The Legendborn Cycle by Tracy Deonn

❝ 𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔. 𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆.. ❞

- Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Genre: YA Fantasy

Overall rating (out of 5): ★★★★.5

# Books in series: 2 out so far, but the author has stated it was planned as a trilogy

Tropes: strangers to lovers, found family, love triangle

Song: The theme for BBC's Merlin

...just kidding, I'm picking "DARKSIDE" by Neoni.

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.

My Review:

It’s books like this that remind me why I love reading so much.

First off, I want to give a round of applause for the way the themes of grief/loss/racism are handled. They’re woven seamlessly into the narrative, and the fact that they’re based off the author’s own experiences gives the writing a raw, beautiful authenticity. I thought it was good the way Bree’s mom didn’t just die at the beginning as a plot device and then the event was kind of forgotten for the rest of the book, but we really dive into how it’s affecting Bree from page 1 to the end.

The pacing was a little slow and the worldbuilding rather confusing at the start, but it’s worth it to see the amazing magical hierarchy Deonn creates. It’s been a minute since I’ve read an urban fantasy book and this one DELIVERS. The action picks up about a third of the way through and I couldn’t put it back down after that. Usually I only read at night before going to bed, but some books are so good I sneak bits and pieces throughout the day whenever I have a free minute. This one was one of those.

The characters have my whole heart and I love them. This found family is top tier. Sel’s development was lovely to watch, also William is underrated. That’s all I have to say on that subject.

Go read this book now. Literally, It’s one of those that everyone should read at some point in their lives. Lovers of Arthurian literature, urban fantasy, and plant magic will particularly enjoy it, but the lessons it imparts are important for the general population.

Add Legendborn to your Goodreads TBR here (and Bloodmarked)!