Title: Legendborn (Legendborn, #1)
Author: Tracy Deonn
Pages: 512
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's UK
Release Date: 15th September 2020
Blurb from Goodreads:
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.
Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Bookshop
My Review:
*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Children's UK and
NetGalley*
Bree Matthews is
still reeling from the death of her mother in a car accident when she
arrives on the campus of UNC for an early program for high school
students.
On Bree's first
night at UNC she witnesses a strange creature and comes across a
secret society with a mage, which they call a 'Merlin', who wipes the
memories of what Bree saw.
But Bree's memories
return and she finds that she now has a new memory of the night her
mother died, one that makes her think that it wasn't an accident that
caused her mother's death.
Bree becomes more
involved with the secret society and its Legendborn members, learning
about their links to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Bree will have to
decide how far she is willing to go to find out the truth of what
happened to her mother and whether she will join the society's fight
or burn them down.
Going into a book as
hyped as this one is always a bit daunting, especially as I tend to
have quite unpopular opinions when it comes to hyped books, but I was
looking forward to reading this.
Bree was a likeable
and relatable protagonist who was having a very hard time coping with
her mother's death. She did make some questionable choices, but I put
that down to Bree being grief-stricken. I could understand her need
to find out what happened to her mother, but I'm not sure if I would
have been as willing to risk as much as Bree did if I'd been in her
shoes (but again she wasn't in the best state of mind). While I did
like Bree, I don't feel that I fully connected to her or any of the
other characters in the novel.
The magic system,
world-building and take on the legend of King Arthur were all
interesting and unique.
I originally started
reading an eARC version of this, but I found myself struggling a
little to get through the book, so I switched to the audiobook. I'm
glad that I did, because I did find it easier to get through and I
enjoyed the narration.
The romance wasn't
one of my favourites, but I thought the author handled the topics of
grief and racism very well. I also liked the diversity, with there
being a Black protagonist as well as LGBTQIA+ characters.
The plot took a long
time to get going for me. It wasn't until around 75% of the way
through when I found myself becoming invested in what happened, as
well as being surprised in the direction that the plot went in.
While I didn't like
this as much as I hoped I would, I still found it to be an enjoyable,
unique read.
Overall, this was an
enjoyable, unique read.
