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Legendborn is the debut novel of Tacy Deonn, giving us a King Arthur retelling in modern day while tackling subjects such as grief, trauma, and racism, among other aspects of everyday life. This was the book received for the October Owlcrate box.
After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.
A flying demon feeding on human energies.
A secret society of so called "Legendborn" students that hunt the creatures down.
And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a "Merlin" and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree's memory of everything she saw.
The mage's failure unlocks Bree's own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there's more to her mother's death than what's on the police report, she'll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.
She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society's secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur's knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she'll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.
Starting off the month with an odd book for me. Why? Because I want to love the book more than I do, and the reason I don't is... Honestly not the best.
Simply put, parts of this book isn't for me. Part of this book is for Black Americans who face things I will never understand. While this in part helped illuminate things for me, in other parts, it felt forced in. Not to say racism isn't something that occurs every day, and not to say my location may affect my perception, but that's just the thing. It felt forced to me, but I acknowledge that in this case, I may not be the best to judge because these parts weren't for me. Maybe that is truly just how naturally a lot of things occur in the area given. All I know is sometimes it felt a little over the top with the amount.
Maybe that is truly how bad it is in the area, and if so, my heart breaks. Or maybe Deonn felt the need to make it a bit exaggerated to drive a point home, something that is a literature technique. So... this part made the read a little less smooth for me, but I am a white American in central-North America, so I am the last person to judge it. So some of the docking from the score is my personal experience and not something I can accurately be called to judge upon from the story itself.
On a more objective critique that brought the score down... The magic system didn't always feel as fleshed out as it could be, and it felt like it stumbled a bit explaining everything. Also, I have an issue with the romance which I will talk about as vaguely as possible later.
First, for what I love. This is so much of what I wanted from the Shadowhunter world. Interesting lore, questionable people in power, cool magic powers, nice interweaving of the normal world with the fantastical. Deonn does a great job using modern establishments to blend her fantasy world into ours, all while mixing in a very catching concept of Arthurian legends having a connection to people in modern day.
Again, sometimes the execution was a bit sloppy, but that didn't change that the world was fascinating.
Bree had a very compelling story, guiding us through the plot at the same time as her tormented emotional state well. She always felt like a force with her own motives pushing the plot forward, which is something I really appreciate given some other recent reads.
She also has a foot in more worlds than those stepping into the book even know exist, and the other aspects I'm going to not name were such a nice addition. Sometime it was a juggling act, but having something contrasting the Legendborn provided a great alternative view at the same time as answering questions we may not have even known we had.
Now, for the romance... It was enjoyable at first. I like the subverted expectations. But then... It kind of started heading toward what the first expectation had been, doing so by sacrificing another character for the sake of the original expectation. As one character got more and more character, the other kept losing more and more.
Maybe it won't go the expected direction and was just fooling us, but...
On a completely different note. I started out hating Selwyn. Well, not hating, more just wanting to stab him. But as it went, he became basically my favorite for the sheer fact he is 95% a character I would write. Just so much glorious angst and torment around his past ;w; I love it. Granted, I also adore the angst in Nick's past...
All the angsty pasts ;w;
Definitely recommend reading. Really good Urban Fantasy, even if it had its issues and at times it felt like it was really long.
