Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 501
Published: 2020
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
While attending an early-college program at UNC Chapel Hill, Bree Mathews discovers the existence of magic. Through her recent connections to a secret society, she sets out to learn more about her mother’s fatal accident and ends up learning more about herself than she ever knew possible. Legendborn is an epic fantasy that will keep you gripping through the pages until the very end. It engages at the heart of both grief and trauma and how to continue living in their wake.
Arthurian lore, secret societies, magical powers – where do I sign up? This is a story that will live with me forever, whose characters I wish I could meet in real life (or, rather, live their life). Unbelievably her debut, Tracy Deonn has crafted a masterful and emotionally-vivid experience for her readers. I truly appreciated her diverse cast of characters, including one who identifies as non-binary. I found it made the story modern, relatable, and very refreshing. I felt a strong connection to and investment in the protagonists’ outcomes.
The story-world that Deonn creates is a perfect balance of fantasy and familiar, one I could easily understand and create a vision of. I found the plot continuously exciting with plenty of revelations that kept me guessing and yearning for more.
One thing to keep in mind, I did take lots of notes while reading this, as there are many things to keep track of within the story (names, bloodlines, world-building rules, etc.). For anyone used to reading deep fantasy novels, it should be nothing you’re not already used to. If you aren’t an avid high-fantasy reader, just be prepared but know that about half-way through the book I no longer felt the need to reference my notes.
Either way, if you stick with it, you won’t regret it. I’m not sure how anything will be able to top this as my favorite for the year and it will no doubt be winning awards. You can officially count me in as one of the fandom. I cannot say enough good things about this book and there just aren’t words to express how much I loved it – other than you absolutely have to read it, like right now.
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