Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Legendborn

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

893 reviews

katdotniche's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is the second time I've read this book, I managed to get a hold of the sequel recently and realised that I needed a recap of what happened in this one first. It was amazing the first time, I devoured it in one sitting and I did the same this time. It is genuinely one of the best books I have read in a while, definitely a 5 star read and I would recommend this to anyone from older middle-grade, right up to adults.

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samellecooke's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book was touch and go for me until about 70-75%. I came very close to a DNF on this one, but decided to power through and, boy, am I glad I did! The difficulties for me laid in the foundation of the magic system and construct of the fantasy world. I didn't understand a lot of things, haha! I didn't get how the power worked, how the order was formed, King Arthur fit in. I was confused by Bree's mom's death and how children were allowed to basically run the roost at UNC (crazy, I know, being a fervent Harry Potter fan where literal children were fighting off murders, but that's neither here nor there!).

Getting to the real meat of the story and understanding the magic felt like a slog I couldn't overcome what with all the hype this book got. I felt lied to. I'll explain more, but...spoilers. All this said, the writing was good, characters well-developed, and the topics explored resonated with me personally. I especially loved how Tracy Deonn approached different topics of prejudice. I thought this was incredibly well done and I don't think we see enough of this in fantasy. Sure, we see a lot of underdog stories or female empowerment, but this is different.

What initially turned me off with Legendborn was the magic system...or maybe more accurately, systems. You have people with magic with roots in the myths of King Arthur and the Round Table that are referred to as Legendborn, as well as something called Root Craft. It took my awhile, but my perception is that the Legendborn Cycle series explores the social constructs of race and sex. King Arthur is a white man's tale and historically those who are Legendborn are white and male. While females seem to be more prevalent in recent times, it's very rare for other race to become Legendborn. Meanwhile, Root Crafters are not only exclusively female, but to my knowledge are all of Black decent as well with deep roots in slavery. While I love how Tracy has developed these themes, I just found the building of this world and converging of the different systems, lines, magic whatever you want to call it, incredibly distracting and confusing. Once I understood where we were going, it got easier and more enjoyable for me.

I also was not at all expecting the twist at the end of this book, the true identity of King Arthur's line in Bree and Nick actually being of Lancelot's line.

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mae_dexter_author's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This audiobook was absolutely amazing! I was never a huge fan of the legend of King Arthur. But WOW this audiobook changed that for sure. There is so much going on in this story it’s hard to talk about without spoiling.

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celeste329's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

A very interesting book that felt both too short and too long. Lots of interesting magic around, and I appreciated how the author offered effectively two schools of magic, each with their own teachings.

The whole plot of the book was fairly interesting as well. I could see the chosen one archetype being used, but with different nuances than one would usually expect.

Characters wise, there is a range of them. Bree is obviously the most fleshed out character and I absolutely loved seeing the book-world through her eyes. I really appreciated her journey of self-discovery, and elements of identity explored in the book. Nick is also a personal favourite of mine (what can I say, I love me a sweet and attentive boyfriend, and I think Nick was rather good in that aspect, with the slight question at the end

of whether his affection is truly love or a blood bond

).

Sel was also a complex character - but as complex as his background can be, I didn't really vibe with him. Old man Davis is also a compelling character, I could really see and understand his motivations (though not necessarily the root cause). I thought Alice was rather under-utilised in this book.

I also liked Patricia and how she acted like a bridge for Bree and the heritage she was seeking. William was another absolutely fun character, but I was rather confused about his age/wisdom, as some of his personality traits seemed to vary throughout the book. The rest of the cast was fine, I think it was perhaps a tad too large to do specific things with each individual, but it would be interesting to see how/if they change for the remainder of the series.

I didn't quite understand/vibe with the setting. Part of me understood why it was used, given some of the themes explored (privilege, inherited wealth & power, etc), but it felt like the whole College aspect became a bit of a background decoration, with it there to justify some of Bree's interactions with specific characters. The school aspect took a backseat to the bigger setting of the

magical war

.

I would have LOVED to see the

root magic

explored in more detail. I think it was a very interesting take on magic, and would have loved seeing Bree tap into that side of her power more actively. Perhaps one for future books? Also, whilst I like the idea of using the Legend of Arthur as another magical idea, I wasn't entirely sold on it. As in, I didn't quite see why it had to be this legend that had to be used and nothing else.

The other thing I wasn't quite sure on was towards the end, where

Davis just spills all his plans to both Bree and Alice and lets them both walk away? If he had such a powerful Merlin on his side, why didn't he just block/mess with Bree's memories on the spot - especially given Sel's reaction to Isaac and how the latter is seen as such a dangerous Merlin master.

Too many things came crashing down towards the end, making the book have this feeling of being too long and too short at the same time.

Overall, it was a solid book nonetheless.

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nesscress's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad tense slow-paced

4.25

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latashman's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Enjoyed this take on King Arthur's table. The magic system is interesting and fun to learn about during the world building. I also liked the focus on current social issues that we face in the United States.

The only reason I'm not giving it five stars is that the main love interest relationship. I found very frustrating with insta Love and I'm a little weirded out that Bree is technically a high school student and it sounds like the love interest is college aged. It was hard for me to get past even though I think it's only a year or two difference in age.

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