Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Legendborn

Author: Tracy Deonn

Series: The Legendborn Cycle

Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Format: Physical Purchase

Publish Date: September 2020

Read: June 2024

Favorite Quote: Because broken hearts strip vocabularies down to their raw bones…

Story Synopsis: Bree Matthews experienced what no sixteen-year-old should: her mother’s untimely death just before she moves to UNC-Chapel Hill for the Early College program.

While at a party, Bree sees something no one else can - a flying demon and the student trying to hunt it. When the hunter tries to wipe Bree’s memory - and fails - Bree learns someone tried to wipe her memory the night her mother died, too. Compelled to find out more about these powers, Bree joins the Order of the Round Table - a secret society on campus full of descendants of King Arthur’s Round Table.

Not only is Bree young - and quite possibly over her head as she possesses new knowledge and magic - but she is also the only Black person in this organization. Now, Bree must fight to learn about her mother and her magic while simultaneously fighting against deeply entrenched racism and sexism.

Why does this book beguile? I put off reading this book for FAR too long. Legendborn is an outstanding YA novel that beautifully blends ancient magic with new blood and a fresh new perspective. Bree is the perfect YA hero: smart, capable, fierce, and wildly in-over-her-head. Tracy Deonn does an exceptional job narrating Bree’s intersections of Black daughter & Black woman, mage, student, and young adult. Deonn also navigates microaggressions, outright racism, and complex grief extremely well in an approachable way for the reader.

Rating: 5/5

Link*: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

If you’re interested in this, read*: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna