Review/Rambles: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Apr. 18th, 2021 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkLegendborn by Tracy Deonn
Genre: YA fantasy (*Note: Although this is technically YA, the story takes place at college.)
Content warnings: Grief over death of a parent, racist microaggressions, mention of sexual assault, discussions of slavery, mention of childhood physical abuse
Fantasy has been hit or miss for me for a while, but Legendborn has been the first YA fantasy in a long while that's swept me away and wholly captured my heart.
At the core of Legendborn is Bree's grief over the death of her mother, how she copes with it, and how she tries to come to terms with it. It's a story handled with tenderness and care, and this is the rare YA that highlights the importance of therapy in dealing with traumatic grief.
Deonn reimagines Arthurian myth in a captivating way as Bree learns about the world of Scions of the Knights of the Round Table, Merlins, Legendborn and Shadowborn. Just as enthralling is the concept of Rootcraft that Deonn introduces—the magic of the Black community, as opposed to the "colonizer" magic of the Legendborn. I've always wanted to read a contemporary fantasy that juggles multiple magic systems from different communities, and Legendborn was just what I wanted.
The characters are richly drawn. Bree is determined yet vulnerable and you can't help rooting for her, especially as she comes into her own and discovers just how strong and powerful she really is. I am particularly in awe of Selwyn Kane in particular—introduced as an antagonistic figure, but later revealed to be so sympathetic that I had firmly moved from #TeamNick to #TeamSelwyn by the end of the book. I didn't know Legendborn had a love triangle (or at least the beginnings of one) when I started reading, and I'm glad. Normally, I despise YA love triangles, and Sel is seemingly introduced as the archetypal YA Brooding Hot Bad Boy—as opposed to Nick Davis, who is quickly positioned as Bree's primary love interest, since he's the charming, kind, Nice Guy. Yet what sets Sel apart is that he has a legitimate reason to distrust Bree at first, and once he realizes his mistake, he not only stops antagonizing her, but he and Bree have some wonderful moments of bonding over their respective losses and the fact that they're both outsiders, in a way, in the Order. I mean, yes, my heart will always belong to the Brooding, Snarky, Emotionally Troubled guy (and we also stan a bisexual icon!), but props to Deonn for her thoughtful character work.
(I have *cough* a LOT of thoughts about the love triangle and #TeamNick vs. #TeamSel, but I'll leave them under a spoiler cut since they're not relevant to my review.)
Finally, I really appreciated how the Order of the Round Table was portrayed as, on the one hand, queer-friendly, with several bi/pan and gay characters and one nonbinary character, but also full of racist microaggressions against Bree, as an order full of white people. This is something that only an ownvoices author could handle, and I am so grateful that the push for ownvoices authors has allowed for books like Legendborn to shine. This book deserves all the praise it gets and then some. I can't wait for the sequel.
*
OKAY, now that the serious stuff is out of the way, time for my rambles about the love triangle (and prayer circle for #TeamSel to be the winner)!
** SPOILERS below for Legendborn**
The more I think about it, the more I believe SelBree should be endgame.
Sel is actually the first of the Legendborn that Bree meets, and though she develops a negative opinion about him because of his powers, their first interaction is all about him showing concern for her, even though they're complete strangers.
I definitely found it interesting how Nick more or less disappears in the latter part of the book, constantly busy with his Scion duties, and Sel is the one Bree turns to for help. Was this a choice on the part of the author to have time to develop the love triangle, or an indication that Sel is the one Bree can truly rely on and connect with on an emotional level?
One thing that I keep coming back to is how Sel's suspicion of Bree could've been easily fixed if Nick had ever confided in him about Bree. So in a way, Sel's antagonism of Bree is actually Nick's fault. Bree has no reason to tell Sel about herself, but the fact that Nick also distrusts his Kingsmage so much is a fascinating thing I can't help turning over in my mind. Yes, Nick's reasoning for icing Sel out at first sounds reasonable, but they grew up together—shouldn't he know Sel better? Especially since, once Sel figures everything out, he really doesn't have any interest in turning Bree over to the other Merlins? There are a few conclusions to draw here:
- Nick doesn't know Sel very well—which doesn't say great things about Nick as a person, considering Sel was raised alongside him as a brother.
- Nick's distrust of Sel stems from their childhood baggage—which also doesn't say great things about Nick, as that's a very petty reason to not trust the sergeant-at-arms of your chapter of the Order.
- Nick's distrust of Sel stems from his general distrust of Merlins due to what happened to his mother—which feels a lot like prejudiced discrimination against Sel just for being a Merlin.
It's also interesting to me that when Sel learns the truth, his anger is directed wholly at himself for falsely suspecting Bree, not at Bree—and not even at Nick for withholding the information from him (!). Sel is bitter about Nick—justifiably, I think we can say, given the fact that they have fundamental ideological differences about the Order, yet Sel still has to protect Nick—but we mostly see Nick get angry at Sel, even though Sel literally can't retaliate against Nick when Nick punishes him.
I think Bree initially falls for Nick (in part) because of his self-imposed status as an outsider to the Order, but Sel is the one who's actually an outsider. Even though he literally dedicated his entire life to protecting Nick, Nick still punches Sel in the face for making a mistake (which was in large part due to lack of information that Nick himself withheld from Sel!). No matter how devoted Sel is to serving the Order, and no matter how much he obeyed Lord Davis, Lord Davis still doesn't hesitate to threaten Sel with (what Sel believes to be) exile, torture, and slow death when he thinks Sel has stepped out of line. Sel, as a part-human, is exploited and controlled by the Order he wants to serve, and I think that's something Bree can connect with, perhaps more than Nick (who, yes, was abused as a child and also lost his mother, but has also grown up from a position of deeply entrenched privilege in every other way).
Genre: YA fantasy (*Note: Although this is technically YA, the story takes place at college.)
Content warnings: Grief over death of a parent, racist microaggressions, mention of sexual assault, discussions of slavery, mention of childhood physical abuse
Fantasy has been hit or miss for me for a while, but Legendborn has been the first YA fantasy in a long while that's swept me away and wholly captured my heart.
At the core of Legendborn is Bree's grief over the death of her mother, how she copes with it, and how she tries to come to terms with it. It's a story handled with tenderness and care, and this is the rare YA that highlights the importance of therapy in dealing with traumatic grief.
Deonn reimagines Arthurian myth in a captivating way as Bree learns about the world of Scions of the Knights of the Round Table, Merlins, Legendborn and Shadowborn. Just as enthralling is the concept of Rootcraft that Deonn introduces—the magic of the Black community, as opposed to the "colonizer" magic of the Legendborn. I've always wanted to read a contemporary fantasy that juggles multiple magic systems from different communities, and Legendborn was just what I wanted.
The characters are richly drawn. Bree is determined yet vulnerable and you can't help rooting for her, especially as she comes into her own and discovers just how strong and powerful she really is. I am particularly in awe of Selwyn Kane in particular—introduced as an antagonistic figure, but later revealed to be so sympathetic that I had firmly moved from #TeamNick to #TeamSelwyn by the end of the book. I didn't know Legendborn had a love triangle (or at least the beginnings of one) when I started reading, and I'm glad. Normally, I despise YA love triangles, and Sel is seemingly introduced as the archetypal YA Brooding Hot Bad Boy—as opposed to Nick Davis, who is quickly positioned as Bree's primary love interest, since he's the charming, kind, Nice Guy. Yet what sets Sel apart is that he has a legitimate reason to distrust Bree at first, and once he realizes his mistake, he not only stops antagonizing her, but he and Bree have some wonderful moments of bonding over their respective losses and the fact that they're both outsiders, in a way, in the Order. I mean, yes, my heart will always belong to the Brooding, Snarky, Emotionally Troubled guy (and we also stan a bisexual icon!), but props to Deonn for her thoughtful character work.
(I have *cough* a LOT of thoughts about the love triangle and #TeamNick vs. #TeamSel, but I'll leave them under a spoiler cut since they're not relevant to my review.)
Finally, I really appreciated how the Order of the Round Table was portrayed as, on the one hand, queer-friendly, with several bi/pan and gay characters and one nonbinary character, but also full of racist microaggressions against Bree, as an order full of white people. This is something that only an ownvoices author could handle, and I am so grateful that the push for ownvoices authors has allowed for books like Legendborn to shine. This book deserves all the praise it gets and then some. I can't wait for the sequel.
*
OKAY, now that the serious stuff is out of the way, time for my rambles about the love triangle (and prayer circle for #TeamSel to be the winner)!
** SPOILERS below for Legendborn**
The more I think about it, the more I believe SelBree should be endgame.
Sel is actually the first of the Legendborn that Bree meets, and though she develops a negative opinion about him because of his powers, their first interaction is all about him showing concern for her, even though they're complete strangers.
I definitely found it interesting how Nick more or less disappears in the latter part of the book, constantly busy with his Scion duties, and Sel is the one Bree turns to for help. Was this a choice on the part of the author to have time to develop the love triangle, or an indication that Sel is the one Bree can truly rely on and connect with on an emotional level?
One thing that I keep coming back to is how Sel's suspicion of Bree could've been easily fixed if Nick had ever confided in him about Bree. So in a way, Sel's antagonism of Bree is actually Nick's fault. Bree has no reason to tell Sel about herself, but the fact that Nick also distrusts his Kingsmage so much is a fascinating thing I can't help turning over in my mind. Yes, Nick's reasoning for icing Sel out at first sounds reasonable, but they grew up together—shouldn't he know Sel better? Especially since, once Sel figures everything out, he really doesn't have any interest in turning Bree over to the other Merlins? There are a few conclusions to draw here:
- Nick doesn't know Sel very well—which doesn't say great things about Nick as a person, considering Sel was raised alongside him as a brother.
- Nick's distrust of Sel stems from their childhood baggage—which also doesn't say great things about Nick, as that's a very petty reason to not trust the sergeant-at-arms of your chapter of the Order.
- Nick's distrust of Sel stems from his general distrust of Merlins due to what happened to his mother—which feels a lot like prejudiced discrimination against Sel just for being a Merlin.
It's also interesting to me that when Sel learns the truth, his anger is directed wholly at himself for falsely suspecting Bree, not at Bree—and not even at Nick for withholding the information from him (!). Sel is bitter about Nick—justifiably, I think we can say, given the fact that they have fundamental ideological differences about the Order, yet Sel still has to protect Nick—but we mostly see Nick get angry at Sel, even though Sel literally can't retaliate against Nick when Nick punishes him.
I think Bree initially falls for Nick (in part) because of his self-imposed status as an outsider to the Order, but Sel is the one who's actually an outsider. Even though he literally dedicated his entire life to protecting Nick, Nick still punches Sel in the face for making a mistake (which was in large part due to lack of information that Nick himself withheld from Sel!). No matter how devoted Sel is to serving the Order, and no matter how much he obeyed Lord Davis, Lord Davis still doesn't hesitate to threaten Sel with (what Sel believes to be) exile, torture, and slow death when he thinks Sel has stepped out of line. Sel, as a part-human, is exploited and controlled by the Order he wants to serve, and I think that's something Bree can connect with, perhaps more than Nick (who, yes, was abused as a child and also lost his mother, but has also grown up from a position of deeply entrenched privilege in every other way).
