Legendborn by Tracy Deonn Review

Legendborn is YA retelling of Arthurian legends, so I was incredibly excited to read it. Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love anything related to legends or fairytales, so I've been looking forward to reading this book for quite awhile! That being said, while I do think some past knowledge of the legends helps, it certainly isn't necessary when reading this book. All elements of the legends that are heavily plot relevant are explained in detail, which is also helpful given how many different versions of certain legends there are.

Legendborn follows Bree who has moved into UNC for an early college program after the death of her mother. However, things quickly take an unexpected turn after Bree witnesses a supernatural attack on campus. Despite attempts to wipe her memory, Bree recalls the magical group she saw fighting the creature and begins to uncover the secrets of UNC's campus.

What I enjoyed about this book:

- The plot! I don't want to reveal anything because it takes a lot of surprising turns, but the plot was very compelling the entire way through! It did take me a little while to get into this book (I would say about 100 or so pages) because the worldbuilding is quite dense, especially given this isn't high fantasy, however those slower early phases absolutely pay off by the end. I genuinely can't wait to see what else this series brings!

- The characters! I really enjoyed each of the characters, but found myself especially loving Bree, Alice, Nick, and even Sel (eventually). Particularly, Bree's journey through grieving her mother while Alice tries to support her is incredibly heartbreaking, but also felt very real.

- The themes! This novel takes place at a college in the south, so there are a lot of academia themes here. While I enjoy the light/dark academia aesthetics, higher academia is often known to be a racist environment at many schools. Legendborn doesn't shy away from that reality and navigates themes of racism and classism that are present in real schools incredibly well.

- The worldbuilding! While I was very confused about the worldbuilding initially, it gradually gets clearer throughout the novel. Due to Legendborn being primarily through Bree's eyes, small pieces of information are slowly added as she discovers them herself. I felt like this was very effective because there were no moments of completely stopping to explain aspects of the world to the reader and every new piece of information helped push the plot and characters forward as well.

While Legendborn was a bit of a slow start for me, I absolutely loved it by the end and I can't wait to see what comes next in this series. Legendborn was an easy five star read for me thanks to the intricate worldbuilding, genuine characters, and compelling plot. Anyone who enjoys YA fantasy would absolutely love this book.

TW: Racism (major theme), slavery, mention of rape, classism (major theme), death (including parental death), murder, and grief.