Two faults. My race and my gender. But they are not faults. They are strength.
Legendborn
by Tracy Deonn
Genre: Contemporary YA Fantasy
About: Bree and her best friend, Alice, get accepted to Early Admissions at an elite university, something they've dreamed of for years. But the news is followed by the death of Bree's mother and her life is changed forever.
The Good
All the Feels. When Bree's angry, I'm angry, when she's sad, I'm sad, when she's horny, I'm... well, the emotions in this novel are vivid and I felt strongly connected to the main character. I also really liked the magic system. It's layered and entwined with history making it feel a part of our world, as well as obviously being steeped in legend. We're first shown magic through a secret society, with Bree as the outsider, and then we're shown her own heritage and the more organic, familial magic that helps her come to terms with her mother's death.
The Bad
It's confusing. The way information is given to you (and there is a lot of information to be given) is usually through dialogue with Bree simply being told things. There's a lot of terminology to understand, a dash of welsh, and so many names. Ultimately, all the characters from the Order merged together into either 'Bree's friends' or 'Bree's enemies'. Bree's friends all had the same sense of humour so the dialogue always read the same no matter who was talking, and the same goes for her enemies, they all felt the same. The dialogue was probably the weakest part of the novel for me.
The Somewhat Iffy
Two characters I didn't really get were Selwyn and Alice. Sel starts off as Bree's enemy with his dialogue and descriptions reading very cliche villain. And while I'm glad he gets some growth, by the end of the novel it doesn't feel like the same character. I didn't dislike him, he just didn't feel real.
Alice, on the other hand, is made to seem so important at the beginning and then disappears for the majority of the novel, popping up at the end randomly. She's Bree's best friend, but we have no idea how university has been for Alice or who her new friends are, or anything about her really, she is solely there to help Bree, otherwise she doesn't exist.
Overall
I liked the story, I didn't like the way the story was told. There was definitely a lot going on, but I think I would have preferred less action and more characterization. Bree was solid, everyone else not quite fully corporeal.
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