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A review by rebeckareads
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
fast-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
2.25
- Rated 4.14 using the CAWPILE rating system.
- Read as part of the Books and Tea's discord server's July-August 2021 readalong.
Normally I never read YA fantasy, but I won this book in the Books and Tea discord server's giveaway and then read it as part of the same server's May-June 2021 readalong.
I went in with just about zero expectations. I loved the prologue, struggled through most of the beginning and middle, liked the last 200-or-so pages. What I enjoyed most about the prologue was the writing, it felt very poetic at times. Apart from that, I did not find the writing extraordinary... however, I found the characters to be interesting! We got representation in a black protagonist, an Asian best friend, a non-binary side character, same sex relationships... you can tell the black protagonist is written by a black author, which feels refreshing. Colonialism and the generational struggles are woven into the book but in my opinion, it doesn't feel "too on the nose". The book also deals with grief, loss and feeling like you don't fit in (naturally - the protagonist gets thrown into a secret society formed by white men!).
The character development for some of the characters feels natural - I especially loved Sel's arc! - while other feels a bit more stagnant and/or like their actions does not always have realistic consequences.
As mentioned earlier, I struggled with the beginning and most of the middle. This mainly boils down to the worldbuilding and lore - I still haven't fully wrapped my head around what a Squire is or how the bloodlines work. Maybe that's because I know next to nothing about King Arthur (which Legendborn is a re-telling of) or maybe I just haven't read enough (read: any) YA fantasy before... either way, the exposition felt overwhelming and went over my head most of the time, but I felt this made no difference as the worldbuilding slowly felt into place as the book went on.
All in all, the book was okay but unfortunately it did not stand out for me. Again, this might be due to YA fantasy not being a preferred genre of mine. I'm still considering picking up the second book in the series when it comes out though, so that's always something. I've got my hopes up for some character development in regards to Nick, be it positive or negative.
The character development for some of the characters feels natural - I especially loved Sel's arc! - while other feels a bit more stagnant and/or like their actions does not always have realistic consequences.
As mentioned earlier, I struggled with the beginning and most of the middle. This mainly boils down to the worldbuilding and lore - I still haven't fully wrapped my head around what a Squire is or how the bloodlines work. Maybe that's because I know next to nothing about King Arthur (which Legendborn is a re-telling of) or maybe I just haven't read enough (read: any) YA fantasy before... either way, the exposition felt overwhelming and went over my head most of the time, but I felt this made no difference as the worldbuilding slowly felt into place as the book went on.
All in all, the book was okay but unfortunately it did not stand out for me. Again, this might be due to YA fantasy not being a preferred genre of mine. I'm still considering picking up the second book in the series when it comes out though, so that's always something. I've got my hopes up for some character development in regards to Nick, be it positive or negative.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia