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Legendborn was a book I had been intrigued by since it was announced 2 yrs ago. I'm not the biggest fan of retellings but the King Arthur lore is something different I'm not as familiar with. And then after seeing that cover I just had to make sure I read it this year. I received an arc from Margaret K. McElderry Books in exchange for an honest review.
One thing that caught my attention right away while reading was the college setting. Now they weren't actual college students but apart of an early college program at UNC–Chapel Hill that allows high schoolers to take classes and live on campus. There aren't enough YA books taking place on college campuses so this was a much appreciated change from the norm. However I would've liked it even more if they were all at least 18/19 year olds and if the setting was used more. It mostly seemed like it was set on a campus to avoid parents having to be around. There wasn't enough of a balance with campus life.
Being set at a university also made it more realistic for the secret society that our main character Bree gets involved in. Bree has recently lost her mother in an accident but she's not so sure it was actually an accident. And her search for the truth leads her into this secret Authurian society. Bree enlists help from reluctant Legendborn Nick in piecing together the mystery. Legendborn are demon hunters descended from the original Knights of the Round Table. And never once did the writing shy away from acknowledging that these secret societies are notoriously white and filled with legacy members and overt racists. Bree is the only Black girl and people question how she was accepted as a page and if she belongs there. Some of their questioning is legitimate as she comes into this order having no training while others have been training their entire lives and she knows very little about their world to her detriment. But there's that underlying tone of why her when she's not one of us.
I wasn't expecting this book to also tackle rootwork going back to it being used during slave times. To me this aspect was the most interesting part of of the story. More and more fantasies are starting to feature this. This story worked best when it embraced African-American history and tradition.
I liked when it dove into the history of African Americans in the South including the monuments to racist white men. The nice thing about this story being set on a real campus is that you do learn quite a bit about UNC Chapel Hill. Bree is taken to the Unsung Founders Memorial by a woman who used to know her mother back in their college days. This monument consists of a black granite tabletop being uplifted by bronze figures representing the slaves that built the school from the ground up.
I wasn't that interested in the Arthurian magic system unfortunately. Bree pretty much pieced it together rather quickly with no initial shock. But at the same time things felt very vague. And I don't feel like I have a good grasp of how it works and what everyone's power are. Plus the minor characters in this story were all forgettable to me. I can't remember any of their names besides Alice and only because she was so annoying and a crappy friend.
Romance is also a big part of this story and romance in fantasy can often be hit and miss. While I'm not the biggest fan of insta-love I do feel that Bree and Nick had nice enough chemistry together but I still didn't care about them as a couple. Also a love triangle was brewing and I'm not a fan of those. I'm also not a fan of the good guy vs bad boy dynamic which this played into heavily. And I felt that despite these boys being teens the writing was telling the adult readers it's okay to lust after them. Bree did not need two white love interests in this very white world she's in especially in the same circle. If there had to be a love triangle it would've been nice it one of the guys was not connected to the society. And how was Sel's aggressive behavior never once read by Bree as racism? Especially in The South? He actively wanted to kill her for most of the book!
The pacing was initially very fast and after tackling a more lengthy and confusing high fantasy earlier this month it was nice to dive into something a little easier to understand. But at the same time the timeline really didn't make sense and a semester's worth of drama was packed into the timeframe of a couple of weeks. Rather than gradually learn about this society everything is jam packed and info dumped without being given a chance to process.
For a book that was advertised as Black Girl Magic there was very little in it. Bree felt like a token within her own world. Just as Bree's father was concerned about her meeting other Black people I also hope she makes some Black friends. Maybe she can join a Black group on campus. UNC Chapel Hill in real life has a huge Black Student Union and it's the largest student run organization on campus with a huge presence. It felt strange to me as someone who has gone to predominantly white schools that she never sought out a group of people who looked like her while facing all this racism. Especially since being in such a predominantly white world can mess with your emotions and bring out insecurities.
If you're a big fan of contemporary YA fantasy specially the ones from the 2010s and want one with a non white leading lady I suggest you give this a read. It has a The Mortal Instruments and The Vampires Diaries feel.
Enjoyed the review. The rootwork was a highlight of this book for me. I'm not big on romance subplots in YA, but I didn't mind this one. I'm hoping the love triangle will be more tangled than what's currently set up.
ReplyDeleteOoh I love this review! I've been thinking about this book for a while and am definitely adding it to my Christmas list now. I live in NC so it'll be fun to read a book that's set here.
ReplyDeleteI'm about 50 or so pages out from the end of this book, and after so many times of having to put it down and process the... let's call it "goofiness" of this book, I had to go see what other folks have been saying about this. And I'm so glad to find this review because I've found myself nodding along for like 97% of it and saying "Thank God it's not just me who thought this".
ReplyDeletePeople sold the book to me as like Thee Black girl protagonist fantasy book, but it honestly felt more like a "white college-aged fantasy set in the modern era" shows from the CW but with a Black girl plopped in so she can keep mentioning how unusual it is for her to be around other Black people and/or how she's the only Black girl in the room.
~SPOILERS BELOW~
I lowkey yelled at the scene with the Black doormen and server women all complimenting the protag on looking so nice and getting invited to the Legendborn's gala, as if the Black servants are supposed to be gagged that a girl who #lookslikeus is getting a seat at the table with with the bloodline-supremacist demon-magic using plantation heirs that sailed here from Wales with their goofy swords and shit.
Sorry if this felt like a rant. I just had to get that off my chest because I truly have zero clue why this protagonist keeps emphatically choosing to stay with this weird bloodline cult no matter how blatantly unwelcome they make her feel. Even after they literally tried to physically assault her for getting picked by Nick and started calling her some very racial terms(!) she still somehow wanted to be part of it instead of hanging with her Black peers and mentor??
~SPOILERS ABOVE~
Aside from the fixation on IR love stories, this book feels written by someone who thinks it's more revolutionary to piss white folks off than to help fellow Black folks. More about "shaking the table" than focusing on anything Black in this story. Honestly the cover did a good job selling the book, too good.
I never came back here after finishing the book, but I think that's a good thing because I've had a few weeks to sit on this and soak it in and come to the conclusion that I don't think I was hating too harshly at all. The big reveal at the end (and the antebellum flashback to Bree's ancestors) did not recontextualize the story or make me think that this all made sense. If anything, it made me mad lol.
Delete~ SPOILERS BELOW ~
At first, the reveal made me come up with a very cope-theory that maybe the other half of Bree's ancestors were possessing her the entire time and that's why she kept insisting on following and getting close to these white people and their blood magic despite any sense of self-preservation that should've kicked in after learning the circumstances of her mother's death. However, the magic system was already explained in a way that precludes this possibility, so that theory is definitely pure cope. But it's also funny to think about how much her grandmother and other ancestors were seeing her do without saying anything. Like, girl, you're descendant is acting foolish just to kiss this white boy, can you speak up a little?
~SPOILERS ABOVE~
Other thoughts after reflecting on the book:
Selwyn's mother should've Black for two main reasons. One, she's actually an interesting character, and having this powerful mage who rebelled from the plantation-heirs' control and who set herself free being Black would've added so much to the themes that were attempted in the book. Two, making Bree's mom and Sel's mom's relationship a strong friendship between two Black women would've added something that was missing from this book after 500 pages of Bree being written as someone who almost refuses to interact with any other Black people meaningfully unless they can be an info exposition dump and then abandoning them. That last point is more a separate criticism of the protagonist's writing; it really doesn't feel like she treats other Black people very well compared to how she bends over backwards for her nonBlack friends.
Also, I don't remembering mentioning this the first time, but the whole "Early College" did not need to be included (especially with the pages used up to explain it at the beginning) when the characters could've just been... adults. Really feels like the author read the viral tweets wishing certain stories were set in college and thought that we meant "college campus" instead of "college aged". The whole Early College thing was just distracting at best, but also certain scenes did not need underaged kids on college campus among adults. It could've been better and simpler if it was a regular college experience.
Something your review touched on that really made me think is "semester's worth of drama was packed into the timeframe of a couple of weeks" because the pacing of the plot and relationships between the characters felt very rushed and a little ridiculous while reading. Adding some time skips would've at least made it make a little more sense in-universe for how things developed so quickly.
One last thing is that this book could've been such a good exploration on the trauma of slavery and who your ancestors are, if it didn't feature the incredibly tropey and stereotypically written romances + love triangle. Those things really distracted from the themes the book attempted to explore, and it really feels like a waste because this plot could've been a really good take on these heavy themes if it just focused more on the Black people instead of kissing white boys. I swear, I'm not even anti-IR or anything like that (I swear), but the romances really detracted from what could've been a good plot and exploration on a different type of generational trauma among descendants of slavery.