Legendborn, by Tracy Deonn

[sophia_sol]

Another variation on the classic YA theme of a special outsider girl revolutionizing things and falling in love! But this time in the modern urban fantasy flavour instead of alternate world fantasy flavour. Bree is a 16 year old doing an early college experience, where she learns about a SECRET MAGIC SOCIETY which she must INFILTRATE despite SUSPICION about her based on her unusual magic abilities and the fact that she's not a rich white male legacy student! (The secret society is based on a King Arthur and the knights of the round table theme, because of course it is.)

The book is using these trappings to do a really good and interesting job of exploring the lead character's experiences of intergenerational trauma, grief and loss, and her relationship with her ancestry as a Black girl in the southern US. Would I have been more interested in these themes with a different type of book? Yeah, I personally would, as YA urban fantasy isn't generally my jam, even if they did add some king arthur flavour; but honestly I think it's GREAT that this book exists as it is for teens to read.

Was I bored during all the monster-fighting parts of the book? I sure was. Was I delighted by the idea of a ghost grandma showing up to help her descendant out? Absolutely! Overall I think that people who have more patience than me for the standard modern YA tropes would really love this book, and as it was I still am very glad I read it.

Comments

[unrelaxing]

'the classic YA theme of a special outsider girl revolutionizing things and falling in love' I admit, I am not the person who is able to handle the standard YA tropes at all... so this one wouldn't be for me, though the concept of ghost grandma sounds awesome!

[sophia_sol]

If you're interested in ghost grandmas I hear good things about Zen Cho's new book, "Black Water Sister"! I haven't had the chance to read it yet but I feel confident it's GREAT given my previous experience with the author, and it significantly features a ghost grandma

[glitteryv]

This sounds a bit like Wings of Ebony by J. Elle. It's a YA duology (book 2 drops next year, iirc) abt Rue, a young Black woman who gets whisked to a country that's full of magic. She's had to leave behind her 12-y.o. sister after their mother's murder.

The worldbuilding is pretty interesting, but what I like the most was the characterization and some of the overaching themes. There IS a sort of love triangle between Rue and two male characters that I'm still kinda ehhh abt. That said, I appreciated a lot of ths plot despite being frustrated by Rue. She was a complicated and occasionally unlikable main protag. Her life's been tough and so she didn't have a lot of the generic sensibilities from her white YA counterparts, imo.

OTOH, there were several instances of conveniences and a moment that was meant to be emotional and really wasn't (for me.)

[sophia_sol]

Ooh yes, that does sound like another book that's doing very similar things! That's awesome.