Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle)

So, you know this unwavering feeling in your heart about the love you feel for your best friend? This unshakable fondness you have for them? Yes, I’m questioning that right now. Why? Thank you for asking. My friend both made and ruined my life a little by making me read Legendborn before the second book’s release. *wipes away tears*

Also, warning: while I won’t be speaking about any big spoilers, there maybe a few here and there so please proceed if you’ve already read the book or are not worried about being a little aware of some stuff before reading. Also this is a fairly long review.

Legendborn was a very very intense read for me from the very first page; and with every page into the book the emotions only heightened. The book’s pace starts at full tilt and remains so for a good while. Bree hits the ground running so fast that I was originally grappling to understand what was happening and where we were heading. Initially I wished for a single moment of break from all the movement in the book and kept wondering about the pace and why everything felt so overwhelming and all at the same time. Then…THEN, there was this sudden shocking revelation that Tracy pulls and the pace just stops…it feels like everything stops. The emotions that come with that revelation plus the pace drop was such a fantastic representation of the protagonist’s state of mind, her mental and emotional struggle that it really hits you hard. *stands up and claps*

The plot was perhaps the most quietly intricate story line I have seen in a long long while. Tracy is either a magical genius who has planned and written down every single thread weaved into the story or she’s a unicorn and has written as the story took her forward. Either way is miraculous. The main plot: the one with the magic, the legacy, the history, the secrets and the truth; then the emotional plot: with it’s own set of pain, struggle, realisation, healing and action; and then the societal plot: the one connecting to people’s ambitions, behaviour, thoughts, racism, representation, blatant disrespect, trust, turmoil, friendships, loyalty and love… All of this in one book. I admit, I figured out the big twist but all the little ones I was fantastically blind to; so even if you like me figure out the big plot-twist all the small ones will trip you up enough that at no point will you feel like this book is predictable.

The world-building was initially overwhelming for me, especially paired with the bullet train that was the pace. But with a little bit of time (which we get fairly a lot of given how big the book is) we start to quickly make sense of the rules of the world and follow along easily. That being said, the world that Tracy has created is frankly genius and while I may have figured the big plot twist I hadn’t an idea how it would pan out and the way that it was written ticked off all the plot and sub-plot points so well I was in shock for a good ten seconds and then wanted to run laps because it felt like some Avengers-saved-the-world-goosebumps-moment. So another woot woot from me.

The characters all so strangely both fit perfectly into the roles they’d been written into and at the same time broke out of some of their moulds without losing their basic characterisation. I enjoyed watching the unravelling of secrets around characters and while I may have called it on some aspects of some characters, the others I was super blind to. I truly doubted nobody and trusted everybody and I was both right and wrong. I enjoy consistency as much as I enjoy growth and both of those are something Tracy wrote beautifully.

There may have been one single point that was written that I felt was a liiiiiitttle hard to believe simply because it happens so fast and that it had taken me a moment to come to terms with the shock … but I do think that sometimes one small seed of thought can grow a tree, so why not at the most crucial moment would someone not believe a friend, a comrade … a soldier.

Five stars from me.

Je sais que mes mots ne seront pas assez pour décrire cette masterpiece vraiment. les personnages sont incroyables, l’intrigue est incroyables, le système de magie juste super intéressant, et les rebondissements ? Imprévisibles et mind blowing. Je ne peux que recommander ce livre !

(Copied from Goodreads)

This is honestly one of the most amazing novels I’ve read, fantasy or otherwise. Every single character, even minor ones that only appear in the background, feel so dynamic and flawed, yet entirely loveable anyway. This is too rare a thing – especially in first person novels, where the protagonist’s voice can often be unreliable (not the case here at all. I don’t normally enjoy this perspective, but Tracy Deonn is so talented I forgot right away as the story unfolded). The banter in this book is phenomenal too; meaning any relationship you’re meant to care about sinks in right away, and of course emotional moments ensue.

Getting to the story, the fantasy elements are so well built and thought out. There wasn’t a fragment of info-dumping in sight. In fact, we were kept in the unawares for so long as characters around our protagonist (naturally) didn’t tend to explain world building fragments so common to them. When we do get answers, though, they are always satisfying. There were also plenty of open-ended threads leading to the sequel.

The fact that it’s loosely inspired by the King Arthur mythos only made it more fascinating to me – and it’s the reason I picked this up in the first place. The main cast belong to ‘The Order of the Round Table,’ and are, to put it simply, reincarnations of sorts of Arthur and his knights. This worked super well, as it wasn’t the simple ‘guess-who’ that many of these end up being. Each character is allowed to have their own personality despite being a knight’s scion, and the ties back to the original Merlin and Arthur makes this feel almost a natural progression of that story – like of course this is what would happen a thousand years later.

This book’s core strength, in my opinion, though, is the balance of the mundane and the fantastical that truly ground this narrative and characters – making them and their sacrifices feel inexplicably real. Sure, these are warriors who fight magical creatures on the regular. But they also have to study for exams. They’re still teenagers living away from home for the first time. And that makes them so much more endearing than indestructible heroes. (Relating to this; there are also costs for everything, which I’m always a fan of. Every action or choice our heroes or villains make impacts everything around them – and the fallout is never ignored).

All of this is to say nothing about our following and amazing black protagonist, and getting to witness her struggles, triumphs, and just simple lifestyle, as well as exploring themes of racism and grief with her. This isn’t something I can fully sing the praises of without digging into the plot – but it’s obviously the most important thing this book achieves.

Honestly, the only “flaw”, or issue I had with this book was that I just wasn’t a fan of how a secondary magic system worked (called ‘root’), as it felt like a side road to the main story, but I will admit that was entirely based on personal preference, and no fault of the novel.

Overall, I cannot recommend this book of complex morality, strong protagonist(s), and immersive magic enough. These characters are so incredibly written – and I cannot wait for the sequel.