Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Legendborn

Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

74 reviews

stardust22's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny 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

this book was so good!!! It was fun and action-packed but also explored powerful themes of loss, trauma and legacy. I think Tracy Deonn is a really good writer, with how she can blend old (white) legends with Black folklore and history to make something new and profound. Bree was a brilliant main character, she was strong and passionate but didn’t suffer from the common archetypical traits that are often given to FMC in YA fantasy. Her journey of healing from the loss of her mother and connecting with her ancestors was so powerful, and I really appreciated how the book never shied away from the history of slavery and how descendants of enslaved people today are still affected by that trauma.

I thought the premise and world-building was really interesting. the whole idea with the Scions being descendants of the Knights of the Round Table and all the other interpretations of the myth was a really unique interpretation and it was so fun to read. It honestly gave me Percy Jackson vibes in that sense which was cool.

I’ve already gushed about Bree, but I loved the dynamics she had with other characters. I adored Alice and I’m glad she got her chance to shine at the end. I’m hoping she plays a larger role in the rest of the series, she’s a badass and she’s such a good friend. Now, in regards to Nick and Sel I was absolutely unhinged about them. I usually think love triangles (especially in YA) are so overdone and stupid but this one was so fascinating to me. The dynamics between all three of them are so compelling and I honestly just want them to be in a poly relationship bc that’s the only way I’ll be satisfied lmao. I thought Nick and Bree were really cute together although I’m not exactly buying that they’re in love after knowing each other for two weeks ajdjdjfj. Like yeah they have this legendary ancestral connection or whatever but y’all don’t know shit about each other 😂😂😂. That’s one of the only issues I had with the book that it was so quick and in such a short amount of time I think the relationship could have been fleshed out more but that’s not to say I didn’t like them together. However, when I am presented with a snarky & vicious and kind of pathetic character like Selwyn I will always go for that option. Nick and Bree might have had a lot of affection and care for one another but nothing beats the chemistry she had with Selwyn like I was obsessed with him. I would have been all over him if I read this in high school. And I’m even more feral about it knowing he liked Nick before and clearly has this bonded attachment to both Nick and Bree now like PLEASE i’m begging you Tracy make all 3 of them queer for each other 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 (i’m probably delusional but I fully embrace it).

Anyways, this book was so much fun and is probably a new favorite. I’m really excited to continue with the series and see where the characters go.

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julee_melii's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

emkplatts's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I liked this book way more than I expected!!! It was so good! I love King Arthur retellings/adaptations, so I was pleasantly surprised when I started this book. My only critique is that I wanted more exploration of her powers and identity, but I'm hopeful that will come in the rest of the series. I also found the magic system a bit confusing with all of the medieval terms and rules etc. I thought the book discussed race and gender really thoughtfully. It integrated those real life elements into the fantastical world beautifully. It had a lot of important discourse woven into the fabric of the story, making it was easy to process. Which I felt was especially important for younger readers. I'm super excited to read the sequel and anxiously awaiting the third book to be released!

also my merthur heart is singing

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notsobinaryart's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

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natyourusual_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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 almost did not read this due to the YA classification and there are some YA tropes throughout the book that made me roll my eyes at parts of the first 1/3 of the book, but it is an incredible book with incredible character dynamics. I found myself gasping and laughing out loud more times than I thought I would. I mourned with the characters and winced when they got hurt and I marveled at the mysteries and magic revealed on each page. As an enby, I appreciated the nonbinary rep and the massive amounts of queer representation in the book. I hope we get to explore Greer’s character even more in the next book(s). The way Tracy Deonn writes is truly moving and magical and I loved exploring the world of Legendborne. I cannot wait to read the next volume!

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bimess_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Loved the narration though I had to speed it up a bit.

The story captivated me but sometimes it made me put it away. Loved the magic systems introduced in this story. Bree's grief struck a personal cord of mine. And it made it difficult to read sometimes. Anyway, the plot twists didn't really feel like twists? But it still surprised me 🤭

Sometimes I thought if I was really reading YA.

But it was good. I would've given it five stars.

But the idea of Sel and Bree together nauseates me. Considering how abusive he was at the beginning. And everything changes because what? A connection between king and merlin? lol hell nah.

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vaguely_pink's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

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.

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marm0on's review against another edition

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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

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onefineelephant's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.5

9/10. I really enjoyed this book. It gave me chills, made me very emotional, and made me really care about the characters. I was taken on such a journey throughout this story. There were so many parts of the story that surprised me and added to the complexity of the plot. Each turn deepened the connections between the characters and the past. The Arthurian legend and the magic feel unique and compelling to me. I'm not really into love triangles, but this one feels very organic. I found this book from booktok and I knew it had racial tensions/racism as part of the plot, but since I like to go into books mostly blind, I was not expecting the story to address generational trauma and touch on the traumas of enslaved women. This is not a negative to me, but just not what I was expecting going into it. I figured the racial tensions would be more microaggressions and modern racist topics (which were also explored). I think this book will be even more interesting after already reading it for the first time.

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