Today I am reviewing Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley and I’m so glad I got to read it early. This book has quickly become one of my all time favorite books and I was so happy to find out it’s going to be a series!

This book is filled with magic, adventure, and some American history and it is AMAZING

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Here is the synopsis from Goodreads

Filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn’s YA contemporary fantasy Legendborn offers the dark allure of City of Bones with a modern-day twist on a classic legend and a lot of Southern Black Girl Magic.

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.

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This book is more amazing than I could have ever imagined. Tracy takes two branches of history and mends them together to tell a beautiful, and insanely amazing, story. I love her storytelling, as she not only gives us an intense cast of characters with many different wants and needs, but also adding in Bree’s own internal conflict. The internal and external conflict Bree faces is something I couldn’t even imagine anyone could withstand, but does so, so realistically and heartbreakingly. I just wanted to give her a big hug!

Everything about this book is so well thought out and just, amazing. I’m losing all my vocabulary because all I can think about is that it’s just so good and, well, amazing! The Arthurian legend, American history, Bree’s family history, and so many other things combined would make me think that this story could become jumbled. But I wasn’t confused. In fact, I’m very impressed with how well balanced this book really was. Not once did I get lost in Bree’s shuffle or mix anything up. It was all clear, detailed, and well introduced.

The cast we have pulled together here is great too! The entire time we’re with Nick, I’m thinking about Selwyn, and vice versa. I hated Selwyn at first, but quickly grew to love him and my goodness, this book needs to be released so I can talk about with people! Although, I do wish we got to see more of Alice, Bree’s best friend, in the book. We get some moments with her in the beginning and then not much more and that makes me really upset. I love Alice!

And don’t get me started on the ending! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and then the ending solidified my feelings that this is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I only wish I had the next book in my hands to find out what happens next!

This is such a great group of genres in one book that it’s almost guaranteed that everyone will like this! I can’t wait to read more from Tracy and read the sequel! Obviously, // 5 stars!

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn releases on September 15th, 2020 and I have linked my indie bookstore if you’re interested in preordering a copy today!

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