☆☆☆☆☆
After her mother’s death, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews enrolls in a UNC–Chapel Hill program to escape her grief, only to witness a magical attack her first night. Thrust into a hidden world of demon hunters descended from King Arthur’s knights, Bree uncovers a link between her own magic and the mystery surrounding her mother’s death. As she infiltrates the secretive Legendborn society with the help of self-exiled member, Nick, Bree must choose whether to bring the system down—or fight alongside it.
Finally a YA novel that reads YA, and not an NA book with a young lead that allows it to be categorized as YA.
To be honest, I’m not sure if this is something I would have ordinarily picked up based on the description. Something about it just sounded a bit… corny? But the execution was anything but.
This book was phenomenal. I didn’t expect the ending. The magic system is very unique, and not something that could be replicated. Deonn incorporated sensitive topics such as grief, race, and gender in ways that were realistic and that commonly occur in real life. Nothing that she added seemed like it was shoehorned in for the sake of adding it.
The characters acted age-appropriate throughout. The main cast were all very well-developed, and I was able to imagine them without difficulty (both physically and behaviourally). Even most of the background characters were developed enough for me to retain their subplots throughout.
The plot was well-paced, and Deonn didn’t waste time with extraneous details when it wasn’t necessary. The scenes that needed to have an atmosphere or description were well done without taking away from what was happening. It was the perfect balance of the two.
I really didn’t think I would like the magic system when I read the description of the book. Yet, Deonn managed to flesh it out into something immersive. She didn’t infodump, and she didn’t force relationships where they didn’t feel natural.
Overall, a fantastic novel that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Highly recommend.
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JA Keuken 