Bree Matthews copes with starting a new school in the wake of her mother's death, but when unexplained magical sightings haunt her in sleep and waking hours, she discovers an entire world of magic, knight's scions, and half-demons sworn to protect humans from the threats of their hidden world.
This series was recommended by a friend and explained to me as "a better Harry Potter," and after binge reading the first two of this four-book series, I have to agree.
Legendborn, the first book in the series, introduces the story of Bree Matthews, a young Black teen going to school at a special, accelerated program in the American South, where her recently deceased mother was an alum. She starts to notice magical and demonic creatures on her campus, and it awakens something inside her that she seeks to better understand. An exclusive, fraternity-type society on campus seems to have the answers, so she convinces fellow student Nick to get her into an event. What follows is a series of initiation challenges for Bree and her fellow pledges all in the hopes of joining the "Legendborn," the descendants of King Arthur's knights who prepare for and fight in a magical war alongside "Merlins," or half-demons sworn to their aide. As Bree discovers more about her powers and the Legendborn, she learns that not everything is as it seems. The elitist, mostly-white, mostly-male establishment seems to suffer from the same history as the rest of the South. One Merlin in particular, Selwyn, seems convinced her unbelievable powers come from demonic sources and are thus a threat to the Legendborn. The school's therapist seems to know more about magic than she is letting on, but calls it "Root" instead of "Ether" like the Legendborn do. And her mother's death is seeming more and more suspicious the more she uncovers about her time at the school.
Oh, and if that wasn't enough, she is also fighting with her best friend and roommate, Alice, and falling for her schoolmate, Nick. Talk about complications!
As someone who loves Arthurian legends, I was VERY into the lore and worldbuilding of this book. Deonn is a master at writing confusion, confidence, lost memories, and the "shiny" quality of magic, as well as handling the nuance of a magical world dealing with racism, sexism, elitism, etc. in a serious and heartfelt way. This book was a solid 4/5 for me, only because parts of the middle felt slow- but the ending was so worth it!
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