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lizzieuch's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-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? No
3.75
Super cool by the end just a little slow to start. Difficult to keep track of the side characters and their relationships because they aren't really developed but the main character is great
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Violence
Minor: Sexual violence
bookishspy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
Legendborn is a solid and exciting YA read!
I had a lot of people recommend this story to me over the past year, and after finally reading it, I'm actually regretting not getting around to it sooner!
Bree is such a perfect main character. She is fun, smart, and has such a deep and real personality. She's not perfect and also had a temper when it was called for. She didn't just always let things slide right off her back as some mightโve. Her strength was the standout here.
Nick is such a sweet guy and always had Bree's back. I love that he had a little rebellious streak, but he knew when it was time to put that aside. He did surprise me with one of the fights where he hit someone who he knew was not allowed to hit him back, and that left me wondering if he might be a bit darker than he seems. The romance with him was perfect, just a little flirty and cheeky. It was super cute, but he clearly has a jealous streak.
Sel seems endgame to me. He has the dark and mysterious thing going on, plus a bit of that forbidden charm. He's also deeper than he first appears to be, and he seems to have a bit of a cheeky streak as well. I really want more of him.
While it is not heavy on romance and is more fantasy with a side of romance, the love triangle is certainly triangling, and it is hitting the spot. The jealous moments and then working together despite it, just perfect.
Now, if we get to the actual story, I will say this wasn't a perfect score for me, but it was close! The only thing that dragged down this story was how confusing the names and places got at times. We were thrown a lot of names and expected to remember who was who and where was where. I was winging it a lot of the time, and because of that, the bad guy reveal just didn't hit as hard as it should have.
Despite that, this was so unique and exciting! It was also heartbreaking and hard to read at times that involved heavy doses of racism and sexism. Sometimes, I wanted to climb in this book and yell at some of these characters for their bigotry, which is a testimony to how well written this story was. I was enthralled and binged this as fast as I could, and I think I'll move immediately to the next book in the series.
I would highly recommend this fantasy book!
โ ๐.๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฌ
I had a lot of people recommend this story to me over the past year, and after finally reading it, I'm actually regretting not getting around to it sooner!
Bree is such a perfect main character. She is fun, smart, and has such a deep and real personality. She's not perfect and also had a temper when it was called for. She didn't just always let things slide right off her back as some mightโve. Her strength was the standout here.
Nick is such a sweet guy and always had Bree's back. I love that he had a little rebellious streak, but he knew when it was time to put that aside. He did surprise me with one of the fights where he hit someone who he knew was not allowed to hit him back, and that left me wondering if he might be a bit darker than he seems. The romance with him was perfect, just a little flirty and cheeky. It was super cute, but he clearly has a jealous streak.
Sel seems endgame to me. He has the dark and mysterious thing going on, plus a bit of that forbidden charm. He's also deeper than he first appears to be, and he seems to have a bit of a cheeky streak as well. I really want more of him.
While it is not heavy on romance and is more fantasy with a side of romance, the love triangle is certainly triangling, and it is hitting the spot. The jealous moments and then working together despite it, just perfect.
Now, if we get to the actual story, I will say this wasn't a perfect score for me, but it was close! The only thing that dragged down this story was how confusing the names and places got at times. We were thrown a lot of names and expected to remember who was who and where was where. I was winging it a lot of the time, and because of that, the bad guy reveal just didn't hit as hard as it should have.
Despite that, this was so unique and exciting! It was also heartbreaking and hard to read at times that involved heavy doses of racism and sexism. Sometimes, I wanted to climb in this book and yell at some of these characters for their bigotry, which is a testimony to how well written this story was. I was enthralled and binged this as fast as I could, and I think I'll move immediately to the next book in the series.
I would highly recommend this fantasy book!
โ ๐.๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฌ
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Death, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Sexism, Mental illness, Death of parent, Slavery, Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, and Car accident
Minor: Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexism, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Bullying, Car accident, Racial slurs, and Cursing
alysonmorales's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, Rape, Death, Grief, and Racism
Minor: Car accident
peppermint_pink's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Wow first let me just say that the plot is so engaging - it got me reading 60-90 pages a day. Just be aware that this book is LONG. The magic system was also so interesting and I can't wait to learn more about it.
I was just a little disappointed mostly because the hype around the book elevated my expectations too much and it didn't meet my initial expectations. Some things that bothered me:
I was just a little disappointed mostly because the hype around the book elevated my expectations too much and it didn't meet my initial expectations. Some things that bothered me:
- The timeline. Like 60% of the book happened within the first week of school? It gave me whiplash. The whole thing happens in two weeks. What. I also kind of wish the author just made Bree 18 instead of 16
because the age and early college thing mixed with how fast everything went is throwing me off a little. - The love triangle. This is more of a personal preference. I don't like love triangles at all, especially not when it felt like Bree didn't have much chemistry with one of the dudes in the love triangle.
Also two white boys?! But that's what you get when you read YA - you've got to accept that teenage melodrama will be part of the story. - Her relationships. I really needed her to have more Black friends or at least TRY to look for more POC friends.
Her one friend kinda got pushed to the wayside and it was lowkey disappointing and felt underdeveloped. - I know that the story represents the reality for a lot of Black people who are in PWIs but it really felt like there were TOO many White people. Maybe that's just me. I just thought there would be more Black people but I can count on one hand the number of (named) Black characters she interacts with
not counting the ancestors.
Still, I loved seeing the growth and discovery in Bree in the last third of the book. Tracy Deonn really showed the impulsivity and anger that comes with being a teenager, not to mention a grieving one. Overall, it wasn't bad at all. I just didn't love it the way I expected to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Racism, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Vomit, Alcoholism, Rape, and Car accident
rhall19's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Racism
punchmerowan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Car accident, Grief, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Death
ellenwm's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-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
5.0
I am in awe of this book. Absolutely adore it and think it will surely become a contemporary classic in the genre. Tracy Deonn weaves together a masterpiece with a killer plot, wonderfully drawn characters, and beautiful, earnest prose. Sheโs embellished a real campus and based the story in history, lore and legend from multiple perspectives. The way she writes about slavery, violence, generational trauma and contemporary white supremacy is important. As a fellow member of the motherless daughters club, I found her meditations on grief, PTSD, rage and isolation refreshingly realistic and meaningfully expressed. Her depictions of friendship and found family rock. It is a gift to get to know Bree! Her relationships with Alice and her Dad ring acutely true. The pacing is awesome, too. I was sucked in and racing to the next snort-laugh-worthy line of dialogue or gasp-inducing reveal. I canโt wait to read the next book!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Racism, Death, Murder, and Grief
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Misogyny, Abandonment, Death of parent, Transphobia, Slavery, War, and Sexism
Minor: Rape
nikki_flowers's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Death of parent, Misogyny, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Medical content, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexism, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, and Rape
wytherwytch's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
4.75
This book was brilliant. It was slow to get going for me as the fantasy world was set up and explained but once it was going it was utterly brilliant. I really appreciated reading a book with a main character that was a woman of colour by a woman of colour and the raw perspective this book offered. More of this please.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Classism, Car accident, Racism, Death of parent, Death, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War, Blood, Infidelity, and Alcohol
jimins's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ahhhh i enjoyed this so much!! like sure some of the characters felt a little flat but bree was great and the worldbuilding was fascinating. in typical me fashion i am a Big Fan of sel. looking forward to reading the next book!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Death, and Grief
Minor: Death of parent