So let me just start with saying I loved this book. It is by no means perfect but it is awesome and badass much like the protagonist. It covers magic, the legend of King Arthur, demons, slavery and racism! All in one book jam packed with hotties that made my inner teenage heart swivel from character to character - I truly couldn’t pick who she should be with as I really liked each of the guys when she was spending time with them. We had the mush and literal tingles in both guys without quite the love triangle angst.

Legend born is about this secret society (made up of let’s call them demon hunters and magicians), who embody the legends of King Arthur and his round table of knights. Bree is a 16 year old girl whose mother has just died and has gone to early college to get out of the little town and grief in her home. Her first night out she sees something impossible and when one of the magicians called Merlins tries to wipe her mind, he unlocks memories of someone else wiping her mind when her mum died, which drives her to investigate this new world and what really happened to her mother.

This book is well written and fast paced.The world building and magic lore is a little confusing. It took me about 50% of the book to fully grasp the different levels and the terminology. Bree’s journey from sad angry little girl to total badass is delightful. I love her growth and how she comes into her own. I also like Nick and Sel (i know who I love love) and I thought it was cool how their characters developed, plus their different relationships with Bree. I also really like the other members of the group - William is by far my favourite.

I love that Bree is a black girl and that the author is black. It is always so refreshing for me to read fantasy books written by black authors. I guess this is the epitome of OWN voices as Bree faces and reacts to a lot of things in ways that are very relatable to me. The author also combines fantasy with a lot of history that pays homage to legacy of slavery and the issues that black people face in predominantly white environments. Bree faces racism that is both overt and subconscious - but the author tackles those issues head on - right down to Bree flaring up when some of her new friends touch her hair. We also get to meet some of her ancestors and their experiences of slavery.

The book doesn’t shy from killing people and torturing us along the way. It’s young adult but there are grim moments. I really enjoyed this - it was maybe a little slow in the beginning as I was struggling to get my head around the world building. The relationships also evolved in expected and unexpected ways. The ending is such a twist and is superb. I am very excited for the next book.

Underlying questions (a little spoilery that I have though so look away now:
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Should Bree be with Nick? I mean I love her and Nick - but is their attraction a king and first knight thing or real love? Can they actually be together with the whole lineage thing? Will Nick’s devastation make him the baddie in book 2?

Should Bree be with Sel? He literally gives her tingles. She can feel his gaze and sense him. Is that because of her powers? Is it a magic thing? A protector thing? I mean I’m a sucker for a bad boy so he caught my Attention from the start but I actually like that we don’t know.

Have I said I can’t wait for the next book? Lol. 4.2/5 for me.

I may be kidding myself thinking I will get through all my September ARCs this month, but if there is one book I am glad I did pick up, it would be this one. An absolutely brilliant modern day Arthurian re-telling that is filled to the brim with adventure, magic and romance. Bree is still reeling from the death of her mother, she's hoping that moving to University will help her start a fresh but on her first night there her whole life changes. Bree witnesses a magical attack by creatures that simply shouldn't exist and soon finds out there is a chapter of the school that is kept well hidden, a secret society filled with people called 'Legendborns,' literal re-incarnations of Arthur and his knights called to rid the world of Demons. But that's not all Bree learns, she also realises that these 'Legendborns' are linked to her mother and possibly responsible for her death. Bree will stop at nothing to find out the truth behind her mothers passing, even if that means putting herself in danger, especially when she realises that she has magic of her own, magic that could bring the society to its heels.

I honestly adored this book! It was so much fun to read and filled to the brim with some fantastically written characters. Bree was the perfect perspective to read from. Still grieving from the death of her mother she doesn't quite know how to react when she sees a magical fight taking place, but one thing she does know is something isn't quite right. Once she realises that this society might have had something to do with the death of her mother Bree doesn't hesitate to come up with a plan to infiltrate the group and find out the truth. She is incredibly strong willed and resilient, even when her life is in danger she doesn't stop asking the questions that need asking. She questions the society not just in her mothers death but also in how it treats others, especially those from ethnic minorities. I feel like the author dealt with these social issues brilliantly and Bree was the perfect representation of a society of people who have constantly been seen as lesser than others. I liked that she kept Bree acting like a typical teenager, freaking out when her crush sees her ass, constantly questioning whether he likes her or not. So many times we see these female characters aged up but it was nice to get an insight into the bumbling relationships that only teenagers can have.

Whilst this book is wholly Bree's story the author still manages to create a cast filled with characters who are effortlessly brought to life, each with their own personalities. The main two of these are Nick, the descendant of King Arthur himself and Sel, Nicks Merlin. Nick is pretty much the only person in the society that Bree trusts and I LOVED seeing their relationship develop throughout the book. Selwyn Kane is a Merlin, a person able to effect Ather without being 'called.' He distrusts Bree from the start, assuming she has been sent by the line of Morgaine to infiltrate the society and harm Nick . Sel and Bree have a rocky relationship throughout most of the book neither willing to trust the other. As well as Nick and Sel we get introductions to most of the Carolina chapter of 'Legendborns' (my favourite being William the resident healer) and Alice, Bree's friend who came to the University with her. Though these characters might not get their own POV's in the book they are all brilliantly brought to life and you don't hesitate in bonding with each and every one.

I mentioned this is a re-telling of Arthurian Legend and whilst that is mainly true there are a few differences. 'Legendborn' are descendants of Arthur, they are trained from birth to fight demons and to accept their 'calling'. In times of great need the Knights are able to call up their descendants, instilling them with a great power and their own abilities. They are able to see demons and fight them, though unlike Merlin's they are unable to call Aether until they have been 'called' by their descendant. The author drip feeds us all this information throughout the book which made it so much easier for me to get to grips with the world and mythology she was building.

This book is filled to the brim with some top notch plot twists, the kind where you do a double take and can't believe you hadn't guessed it already. There is one particularly big one at the end that had me pretty much shouting WTF at my kindle. We do get hints throughout the book, but I think I was too enthralled by the overall storyline to truly pick up on them. This book hints at a possible love triangle in book two but please don't be put off by it. I'm not the biggest love triangle fan but felt this was dealt with well and have every faith that the author will sort it out in the next book. Luckily the romance we do get is super swoon worthy and I adored reading the scenes that the two were in.

I can safely say that this will make my top books of the year! You know me and mythology, and this put such a fun twist on Arthurian legend that I was hooked from the first few pages. The author ends the book on a pretty big cliffhanger, but even without that I would eagerly pick up book two. There are a wealth of unanswered questions and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel.

Legendborn follows Bree, a sixteen-year-old girl that's left home to go off to college as part of an early placement scheme. She's recently been through the loss of her mother, and the break away from home and a chance to dive into school is something that she feels she needs to help get through the trauma. However, she soon discovers more than she was expecting on the campus. After witnessing a group of students using magic to fight a demon, she discovers that there's a whole unknown world out there, and one that she's immediately drawn to.

When she realises that this group has tried to erase her memories of the incident from her mind she wants to find out how that's possible, especially when it begins to unlock memories of the night her mother died, of the first time she came across magic. Desperate to learn more, she tries to infiltrate a secret society on campus with the help of Nick, her student mentor who also happens to be a member of this group, though one who doesn't want any part of it anymore. The two of them decide to try to find answers, however, and to see if there was more than meets the eye to the death of Bree's mother.

At first glance there's not much that jumps out to make Legendborn too different from other YA Urban Fantasy books, it has a female protagonist who discovers a world of monsters and magic, she learns that there's a secret group dedicated to protecting regular people from monsters, the lead falls for the hot guy who's part of this society. But that's ignoring something really big that makes Legendborn stand out not only as something different, but something really important. It's lead character, Bree.

Bree, unlike a lot of other YA protagonists, is Black. Now, I'm sure there will be some people who will immediately jump in to say that this shouldn't make a difference, that the colour of her skin shouldn't impact a story like this. But that's not really true, because let's all be honest, the colour of someone's skin makes a hell of a difference to their life experience, especially in the US. Within the first few chapters we see this, when Bree is pulled into the back of a police car when all the white students are allowed to walk away. We see her being at college because of her academic excellence being disbelieved, with people thinking she somehow cheated her way in as 'affirmative action', and we see her worried that if she says or does the wrong thing she could end up as another young Black person dead at the hands of a cop.

I honestly can't think of another YA book where the lead has to deal with this kind of thing. All the other teen girl leads who sneak out of their house late at night only have to worry about getting in trouble with their parents, not worried about being murdered by police. White protagonists who have run-ins with the law usually get off with a warning or a stern talking to, Bree is in danger of never seeing her family again. This added pressure and danger makes Bree such a strong and amazing young woman before she even comes across anything unusual in the book. She, like so many Black people in the US, has to live under unimaginable pressure and a sense of danger, and it makes her so fucking strong.

Race plays into the book in other ways too. Instead of just being seen as an outsider by others trying to become accepted into the Order of the Round Table because she's new to this world of magic and monsters, she's looked down on my people because she's Black. Other initiates look at her presence in the competition as being down to her sleeping her way in, or tricking Nick in some way, not because she deserves it. In one scene one of the older white women assumes she's a member of staff and talks to her like dirt, simply because she's Black. And there's a moment later on in the book which I won't spoil too much, but Bree ends up on the receiving end of a torrent of racist abuse, because she dared to do something that no person of colour had done before.

These moments not only elevated Bree as a character, raising her up as an amazing example of a young female lead, but also challenged a lot of preconceptions I went into the book with. I was expecting the book to follow a lot of YA tropes and standard plot formula, and it does in places, but whenever these moments were challenged because of Bree's race it threw me off. These moments stopped me from becoming complacent and reminded me that there was something extra special here.

Legendborn also spends some time addressing colonialism, and the slave trade, both in very real and fantastical ways. Where other Urban Fantasy books with European centric mythologies will ignore other cultural ideas this book doesn't. It shows the readers that the ways of the Order of the Round Table aren't the only way, that other cultures have different understandings of, and connections to, magics. It addresses the fact that white people tore cultures apart in their attempt to bring them into their way of thinking, how it destroyed entire cultures and ways of life in order to stamp out practices and beliefs they considered evil. Yes, here it's talking about ways of using magic, but its something that happened in the real world, and has very real consequences that are felt even to this day.

Tracy Deonn does such a good job at intertwining important discussions on race into what you'd come to expect from a YA book. I honestly couldn't see this book working half as well without those elements, and am so eager to see what happens next in the story not to find out what evil plots the villains will come up with, or to see what new magic and adventures will happen, but to see how Bree will challenge this white centric group and their racist views. So much happens towards the end of the book that sets up for some amazing stuff to come, and I can't wait to see how it plays out.

Legendborn was so much better than I was expecting, it has more heart and more depth than other books in this genre. It has a hero who feels so much more realised than others like her, and who's engaging as a person. Other books could benefit from being more like Legendborn, and I can see this easily topping bestseller lists and being talked about in excited tones for years to come.

Ok where do I even begin with this book, I loved it! Legendborn has become one of my favourites books of the year, it was entertaining and it really ticked every box you look for when reading a fantasy book. Legendborn is one of those really great books where you really want to devour it in one go but you also want to take your time reading it and really taking it all in. I recommend taking your time and really engaging with it, especially if you're unfamiliar or not the most knowledgeable with the legend of Arthur, though there is a really helpful guide and Google exists of course!

Starting with the basics, the world building is rich and believable, I really loved the college and secret society aspects and how well the fantasy elements blended together to make it a world I'd love to visit, even if demons do exist! There's diverse characters, Bree, our main character is a young Black teenager (she's 16 and the other characters are a similar age and older), plus there is non-binary and LGBTQ representation which we love to see! 

A lot happens in this book and that's excluding some of the secret society elements in the book, it's also a very fast paced book but thankfully though it's easy to keep track of what's happening.

I love Bree, she is a such a badass and well rounded character, she is dealing with a lot of grief and you can't help but root for her. I loved her friendship with Alice, Deonn did a great job writing about a realistic friendship, the ups and downs and the challenges faced when dealing with huge issues such as grief and college (the girls are in Early College).  I don't want to be too spoilery (if that's even a word, ha) but I have two ships from Legendborn that I can't decide which I like better, one involves your typical all-American guy and one involves a hot mysterious guy who we first meet whilst he's lurking in the woods and I love them both. Deonn has the potential to set up a love triangle for the next book and I'm not mad haha. 

On a more serious note, this book deals with grief and Deonn has written about grief really well. As someone who has very recently lost a loved one, Deonn has dealt with the grief aspect really respectfully whilst also being very honest about the different emotions felt. There's also a note at the end of book about grief and how grief and Legendborn relates to Deonn's grief. 

I found Legendborn to be a very honest portrayal of what it's like to be a Black woman living in the south in America where there's still a lot of racism, it was an accurate narration of the past and present issues of racism faced by Black people in America. Legendborn also deals with the racism surrounding colleges and secret societies and how the actions of white people in the past still have repercussions for Black people today.

Overall, I absolutely loved Legendborn and I can't wait to see what Tracy Deonn has in store for the rest of the series.

If you love legends, adventure and romance - this is the book for you! This book was a nonstop unwravelling adventure and I could not put it down!

It’s perfect for young students to read. I love that this Black main character calls out the institutional racism she sees in her college career and the new society that she finds herself part of. There is just so much depth to this lead character - she is struggling with grief, whilst learning to become more independent, whilst under the burden of the magic she finds herself surrounded by.

However, the plot can be quite complex to follow. I almost feel like it could have been two separate books (two different types of magic). This girl also goes through so many changes in such a short space of time though that I wonder whether the book could have been ‘spaced’ better so that it doesn’t all happen in a matter of 1 month - that’s an awful lot of personal development for a young woman to go through in a short time span....

This is a fantastically written and super-fun YA fantasy novel with a great twist on Arthuriana, wonderful characters, and great magic. The only reason it's 4 stars for me is that I have an irrational hatred of love triangles - but for anyone who doesn't share my very subjective issues with that trope, I'm pretty sure it will be 5 stars all the way.

There are few books that impact as much as Legendborn. This book is simply epic, and it is more than a fantasy book. I loved reading it. I personally liked the characters, the plot, the unexpected twists, the love triangle, the rep diversity, and the fast-paced action. I am looking forward to the second book as the ending is a massive cliff-hanger.
The book starts with Briana (Bree) Matthews struggling to come to terms with her mum’s death in an what seems like a car accident. Her and her dad are in a little room talking to a police officer, or are they? The memory is fuzzy for Bree at the start of the story.
In order to move forward Bree and her best friend Alice go to Carolina North University (her mum’s alma matter) to take part in an Early program for gifted students and hopeful she will feel closer to her mum or even learn more about her. The first night there Bree breaks the ‘not leaving the dorm at night’ rule and so the story starts taking shape. At the quarry she witnesses a demon attack on humans and the forces that battle these demons. The leader of the fight party tries to replace the memory of the attack, but for unknown reasons, the attempt fails, and Bree can remember everything.
Bree and Alice are caught having broken the rules on the first night and Bree is set with a mentor to help her stay on the straight and narrow – however, plot twist, the mentor is none other than Nick Davis, Legendborn and Scion. I will not say anything more and I don’t want to reveal any spoilers.
The fight scenes in this book are abundant and well written. Tracy Deonn created an amazing world full of legend and shadows. I felt the pain of the characters when losing someone loved, and their hopes when winning or being successful. The characters are not perfect, none are fully good or bad, they are mostly human, who deal with human emotions, struggles and uncertainties.
This book is definitely rep diverse: Alice Chen, Bree’s best friend is a lesbian Taiwanese-American geek, Bree, her dad, Patricia and Mariah are Black, there are two bi characters, and a gay character. The order of the round table is mostly white, but this is a legacy of a world build around white men keeping the power throughout the centuries.
The main love story and other love interests are well written and kept me engaged. Also, the banter and friendship of Alice and Bree is sweet and strong. I loved the movie and book references the main characters had. Their friendship read like it had a history and it’s unbreakable.
Some characters display racism, but Bree and Alice speak against it and they both have some amazing comebacks against it. As someone who had to deal with racism herself, I liked that the author did not shy away from writing it as it is, but also loved that the main characters spoke against it and stood for what it’s right.

Legendborn is about 16 year old Bree, still dealing with the grief of losing her Mother when she gets sucked into a secret society of King Arthur's descendants.

I love Bree and the way that her grief is depicted. A strong character with genuine vulnerabilities, I really connected with her.

Unfortunately, I felt that the world building was a little weak and left me confused for part of the book, which made it something of a struggle to get through. I adored the premise and the plot, but had difficulty with the writing style. Overall, a mixed bag for me, but definitely worth picking up and giving it a chance!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book gave me so many nostalgic feelings of 2008/9. It takes a familiar premise and elevates to another level – it is unique in it’s representation of fantasy in YA. The magic system is interesting, but it also explores Black history in a way I wasn’t expecting. It is honest, full of characters that quench curiosity and Tracy Deonn absolutely knows how to tell a story. Legendborn is not one to miss, and I see it being an awesome TV series in the future if handled correctly.

Bree Matthews loses her mother at only 16 years of age. Right before she dies, they fought over Bree’s acceptance to an Early College program in Carolina. Still grieving, Bree moves into dorms with her best friend Alice, and they begin their life of independence. While Alice settles into her academics, Bree is drawn into a secret magical society that is somehow connected to her mother. Built on legacy, she is an outsider who knows too much to ignore.

The magic system is routed in the legend of King Arthur, with family lines driving the future of the society. Nick and Selwyn are Bree’s main companions throughout the book. Nick is set to be the next leader but he doesn’t want to be. Selwyn is a Kingsmage (a Merlin) set to serve Nick. I don’t want to detail the structure of the society too much because of spoilers, but it makes for a great competition and interesting politics.

What elevates this book is its discussions of African American history and slavery, particularly the way it handles the magic system. I loved the flashbacks, the family dynamics. Bree’s personality also works so well with her story, I honestly couldn’t find out what happens fast enough.

Fast paced with a great balance between action and detail, Legendborn is absolutely a book to look out for in the future. I can’t wait for the sequel, and can’t wait to add the final copy of this book to my shelves. Do you think you will read Legendborn? I have a feeling you won’t be disappointed. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Children’s UK for the early copy.

I think I’ve finally found my favourite book of 2020. If I could give this more than five stars, I would. From start to finish, it was incredibly well written, well paced and exciting. It felt fresh, breathing a new life into the YA Fantasy genre. Honestly, I’m still reeling from finishing this. It had me captivated at every turn, there’s no words for how incredibly breathtaking and enjoyable this was. Bree herself is one of the most well written lead characters I’ve read in YA in God knows how long. She’s strong willed, stubborn and most importantly, human. The world building within this was one of the most exciting parts. The way we slowly learn about the society and everyone involved is perfectly plotted and paced. Nothing feels as if we’re being overwhelmed with information, everything is given to us through natural discoveries that Bree makes. The magic system was so creative and well thought out, I cannot imagine the endless hours of work that went into constructing something like this. But it pays off, nothing feels underdeveloped. It was fresh, mixed with Bree’s own history and ancestry. I’ve never read something with as much creativity and brilliance channelled throughout. There’s so many amazing things within this novel, I could write a review that goes on forever. It was mesmerising.