A review by jackelz
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
I loved that this one was a mixture of a King Arthur retelling and “Southern Black Girl Magic.” 

There are squires and pages and mages called Merlins. Legendborn means someone whose family follows the bloodline of one of the Knights of the Round Table, and every Legendborn family has an heir. And there is a magic called root that has ties to Southern Black culture. Bree must grapple with both worlds and magic systems because they intertwine more than she realizes.

I don’t read a ton of fantasy because I sometimes get confused by all the details with the worldbuilding and the sheer amount of characters involved. You can find me Googling character maps to keep everyone straight. I did enjoy this one though, as you all said I would. The setting felt familiar and the Southern history bits were my favorite. I had to go get me a Bo-Berry biscuit after reading, IYKYK. I’m really looking forward to the sequel this Fall.

“Everything has two histories. Especially in the South.”

Bree deals with PTSD from her mothers death, and panic attacks. She was also diagnosed with PCBD, persistent complex bereavement disorder, and I hadn’t heard of that before. 

Bree is Black; Sel is bisexual; and Alice is a Taiwanese-American lesbian. There’s also bisexual, gay, and wlw side characters, as well as nonbinary side character who uses they/them pronouns.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings