Legendborn wasn’t perfect, but boy does it bring a wholly novel story to the (Round T)able-a heart-pounding urban fantasy that tackles grief, inherited trauma, legacies of colonization and chattel slavery, and being a Black woman in the South, redefining the legends we thought to be set in (Excalibur’s) stone. It’s been a while since I’ve read a YA fantasy that's really enthralled me and shaken up the formulaic script I’ve come to associate with the genre. Trust me: YOU NEED TO GET YOUR HANDS ON THIS. This book is fucking awesome and without a doubt one of my favourite reads of this year. The gutting (and gripping) thing about Legendborn is that this is Bree Matthews’ reality-alongside demon hordes, a magical element in the air called 'aether,' sinfully hot sorcerers, and a secret society filled with modern-day descendants of King Arthur and his knights. When America was selected as Maxon’s queen (disclaimer: I’m just pulling this out of a hunch, I never got past book 1 lol), did his people ever hurl racial slurs at her?

Would Jude ever have been questioned about the legitimacy of her presence at an Early College program? 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.ĭid Clary ever have to think about the dangers of being picked up by police while at a party?

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. 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. 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. 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.Ī flying demon feeding on human energies.Ī secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.Īnd a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts-and fails-to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw. After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home.

Legendborn book series