Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

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.

After an accident takes the life of Bree’s mother, her life begins to fall apart. Bree bottles up all the anger and grief she feels so tight she is unable to move on. To escape the memories and anything that may trigger what she’s hidden inside herself, she enrolls in a beginning college program at UNC-Chapel Hill. But her first night on campus will reveal a hidden world of magic, demons, and ancient Arthurian legends. A world that may have taken her mother’s life. Determined to find the truth about her mother’s death, Bree infiltrates the world of the Legendborn. And as she forges her own path within the secret society, she will uncover hidden truths about her ancestry and her mother’s death.

There is a heavy dose of world-building as the Legendborn story unfolds. Between how the hidden world of magic works, and the Legendborn secret society itself, be braced for a large amount of information. However, don’t fret, because even though readers are given a lot to process, the story will build on what is given to the reader. The plot will call back to pieces of history and world-building as Bree journeys farther into the depths of Legendborn society, accenting what the reader knows with plenty of action and drama.

A wide variety of relationships are displayed throughout this story; familial, friendship, and community alike. When Bree is among the Legendborn community, there are many displays of racism, microaggression, and unconscious bias toward Bree. Tracy Deonn has woven these eye-opening experiences so well into the story, and it is heartbreaking to see them happen. But they happen every day in our world, not just in the world of Legendborn. I grew angered at members of the society who treated Bree as if she were less simply for having a different skin color. Bree did gain a support system within the society, but prejudice is long ingrained in a number of the society members.

Learning to cope with the loss of a parent is another strong theme within Legendborn. By bottling everything up, Bree is unable to process the emotions raging inside of her mind. Frustration and anger quickly rise to the surface and impact how she deals with people and situations. Witnessing Bree uncover her family’s history to learn how to let go and allow herself to experience grief was powerful.

There are so many elements to Legendborn, and the amount of challenges Bree faces are astounding. Seeing her develop and overcome these challenges was as heartbreaking as it was rewarding. And with the way Legendborn ended, I cannot wait to see what direction the next story takes.

CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Writing: 6
Plot: 3
Intrigue: 5
Logic: 3
Enjoyment: 4

This had so much potential and I enjoyed the beginning. The middle dragged significantly for me. This book is almost 500 pages and has no reason to be that long. Then the ending completely ruined it for me. I will not be continuing with this series.

4,5 ⭐️
What a surprise!
Really didn't expected that. I am not found of retelling but I loved this vision of the Arthurian legend and its inheritance.
I loved to read with a young African-American girl as the main character and openly talking about the racisms and discrimination she has to endure everyday ( even when you live in a world with magic).
This was so good. Highly recommend.

I've been eyeing this cover since it was released, and finally finally I got around to reading it. This book was AWESOME. Great characters (absolutely in love with the MC), and the story as a whole was just so well plotted and beautiful. Loved.