Legendborn

"Legendborn" by Tracy Deonn, is a fantastical Indie Novel. The story centers around Briana Matthews, a 16 year old black girl with her heart sent on attending early college courses during the summer with her best friend Alice. Briana's mother is against the idea, but the night after they fight over Briana's acceptance, her mother dies in a car accident. Wracked with guilt Bree considers not going to the program but eventually decides to still attend as a way of distancing herself from her grief, if she's not around her grieving father she can put up walls and protect her emotions. 

What Bree doesn't realize is that her life is about to turn upside down. Thrust into a world of magic and secret societies leading back to King Arthur Pendragon and his knights of the round table. Bree is forced to discover secrets about herself, her mother and her ancestors that are greater and more magical than she ever could have imagined. 

This book was PHENOMINAL, I haven't felt this enthralled since I read Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. This book is everything. The ending, the last few chapters. I was literally screaming, it was soooooo good. A colossal F U to the patriarchy of white racist men. Mind blowing, female badasses from generations back. 

I don't want to spoil the book so writing about it is hard because there are so many twists and turns but I feel like finding them out at the times you do in the novel are so crucial. 

One of my favorite little things about the novel was it featured a non-binary character in a very casual way. There were no screaming markers, no explanation of hey I'm non-binary these are my pronouns. It was simply referring to that character as a they. There were some conversations after between Bree and Greer (the character in question). But Greer's introduction to us was simply a change in pronouns on the page, an introduction of their name as you would with any other character. I loved this, it sets a precedent for other novels, it shows how easy it is to be casual about that. IN a YA novel this is so important, as the next generation grows up, having novels where a diverse cast is presented but not singled out as much makes it easier to understand and adapt. Similar to the example of the Autistic nonverbal sesame street character and the little girl who was able to relate to a nonverbal little boy and interact with him in an appropriate manner because she had seen it portrayed; Bree making no mention of Greer's pronouns, no conversation about it at the beginning illustrates that concept. So that one day another child can say oh they are nonbinary, they prefer they them, like that character in that book I read.  

King Arthur legends are some of my favorite, I haven't read a ton of them but I got a little obsessed with Druids in college, which some people speculate Merlin was a Druid (not a sorcerer). Druids are the religious leaders of old Celtic religion. This present day retelling of the legend was fantastic. I loved all of the history and connection to ancestors, while applying everything to a present day setting.

I can't really elaborate more without spoiling something. So I'll just say this, read this book, you won't regret it.