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A review by fearsparks
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is an urban fantasy, taking place in the current time. We follow 16 year old Bree, a black young girl who recently lost her mother in a car crash. Bree has been accepted into the pre-college program for high school kids at the university of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
But already on the first night she witnesses something strange and weird, something that her best friend can’t see. Something magical. And she finds out she is not alone in seeing this, there is a secret society on campus that call themselves Legendborns. After befriending Nick, she has an opening and joins this group, and finds out that there is a whole world she doesn’t know about that lives in our world.
This book has been compared with City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. But it is not a fair comparison. The similarities is that we follow a young girl, who sees something her best friend doesn’t and her mother has recently died/disappeared. Then the similarities end. And I don’t think they are comparable at all. I like them both, but on entirely different levels.
The magic system in Legendborn is unique, and we discover and explore it together with Bree. At the same time this book deals with racism and societal norms. Bree is black, but she is the only Black person in her secret society. We see her being cautious around the police. I also learned a bit, where Bree points out how the society pats themselves on the back for including her, even if she’s the only black person.
This book is exciting, informative and hard to let go of. I can’t wait until I can get my hands on the sequel!
But already on the first night she witnesses something strange and weird, something that her best friend can’t see. Something magical. And she finds out she is not alone in seeing this, there is a secret society on campus that call themselves Legendborns. After befriending Nick, she has an opening and joins this group, and finds out that there is a whole world she doesn’t know about that lives in our world.
This book has been compared with City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. But it is not a fair comparison. The similarities is that we follow a young girl, who sees something her best friend doesn’t and her mother has recently died/disappeared. Then the similarities end. And I don’t think they are comparable at all. I like them both, but on entirely different levels.
The magic system in Legendborn is unique, and we discover and explore it together with Bree. At the same time this book deals with racism and societal norms. Bree is black, but she is the only Black person in her secret society. We see her being cautious around the police. I also learned a bit, where Bree points out how the society pats themselves on the back for including her, even if she’s the only black person.
This book is exciting, informative and hard to let go of. I can’t wait until I can get my hands on the sequel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Racial slurs, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Racism and Police brutality