I almost didn’t get to review Legendborn by Tracy Deonn because I almost didn’t read it at all. Although fantasy is my favorite genre of books, I rarely ever read urban fantasies, preferring to devour high fantasy books set in far away, make-believe, magical realms instead. For me, fantasy is an escape from the real world and all the problems that come with life, so I almost passed this book by.
I AM SO GLAD I DIDN’T.
Legendborn is an Arthurian fantasy book about sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews, who uncovers a secret society of students at her school who hunt down and kill demons that feed on human energies. After she witnesses one such encounter, a mysterious teen mage who calls himself a “Merlin” attempts—and fails—to erase her memory of everything she saw that night. This unlocks her own magic, as well as a hidden memory Bree had buried away within herself: another Merlin had been at the hospital when her mother died just three months ago. Determined to discover the truth of that night, she decides to infiltrate this secret society of Legendborn as a new recruit, where she learns they are descendants of King Arthur’s knights tasked with fighting in a magical war that is brewing on the horizon. Bree must decide how far she’ll go to uncover their secrets and whether she’ll ultimately use her own magic to destroy the society or join their fight.
Legendborn Review
This is definitely one of the best urban fantasy books I have ever read! I knew I was going to like this book after seeing how the author characterizes grief in just the first few pages. The emotions were palpable, the type you can taste on the back of your tongue, and I instantly suspected that this was an emotion that the author was herself far too familiar with in her own life.
“My wall works two ways: it hides the things I need to hide and helps me show the things I need to show. Particularly useful with the Sorry for Your Loss crowd. In my mind’s eye, the wall’s reinforced now. Stronger than wood, iron, steel. It has to be, because I know what comes next: Charlotte and Evan will unleash the predictable stream of words everyone says when they realize they’re talking to the Girl Whose Mom Died.
It’s like Comforting Grieving People Bingo, except when all the squares get covered, everyone loses.”
It’s hard to write grief so well if you haven’t already been intimately involved in its hardships. So I wasn’t surprised at all when, after finishing the book, I read the afterword excerpt, and the author confirmed that Bree’s grief was, in many ways, her own. It was so incredibly realistic—probably the best written portrayal of grief I have ever read in a fictional story.
“Charlotte perks up. Here we go…
“How are you holding up? Is there anything I can do for you?”
Double whammy.
The real answers to those two questions? The really real answers? Not well and No. Instead I say, “I’m fine.”
No one wants to hear the real answers. What the Sorry for Your Loss Crowd wants is to feel good about asking the questions. This game is awful.
“I can’t imagine,” Charlotte murmurs, and that’s another square covered on the bingo board. They can imagine it; they just wouldn’t want to.
Some truths only tragedy can teach. The first one I learned is that when people acknowledge your pain, they want your pain to acknowledge them back. They need to witness it in real time, or else you’re not doing your part. Charlotte’s hungry blue eyes search for my tears, my quivering lower lip, but my wall is up, so she won’t get either. Evan’s eager gaze hunts for my grief and suffering, but when I jut my chin out in defiance, he averts his eyes.
Good.
“Sorry for your loss.”
Damn.
And with the words I most despise, Evan hits bingo.”
But, of course, this story is more than just a story about grief, and grief has nothing to do with why I picked up this book to begin with. I picked it up because fantasy is my favorite genre, and, in particular, I was in the mood to read a romantic fantasy story. When choosing this book, I had no idea that I would be getting myself into something with dark themes and emotional exploration that would resonate with me on a personal level.
Despite not being a POC, I saw a lot of myself in Bree. I related to her suffering, her grief, and her resilience. Although it’s not possible for me to be able to personally relate to all of her struggles, I still identified with her in many ways, and it was so refreshing to read about a heroine whose strength was internal—someone with mental fortitude who was able to rise above everything in life trying to push her down—rather than a heroine whose strength is showcased by being able to kick everyone’s asses (which unfortunately has been the trend in far too many YA novels I’ve read lately, so I was incredibly happy not to find that here.)
Truthfully, I almost exclusively read fantasy novels that take place in make-believe, fantasy lands rather than in the real world. For me, fantasy is an escape from my own sad reality, so I tend to avoid books (even fantasy ones) when the setting is in the United States (or anywhere else on Earth for that matter.) Despite that fact, I still really enjoyed this book because I just really loved the author’s personification of emotions, in addition to loving many of the characters (especially Bree, Bree’s dad, and Sel).
From the first moment we met Sel in one of the opening scenes of the book, I could tell that he was going to be a romantic interest for Bree. Truthfully, I’m not a fan of the insta-love trope, so I couldn’t get into the relationship between Bree and Nick. Normally, that would hinder my enjoyment of a novel, but in this case, since I already suspected that something was going to later spark between Bree and Sel, I didn’t at all mind having to sit through the Bree and Nick romance moments. But I was rooting for Sel the entire time, and I was living for those moments when we got to see Bree and Sel interact in the story. I love him so much. I loved him even from the start, when I knew we were supposed to be thinking of him as an asshole. But what can I say? I’m a sucker for those brooding, broken, tortured-soul types of characters who are really just misunderstood or have reasons to be cold, harsh, and angry. I can’t wait to see more of Sel in book 2!!
Legendborn Book Review Originally Written August 22, 2022
Leave a Reply