Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

4.9 (24)
$13.99

Product Details

Web ID: 15416040

An Instant New York Times Bestseller. Winner of the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe for New Talent Author Award Filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn's YA contemporary fantasy reinvents the King Arthur legend and braids together Southern folk traditions and Black Girl Magic into a searing modern tale of grief, power, and self-discovery and (Dhonielle Clayton, New York Times bestselling author of The Belles). 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 and Legendbornand students that hunt the creatures down. And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a and Merlin and 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.

  • Product Features

    • Suggested age range- 14-18 Years
    • Format- Paperback
    • Dimensions- 5. 4" W x 8. 2" H x 1. 4" D
    • Genre- Fiction
    • Publisher- Margaret K. McElderry Books, Publication date- 02-01-2022
    • Page count- 544
    • ISBN- 9781534441613
  • Shipping & Returns

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Ratings & Reviews

4.9/5

24 star ratings & reviews

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13 days ago
from Sun Valley, CA

BEST SERIES EVEERRR

I love this series SO MUCH. It is perfect in every single way literally what are you doing if you haven't read this

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

1 month ago
from Philadelphia

Quit procrastinating on this book like I did!

I hate to say this—especially since I grew up obsessed with books and TV shows about magic and myths and aliens—but I was really starting to believe I just don’t like fantasy anymore. After reading a few fantasy novels that I could feel are objectively good books but simply not clicking with them, I was scared it was time for me to just stay away from the whole genre. But then my hold for Legendborn came in on Libby just in time for me to read this for a Diverse Baseline Challenge prompt, and oh. my. god. I was blown away by this book. Turns out, I just needed a reminder that my love of fantasy lies almost exclusively in low fantasy. I’m obsessed with stories that take place in our world but add a magical twist, and Tracy Deonn does this so expertly that it should be required reading for fantasy writers everyone. Legendborn is a story inspired, in part, by the legend of King Arthur, which I think it why it wasn’t really on my radar because what do I care about King Arthur? But also what did I care about Greek mythology until I read Percy Jackson. What’d I care about The Great Gatsby before I read Anna-Marie McLemore’s remixed version? The point is, don’t let that deter you from picking this up if it has been. Doesn’t matter! This book is worth it. Deonn also pulls inspiration from US history, specifically its history of slavery and violently erasing the ancestral knowledge of the Black people captured as slaves. She takes this history and all the anger and grief wrapped up with it and builds a whole magic system around it and ties an existing legend into the world building, and I thought I wasn’t gonna care about this book because I didn’t know anything about King Arthur? Man, I’m ridiculous sometimes. But plenty of people have written alternate magical histories, Ben. Okay, but not like this one. Also, don’t you want more anyway? Come on. Bree Matthews’ story unfolds in the middle of an intersection, and she just keeps discovering more and more roads crossing there. She goes, as a normal teenage girl, to this early college program at UNC-Chapel hill, a primarily white institution that accepted her application but doesn’t exactly accept her presence. Then she witnesses a magical attack her first night on campus. This event tangles her up with a secret society of people, all descendants of King Arthur and his knights who respond to these magical attacks. They take her in, some more willingly than others, and she begins to learn about aether and magic that runs through bloodlines. But wait! There’s also this whole other way of practicing magic that she learns about from a Black staff member and student on campus. Turns out aether is actually called root and there’s a philosophy of practicing it that runs entirely contrary to that of the Order’s? And the Order is a group of white people obsessed with their lineage who’s up to no good? Man, that’s wild. Who’d’ve thought? Still, Bree doesn’t see herself fitting into either world and can’t get a handle on the magic raging inside her. She does know, however, that figuring it out will bring clarity on what happened to her mother, so she charges on. In summary, I don’t have a single negative thing to say about this book. Legendborn isn’t simply a contemporary retelling of King Arthur; it’s a story of grief, believing in yourself, blood family and found family, generational trauma, colonialism, and challenging the systems in place. It feels weird telling people to go read this because I feel like I’m the last one to arrive to this party, but if you’re somehow even later than I am, you seriously need to get a copy of Legendborn and join Bree as she uncovers her family’s history and finds her own magic.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

9 months ago
from GA

AMAZING!!!

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

10 months ago

Great Suspense

The ending comes together in a fun, if predictable, way but the middle is really where the book shines as suspense builds and the protagonist learns more of her past and her powers. I was amazed when about a 1/3 of the way through the protagonist reminds us that we only a week has gone by. It’s an incredibly fun ride. I know this was written with a young teen target in mind and I think the plot and character development makes sense from that standpoint. My only real gripe is the bad guys are bad guys for the sake of being bad guys with one notable exception. I know this is the first in a planned trilogy though so I’m hoping we get more depth as the series progresses.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

10 months ago
from Baltimore, Maryland

AMAZING

Absolutely one of the best books I will ever read in my life!!! Legendborn by Tracy Deonn is a PHENOMENAL piece and it kept me on my toes every step of the adventure! This book is truly a fantasy mixed with reality, and the adventure is one of a lifetime for the MC, Briana “Bree” Matthews. If you want a tiny spoiler magic and King Arthur are involved, but the magical aspect is not what you expect! So original and unique, there is nothing like it, and there is so much LGBTQ+ representation! I wanted to scream, bawl my eyes out, throw my book (but I didn’t), and run around! The spicy scenes were slow burn but really got to me😜. I can’t wait for Bloodmarked!!!

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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

11 months ago
from Pennsylvania

Incredible debut novel

What an incredible debut novel. This YA Fantasy has everything: magic, coming of age, romance, King Arthur legend, and social commentary. Great characters, well paced plot, and some serious unexpected twists. I can't wait to read the second book "BloodMarked". Highly recommended

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

11 months ago
from Florida

Amazing series

Characters are relatable and inclusive

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

1 year ago

An ok book

I was excited to read this book because I really liked the influence of a King Arthur related story, but I couldn't get into the story of the book. It was kind a boring, and confusing. and the plot seemed to go nowhere for me, plus in the very beginning it was hard to grasp what what was going on in the scenes.

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com