Book Review: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

I would like to thank my local Barnes & Noble for recommending this read.

This sounds sarcastic, but they routinely have a "Blind Date with a Book" section that has yet to steer me wrong. I don't think I would have picked up Legendborn without it being wrapped in brown paper and given a list of tempting plot points and vibes. And to miss out on this read would have been a shame.

Our main character, Bree Matthews, has been struggling with the grief from her mother's death. Something about it didn't sit right with her, especially since her memories from that night had been tampered with. However, she has no way to prove it and nobody would believe her if she tried to explain it. But on the first night at her high school program at UNC–Chapel Hill she witnesses a magical attack - and while her memories should have been wiped after, they very much aren't. From there Bree is pulled into a magical world, run by the descendants of the Knights of the Round Table - who are preparing for a war the non-magical world won't see coming.

I found this take on King Arthur and his knights fascinating. The magic is passed down through the firstborn children, with methodical genealogies kept to make sure the lines not only continue but to make sure the "right people" have the potential to be summoned by their knightly ancestors. By "right people" it quickly becomes obvious they mean white men. It wasn't until recently that not-male firstborn children were allowed to take up these positions (as it's revealed they used to be killed at birth to make way for a "proper" successor!), and Bree being Black? That causes a lot of controversy just for her to be a squire without any chance of becoming a knight. The emphasis on the racism and sexism Bree faces makes the story feel true to the American South, adding a degree of realism I feel is important to the story. A few times, I was uncomfortable, and I allowed myself to sit in it and figure out why. I feel like the way it was presented helped me learn and grow and shows why the book won the Coretta Scott King Award.

In addition to the magic system being a unique allegory for the racism and sexism we see in the South, I also found the way reincarnation worked to be fascinating. Instead of the knight being reborn as one of their descendants, it's instead based on what I am going to call a supernatural alert system. The higher the level of a knight who is called, the closer they are to an apocalypse - so if they get to an Arthur-level problem, it's clear there's a chance the world might end. When the new knight is summoned, they gain the superpowers, personality traits, and their ancestor's insight. Yes. Superpowers. I loved this aspect of the book because it allowed for those summoned to be their own people and still have agency while balancing the fact destiny called on their lineage.

In addition to a fascinating magic system I can't stop gushing about, I enjoyed Bree's arc when it came to accepting grief. We see her go through so many stages when it comes to grieving her mother, especially as she comes to find out her mother was hiding magic of her own that passed down to Bree. We see her struggle with the fact the two of them had a connection Bree didn't know about when her mother was alive, while also getting a chance to learn about the secrets her mother kept to protect her. Every decision Bree makes is to help her with mourning her mother, and while it puts her on an adventure she clearly didn't see coming, Bree is a compelling enough character that you want to go along with her.

This is such a fresh take on Arthurian legend, that also happens to be incredibly relevant to the world we live in today. I cannot recommend this book enough and hope it allows others to think and grow in the same ways I did.

Legendborn is available through Simon & Schuster