A review by purecomedy
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

 Easily one of the best fantasy (YA) novels I've read. All the hype Legendborn gets is so deserved.

Once I reached the middle, I could barely put it down and I kind of wished I could read faster. I also had to put the book down and take a walk around the room to process my emotions at so many scenes. It was so good. The last 100 pages were just me squealing and yelling every three pages or so. I wish I could erase my memory just so I could experience reading this book for the first time once more.

The worldbuilding was really interesting. I love Arthurian retellings, which was the main reason I reached for Legendborn, and I thoroughly enjoyed the magical world Deonn created. It took me sometime to parse how the Order works but Deonn avoided clunky info-dumping. Rather, it felt like I was discovering the magical world along with Bree, the protagonist. I also appreciate that there were moments where I was a bit confused and needed a few more pages to connect the dots and the narrative let me do the thinking before making the events outright clear. (Though I assume other readers would figure out some twists/reveals much faster than me.) When the puzzle pieces would finally fit together, it felt really neat.

I'm very impressed by the pacing in this novel. There's no fluff, no unnecessary ramblings. Every chapter serves its purpose. I loved the strategic placement of blank spaces between scenes and chapter breaks.

As for characters, I love everyone in this bar. Bree is such a compelling character, and she was one of the few 1st-person POV I actively enjoyed (I'm usually pretty neutral about it). Don't get me started on Nick and Sel.

I refuse to be team whoever. I have never seen love interests that were so specifically catering to me. If this love triangle doesn't end in polyamory... Well, I won't do anything about it, duh, but I will be disappointed. If this ends in polyamory, I will lose my shit, though, because I never wanted to see a canon OT3 more.

It was great to see a nonbinary character (Greer) just casually being there and also being badass. The relationships Bree has outside of the Order were so beautiful and I really hope we get to learn more about (or see more of) the background characters such as Alice, Patricia, and Mariah in the next books.

Speaking of which, I cannot wait for Book 2. I want a neon countdown in my room the moment the release date drops. Unfollow me now, this is gonna be the only thing I tweet about for the next week (month? year?) etc.