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A review by lydiamacclaren
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
3.0
This book was so hyped up and I was expecting so much, it was very disappointing when the book turned out to be... average. It's not bad by any means, but as some reviewers have pointed out, it contains a lot of past tropes resurrected and not all good ones.
The premise was interesting, I personally haven't read many Arthurian inspired books so the concept was new to me. While I enjoyed that world building, it was also incredibly confusing and took a while for me to actually understand all the titles that were being thrown around. I really enjoyed the concept of the different magical systems, but in the end felt their development was lacking. They felt like completely different magic systems and why such various systems existed in the same world felt forced to me.
I liked Bree as a main character, but she was the only one who really got any sort of character development. Apart from her and the love triangle guys (I'll talk about that later) there was little characterization of anyone else. Alice was a throw away, and the rest of the Legendborn group were barely touched. I would credit this to the large cast and the hyper focus on the romance.
Now... about those love interests... take the old trope of the "good guy" and "bad guy" and there you have it. I don't even know if the relationship is being set up for a triangle or what, but I already hate it. I'm not a fan of love triangles, but especially when one is an outright abusive and immature person, well...
Sel. Let's talk about him. Worst character, and unfortunately the one that everyone will swoon over. He cannot control himself, he threatens Bree with physical harm and even death, he is dismissive of her, he oversteps her boundaries and never once does he ever apologize for any of this. When he realizes his assumption of her was wrong... he's still rude to her! I'm sorry, but he is a terrible person and I am totally not on board with Bree's friendship and possible romantic interest in him. He has no justification for his terrible actions, and if you want to argue that he has a tragic backstory that isn't enough and in the end his bad actions should still have repercussions and he needs to work through that.
Enough about him.
So, in the end... it was alright. Some of the events felt juvenile and comical and didn't work with the darker themes. Again, I'm disappointed because I expected so much, and while there were parts I found interesting and sections I was genuinely interested in, overall it just didn't live up to the hype.
The premise was interesting, I personally haven't read many Arthurian inspired books so the concept was new to me. While I enjoyed that world building, it was also incredibly confusing and took a while for me to actually understand all the titles that were being thrown around. I really enjoyed the concept of the different magical systems, but in the end felt their development was lacking. They felt like completely different magic systems and why such various systems existed in the same world felt forced to me.
I liked Bree as a main character, but she was the only one who really got any sort of character development. Apart from her and the love triangle guys (I'll talk about that later) there was little characterization of anyone else. Alice was a throw away, and the rest of the Legendborn group were barely touched. I would credit this to the large cast and the hyper focus on the romance.
Now... about those love interests... take the old trope of the "good guy" and "bad guy" and there you have it. I don't even know if the relationship is being set up for a triangle or what, but I already hate it. I'm not a fan of love triangles, but especially when one is an outright abusive and immature person, well...
Sel. Let's talk about him. Worst character, and unfortunately the one that everyone will swoon over. He cannot control himself, he threatens Bree with physical harm and even death, he is dismissive of her, he oversteps her boundaries and never once does he ever apologize for any of this. When he realizes his assumption of her was wrong... he's still rude to her! I'm sorry, but he is a terrible person and I am totally not on board with Bree's friendship and possible romantic interest in him. He has no justification for his terrible actions, and if you want to argue that he has a tragic backstory that isn't enough and in the end his bad actions should still have repercussions and he needs to work through that.
Enough about him.
So, in the end... it was alright. Some of the events felt juvenile and comical and didn't work with the darker themes. Again, I'm disappointed because I expected so much, and while there were parts I found interesting and sections I was genuinely interested in, overall it just didn't live up to the hype.