Review - Legendborn (Legendborn, #1) by Tracy Deonn

 

 

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.

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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.