fantasy. Rich in world building, themes, twists, it's overall quite a lot. I could see some people getting a bit lost in everything - I for sure was for awhile. But after you get through the initial surge of world building, the payoff is superb.
The world building is deeply entrenched in both Arthurian legend and Black American folklore. There are about a billion different concepts that interconnect in brilliant ways. Fantasy concepts connecting with other fantasy concepts connecting with history to create rich world building that allows avenues to challenge systematic racism and discuss topics such as legacy and intergenerational trauma.
And all of this is done with a lead bursting with personality. Bree is the perfect balance of badass and snarky and flawed. She's dealing with the loss of her mother, and unlike a lot of YA, it is not an excuse to not have parents in the story. Bree deals throughout the book with grief in a way that feels raw and honest.
With her is a mostly excellent cast. I feel that there may have been a few too many characters which lead to a few not having enough page time. I would have particularly liked some more from Alice, Greer, Fitz, and Evan.
But don't get me wrong, I love most of the cast. Especially the love interest Nick who is sweet but with a lot of depth and Sel the resident bad boi who - well, I don't want to spoil, so all I'll say is Sel surprised me in a very nice way that made me really like him despite the fact I don't usually like YA bad bois.
It's a surprising book period. An excellent subversion that breathes new life into YA secret society fantasy.
Graphic: Death of parent, Racism, and Grief
Moderate: Violence, Slavery, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Minor: Rape
meghansarmiento97's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Slavery, Bullying, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, and War
hayzey's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: War, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death of parent, Stalking, Slavery, Medical trauma, Racism, Racial slurs, Gore, Death, Blood, Bullying, and Torture
Moderate: Medical content, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Murder, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Bullying, Blood, Alcohol, Violence, Torture, Stalking, Slavery, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Gore, War, and Infidelity
Minor: Torture, War, Slavery, Mental illness, Grief, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Classism, Blood, Abandonment, Violence, Sexual violence, Racism, Murder, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Car accident, Alcohol, Stalking, Rape, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Death
liseylovesbooks's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Physical abuse
Moderate: War, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Racial slurs
Minor: Death, Medical content, Blood, Bullying, Rape, Sexism, and Vomit
rebeccajost's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Racism, Misogyny, Death of parent, Medical content, Grief, Violence, Classism, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Murder, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Kidnapping, and Slavery
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Rape, and Pregnancy
siennakt30's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, War, Death of parent, and Grief
ashleycmms's review against another edition
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Slavery, Car accident, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Blood, Death, Medical content, Racism, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, and Misogyny
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Rape
eldritch_archivist's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Slavery, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Murder, Xenophobia, Violence, Death, Racism, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Blood, Alcohol, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Colonisation, Kidnapping, War, Transphobia, and Medical content
Minor: Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Sexual violence, Rape, Misogyny, Infidelity, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Police brutality