Legendborn by Tracy Deonn – Book review!

Hello lovelies!

This is my latest 5 stars reads and I won’t ever shut up about it!! Please, please, please read this book!

Title: Legendborn (Legendborn #1)

Author: Tracy Deonn

Synopsis: 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).

5 stars: Persephone – Queen of the Underworld and Goddess of Spring. Persephone is my favourite goddess because she is full of contradictions – she represents both strength as queen of the underworld and a softness as a floral maiden. She teaches me how it’s okay to be both. If Persephone appears, that means that the book was one of the best books I’ve ever read, that it holds a particular place in my heart and that it is now part of my favourite books ever.

Athena– Goddess of wisdom, poetry, art, and the strategic side of war. I will feature the goddess whenever there is a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour) because they are a symbol of resilience, strength and wisdom to me. I also want to put forth African folkore, myths and gods and since Athena is the goddess of poetry and art I thought it was fitting.

Iris– Goddess of rainbows. Nothing new here, we all know that rainbows represent the LGBTQ+ community so this Goddess will be featured whenever a queer relationship or character appears.

This book is so magnificent I want to cry. I wish there were stories like this when I was growing up and I am so happy that a future generation of Black girls and Black women will have this gem of the book.

I loved everything. From the very first pages. I loved all of the characters with their flaws, I loved how raw and deep the author offered her us a glimpse of her own grief. I loved the conversation about race and micro aggressions , Black motherhood, ancestors and Black History. I’m a Black woman. I know what it feels like to be somewhere where I’m not supposed to be, surrounded by history that isn’t mine. I loved how the author explored that aspect. It was done beautifully.

One thing you need to know about me is that I love retellings. And the Arthurian legend is one of my favourites! It is so incredibly fascinating and rich and I loved seeing elements from the story woven into a modern, feminine, black version. I can die happily. This book is honestly what (my) dreams are made of.

Bree is a force to be reckoned with and I love her to death. I loved seeing her grow and becoming who she was meant to be. I just wanted to hug and tell her everything was going to be okay. She earned it and she deserves everything. I also liked the characters at the Lodge, especially William and Greer (how refreshing it was to read about a non-binary character!); but I also liked the flawed characters, who displayed racism and misogyny. It was realistic and it was also nice to see some of them grow.

The pace of this story was excellent. Never a dull moment, I tell you, never a dull moment. There were so many moments I was excited about and so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming! This book was fantastic.

Of course I couldn’t write a review without mentioning Nick and Sel. I love these characters with my whole heart. I can’t wait to see how the dynamic between the trio will evolve. I loved every moment they appeared on the page. I’m so sad I finished this book but I take comfort in the fact that this is a series and sometime in the future there’s a version of me that has read the next books in the series and that brings me peace.