A review by thehaileybirdie
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

I really struggled to get halfway through because of the pacing and the fact that Bree doesn’t know anything most of the time so everything needs to be infodumped on her all the time so that slowed things down a bit. There was also a couple of plot threads going on at once that converge later so that also required more setup than I’ve seen in most stories but the second half was well worth the wait! It took me over two weeks to read the first 200 pages but that last 200 pages took me a five hour sitting from 11pm to 4am…it was that kind of night. I literally could not put the book down even if I wanted to after about page 250. It was so mindblowingly good and I can’t wait for the second one! 

I also really loved the author’s note where the message of “I loved these legends (King Arthur) and now we get to to decide who is legendary”. I love Arthurian legends as well and have done a few things in my studies to unpack some of the messages of Arthuriana so it was actually really refreshing to see a retelling that focuses on the toxic masculinity, the racism, and the misogyny of it all. It’s not all romantic love and chivalry…especially not to women of color. 

Overall, I had minor issues with the pacing and the best friend Alice who just seemed to be…there. But otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, the characters, the romance, and the friendship with a certain healer, and the message of generational healing from trauma through mothers. It was really powerful and I wish I could read that ending over and over and over again. 
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