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A review by saucy_bookdragon
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
Reread May 2024
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape