Book Review: Legendborn (Legendborn, #1) by Tracy Deonn
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
I had heard so many wonderful things about Legendborn that I was a little scared to read it. What if I didn’t love it? After all, YA tends to be very hit-or-miss for me. I needn’t have worried, because this book was absolutely fantastic. I was blown away by the world-building, the concept, and the character development. Bree was a phenomenal protagonist. She was far from perfect, but I loved watching her strengths solidify and rooting for her as she wrestled with the trauma and loss life had dealt her. And it’s a campus novel with a secret society, which is an added bonus. This is also one of the freshest, most original takes on Arthurian legend I’ve experienced, even making me want to go back and reread some of the source inspiration.
“Don’t make your life about the loss. Make it about the love.”
It’s been a while since I was actually shocked by the quality of an author’s writing. Deonn crafts each sentence with a poetic intentionality, a choice not often made by YA fantasy authors. I’ve read some YA with prose so poetic it was purple, that almost distracted from the story being told. I’ve read far more where the author took a workman’s stance on the prose, using it only as a vehicle by which to tell there story and not wanting said prose to distract the reader in any way. I tend to find this style the most effective in fantasy for any age group. But when an author has a naturally poetic style to their prose, as Deonn does, it dazzles.
“Some truths only tragedy can teach. The first one I learned is that when people acknowledge your pain, they want your pain to acknowledge them back. They need to witness it in real time, or else you’re not doing your part.”
Deonn crafted not one but two fascinating, complex magic systems, and I love the dichotomy between the two. On hand there is the blood craft linked with the Legendborn, which varied wildly from scion to scion. On there other there is root craft, another hereditary magic source, but one that is more respectful and sustainable. I found their differences and the areas where they overlapped very interesting. I’m looking forward to Bloodmarked and hoping that both magic systems will be even further explored there.
“Love is a powerful thing, more powerful than blood, although both run through us like a river.”
If I was forced to describe Legendborn in a single word, that word would be: powerful. The magic systems, the unflinching portrayal of history, the character development, the writing itself. All of it. Powerful is the best one word description I can think of for this story. My second choice would be propulsive. I was invested from page 1, and even when I wasn’t actively read the book I found myself thinking about it. It’s also a book that made me think deeply. Our protagonist is a young Black woman on a college campus in the South, so there was a lot of dialogue on racism and sexism and how our backgrounds effect the ways in which we view the world.
“Two faults. My race and my gender.
But they are not faults. They are strength.”
A couple of things kept this from being a solid, strong 5 star read for me. First, not all of Bree’s actions and motivations made sense. I don’t expect to agree with all of a protagonist’s decisions, but I feel like I should at least understand them. I also felt that it was very easy to forget she was only sixteen unless it was mentioned frequently. Second, there’s the beginnings of my least favorite trope present in this book, a love triangle. I truly, deeply despise them, and the presence of one soured my experience just a bit. But only a little bit, and I’ll be interested to see how and if that particular trope develops in the next installment.
“The most important thing you can do in this world, the most necessary thing, is to survive it. You can’t do anything for anyone else if you don’t take care of yourself first.”
Legendborn is my favorite YA fantasy I’ve read in a very long time. It felt truly unique; I’ve never read anything else quite like it. I was moved, and enthralled, and always invested. If you’re looking for original magic systems and new takes on ancient stories and a protagonist who oozes vitality and reality, Legendborn delivers all of the above. I’m so excited to see where the story goes in the sequel.
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