Legendborn by Tracy Deonn is a young adult urban fantasy novel. The story is about a young girl named Bree. Bree attends a new school after her mother's sudden passing to discover all is not as it seems, and her mothers death may not be as normal as she once assumed. Bree joins a secret society of magic users to solve the mystery of her mother's death. Along the way she not only finds the answers she was looking for, but also questions she's not sure if she should be asking. Trigger warnings include; grief, racism, rape, and death of a parent
Characters
Development
Bree has one of the strongest character arcs I've seen to date, especially over the span of one novel. Though she still has room to grow by the end of the novel she has gone through a strong development in her sense of identity throughout the novel. I find the leading male in the novel Nick was not nearly as well developed over time, and I found his character arc a little flat. This didn't take away from much of the story as Bree's arc was such an important part of the story Nick didn't need much development at the time. I found many off the supporting characters fairly flat but this may simply be due to the novel having one POV, you can never see into the mind of the others. Though an honorable mention does go out to Sel for for being such a strong supporting character that I can't get enough of.
Writing Style
I found the characters remained consistent throughout the novel beautifully. Everyone held true to their voice and were very believable. Tor was one character in particular whose voice never wavered and stayed consistent the entire novel.
Highlights
When it comes to representation I found this book was perfect. It not only spoke about the experience of people of color, but also had strong LGBTQ+ representation.
Plot
Development
This book was anything but predictable. The plot twists felt realistic to the world while still managing to take me by surprise. Unlike many other young adult books that will create plot twists simply for shock factor Tracy thought out each twist and its necessity to strengthen the plot.
Writing Style
The book was a medium paced story though the pacing did take off near the end. I felt the change in pacing was necessary for the reader to truly relate to the main character and her experiences.
Highlights
Be warned before reading this book, it ends in a major cliffhanger, and the second has been announced for the winter of 2022.
Settings
Development
Legendborn is an urban fantasy which means it's a fantasy novel that takes place in the modern world. Some other well known urban fantasies are the Percy Jackson series and the Shadowhunter novels. The magic world in Legendborn is well thought out and organized though it's revealed more throughout the end of the book. At this point the world does seem a little small but that may be just because the main character just got introduced to it along with the reader. Overall the world has amazing potential and is fairly unique.
Writing Style
I found Tracy's description and writing style beautiful. Though the book was fairly descriptive it never took away from the pacing of the novel. Though the book was an easier read I didn't feel it took away from the author's word choice and description.
Highlights
Even though I found the world smaller than many other urban fantasies I was left longing for more of not only the characters but also the universe.
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