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A review by rosereads_books
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
That was incredible!
Legenbord was such a powerful and rich story, I loved it!
I thought the characterization was brilliant, as was the story telling! I was a bit thrown off at first because the story is told in 1st person/present tense and I usually have a harder time getting into those stories but this one sucked me in fast!
Legends are dangerous, Bree. Don't underestimate them.
Legendborn tells the story of Brianna Matthews. After her mom dies in a car accident, she enrolls into a residential program at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she witnesses a demon attack on her first night on campus. She then enters a whole world she hadn't known existed. Many discoveries await her, and some hard times too.
What I liked about the book:
- The richness of the story. As Deonn mentions in the notes at the end of her book, a lot of research has done into the making of this story. The result was, for me, a fully developed story and a full-blown lore. Though at some points confusing, I thought the author did a great job into explaining the organization of her magic system. Also, I loved how this book was anchored in African American spirituality with the rootcraft wielded by some of the characters.
- The diversity . Legendborn is one of the most diverse ya-fantasy I've personally read, all in terms of ethnicity, sexual orientations and gender identity. What I thought was great, was that it didn't felt forced? Sometimes, it can feel like the identity of the characters are used as plotlines or 'forced' upon the story to kinda reach a quota, I guess? Wasn't the case for Legendborn, for me.
- The themes . This book deals a lot with grief. Grieving people, realities, things we know. And also different kind of grieving. I liked the open discussion about therapy and coming to terms with our own way of grieving between a couple of the characters.
- The ending . Maybe it's just me, but I was surprised by the way it ended! I loved the way it was written. I loved how Bree reconnects with her roots, and the plot twist was really good!
What left me "meh':
- The info dump . Because this world is so rich and encompasses so many aspects of different things, its explanation can be tedious. I'd say I was confused for the first third of the book. I had no idea what was going on and who was what. And then came the info dump. There was A LOT of information presented to me in such a small amount of time. It cleared a bit of the confusion but having the information repeated later in the book definitely helped me grasped the extent of Deonn's universe.
- The pacing . I don't know if it's because I'm not used in reading 1st person/present tense, but the pacing of this book left me feeling weird most of the book. It was like everything was going so slowly and then everything was going too fast, and then slow again. In the end, I have no idea how much time passed in this book, cause be months, could be weeks.
If you like fantasy, I definitely recommend reading this book.
Legenbord was such a powerful and rich story, I loved it!
I thought the characterization was brilliant, as was the story telling! I was a bit thrown off at first because the story is told in 1st person/present tense and I usually have a harder time getting into those stories but this one sucked me in fast!
Legends are dangerous, Bree. Don't underestimate them.
Legendborn tells the story of Brianna Matthews. After her mom dies in a car accident, she enrolls into a residential program at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she witnesses a demon attack on her first night on campus. She then enters a whole world she hadn't known existed. Many discoveries await her, and some hard times too.
What I liked about the book:
- The richness of the story. As Deonn mentions in the notes at the end of her book, a lot of research has done into the making of this story. The result was, for me, a fully developed story and a full-blown lore. Though at some points confusing, I thought the author did a great job into explaining the organization of her magic system. Also, I loved how this book was anchored in African American spirituality with the rootcraft wielded by some of the characters.
- The diversity . Legendborn is one of the most diverse ya-fantasy I've personally read, all in terms of ethnicity, sexual orientations and gender identity. What I thought was great, was that it didn't felt forced? Sometimes, it can feel like the identity of the characters are used as plotlines or 'forced' upon the story to kinda reach a quota, I guess? Wasn't the case for Legendborn, for me.
- The themes . This book deals a lot with grief. Grieving people, realities, things we know. And also different kind of grieving. I liked the open discussion about therapy and coming to terms with our own way of grieving between a couple of the characters.
- The ending . Maybe it's just me, but I was surprised by the way it ended! I loved the way it was written. I loved how Bree reconnects with her roots, and the plot twist was really good!
What left me "meh':
- The info dump . Because this world is so rich and encompasses so many aspects of different things, its explanation can be tedious. I'd say I was confused for the first third of the book. I had no idea what was going on and who was what. And then came the info dump. There was A LOT of information presented to me in such a small amount of time. It cleared a bit of the confusion but having the information repeated later in the book definitely helped me grasped the extent of Deonn's universe.
- The pacing . I don't know if it's because I'm not used in reading 1st person/present tense, but the pacing of this book left me feeling weird most of the book. It was like everything was going so slowly and then everything was going too fast, and then slow again. In the end, I have no idea how much time passed in this book, cause be months, could be weeks.
If you like fantasy, I definitely recommend reading this book.