REVIEW: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Pages: 501
Format: Paperback

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: September 15th 2020

TW: Grief, Racism, Abuse, Ancestral Trauma

Buy the Book: Book Depository

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.

I’m a sucker for anything Arthurian, so I was immediately drawn in by the concept of Legendborn, but this story completely reinvents the legend in a new and exciting way. It follows a secret society consisting of Knights of the Round Table descendants, and those who share a bloodline with Merlin. Bree finds herself sucked into their world as she attempts to find answers about her mother’s death, uncovering family secrets and abilities she never knew she had. From the very start, this story is action-packed and filled with twists.

 

I would happily scream from the rooftops about how much I love Bree. She is certainly no damsel in distress and absolutely does not stand for the bullshit of others. Her determination to find answers leads her down some unexpected paths, but she takes everything in her stride and does her best to help in each situation.

Predictably, I adore Sel. There’s a specific type of character that I always fall for. Moody, misunderstood, has a softer side that only shows when their walls are down, you know the type. Sel is one of those characters. I knew he was going to be a favourite almost immediately. I’m so excited to discover more about his past and who he is as a person.

There are too many wonderful characters for me to talk about, so let me just say that I can’t wait to see what happens next for them, and to see how their relationships with each other shift throughout the series. Though romance plays a part in this story, there is a huge amount of importance placed on friendship and the bonds of family.

 

• Bree’s Grief. I first started reading this book back in October, but at the end of the month, as some of you might already know, my dad was diagnosed with cancer and passed away not long after. When I finally got back to books at the start of this year and picked up Legendborn again, Bree’s grief struck such a chord with me. I absolutely needed to read about a young woman trying to navigate the world after such a huge loss. I’m so grateful to stories that discuss grief openly, that show us we’re not alone in this pain.  
  

• Important topics. Whilst the story deals with Bree’s trauma from loss, it also highlights the racism and microagressions that she faces as a black woman.

• World building. What I love most about Arthurian Legend is that it can be spun so many different ways, and this book manages to achieve a completely new take, weaving in other areas of history along the way. Though there were moments when I felt a little overwhelmed with the sheer number of characters and information, I did enjoy getting to know each aspect of the world.

• The magic. I’m fascinated by the magic system with Legendborn. It was interesting to learn about rootcraft, and how Bree’s ancestors differed in their use of magic from the Order.

   

Legendborn felt familiar and new at the same time. It’s the type of urban fantasy story that makes me feel at home in the pages because it reminds me so much of the YA stories that first pulled me into the genre. But the characters and the plot were refreshingly different. An exciting start to a series I can’t wait to read more of, I’m so glad I picked up Legendborn and that it was able to give words of comfort to me at a time when I needed them.  

Royal Rating:

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BLOG TOUR: Jenny Downham’s writing process and emotional journey for Furious Thing

Hello, fellow bookworms! Today I’m excited to be kicking off the blog tour for Furious Thing, with a guest post from Jenny Downham about her writing process for the book!

I never plot books in advance.  I use freewriting techniques instead.  This is where you write continuously for a set period without worrying about where the words are taking you. Do enough freewriting in enough locations over enough weeks and months and a story begins to emerge and themes, characters and location begin to clarify.   

With Furious Thing, I simply started with the notion of scapegoating – where one person in a family gets blamed for everything that goes wrong.  It’s something that’s always fascinated me.   

I wrote about a golden family, then a 15-year-old girl, Lexi, who was ‘different’ from this family.  She says, ‘I’m an ogre compared to the rest of them.’  

Then her anger unveiled itself and I realised that families who scapegoat one of their children often have something to hide.   And that sometimes the scapegoated child refuses to accept their role.   

Once I’m sure of the story’s direction and tone I begin to work on ‘main event’ chapters.  These provide stepping-stones for the whole.  For instance, I knew I needed a scene where Lexi flouts family rules and has to face the consequences.  I wanted a scene where she feels desperately alone and another where she feels hopeful and loved.  I take these first draft chapters to my writing group for feedback.  It’s incredibly useful to have your story reflected back at you.  Early readers often see things you don’t know are there and want to see scenes you might not have considered including.   

I have to keep my emotional distance, otherwise there’s a danger the writing becomes indulgent.  It’s important that I can step into each character’s shoes and find their motivation.  This means that even though I might love Lexi and want her to triumph, I also have to understand the people who stand in her way and why they act the way they do.   

Lexi was great fun to write though.  She’s so impulsive and writing from the point of view of someone who doesn’t consider outcomes before they act is enormously freeing.  She might not be as academic as her siblings, but she’s emotionally eloquent.  She was constantly getting into trouble for creating chaos and I had to get her out of it.  I loved that about her. 

Huge thank you to Jenny for the wonderful post! Be sure to check out the other blogs taking part this week: 

 

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LGBT+ History Month: Why Maurice is my Favourite Classic

Since it’s LGBT+ History Month, I wanted to take some time to talk about my favourite classic author, E. M. Forster! 

When I started my blog, a whole decade ago, it wouldn’t have been dramatic of me to say that I hated classics. We had a complicated relationship throughout high school, so I turned my back on them as soon as I finished education. There were a few moments over the years when I thought maybe, just maybe, I could try again. But each time I picked one up, I never got past the first few chapters. I tried Austen and the Brontes, I tried famous ones and lesser-known ones, but none of them stuck. Not until I found my way to Forster. 

It was during Pride Month in 2015, when I was looking for some new LGBTQ+ books to read. I always tend to stick to YA, so I wanted to challenge myself to pick up something a little different. I came across a list someone had complied of LGBT books they thought everyone should try in their lifetime. Maurice was on there. As someone who was interested in the Bloomsbury set of artists and writers, I was well aware of who Forster was, but I’d never read any of his work because, you know, I wasn’t a classics person. But Maurice piqued my interest, so it was time for me to give classics another try. 

My local library didn’t have a copy, so whilst I was waiting for them to order it in, I picked up A Room With a View instead. I flew through it in days, happy that I’d found a classic that I actually wanted to keep reading. When I finally got my hands on Maurice a couple of months later, I dropped everything to start it, and I was completely unprepared for the emotional rollercoaster it was about to take me on. 

What’s especially important about Maurice is that it ends as happily as it could for the time that it was written. In Forster’s notes for the book, he spoke about how he couldn’t have published it during his time without ending it tragically. Two men content in living out the rest of their days together, romantically, just wasn’t an option, not even in fiction. But he was determined to give Maurice his happy ending, so the story stayed hidden for the remainder of Forster’s life. After his passing, laws had been changing, opinions were ever-so-slowly shifting, and Maurice was finally able to hit the shelves. 

Reading Maurice gave me a whole new appreciation for classics, especially ones that were ahead of their time, giving messages of hope to those who felt like the lives they wished for weren’t possible. It’s been fifty years since Maurice was published, and it’s still as important today as it was back then. It breaks my heart that Forster just missed out on living in world where his gay love story with a happy ending could be published for people to read and take comfort in. 

Forster’s stories reintroduced me to classics, and I’ll always be grateful for Maurice appearing in my life when it did. Even though it’s set during a time completely different to ours, there are feelings and opinions that are timeless in terms of how we relate to them. Maurice will always hold a special place in my heart and on my bookshelf, and it’s the perfect story to pick up during LGBT History Month if you haven’t read it yet!

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