Rating: 4.5 stars
Bree Matthews applied to an early admissions residential program at the same college that her mother attended, only to discover that her mother strongly objected to her going there. They had a blistering argument, and Bree's mother died in a car accident before they had a chance to settle things. Bree blames herself for her mother driving when angry. Her grief and guilt are overwhelming, so Bree hopes that being away from home is the best way forward. She has barely arrived at the college before witnessing a magical attack at a party. An imperious young man calling himself 'Merlin' attempts to wipe her memory, but fails to do so.
The incident instead makes Bree remember something strange from the night her mother died when she and her father were told the news in the hospital. Bree is certain that there was a Merlin (it's a title that all powerful wizards sworn to protect the Legendborn share) there as well, manipulating her and her father's memories. She becomes determined to find out what really happened to her mother, and if that means infiltrating the secret society calling themselves the Legendborn, then she'll do so. She discovers that Nick, her college-appointed tutor, has connections to the society and persuades him to help her get selected as an initiate.
After being accepted as an initiate of the Legendborn, in part because of Nick's sponsorship of her (he's the son of the current leader, and his rejection of the group has long upset a lot of people) Bree discovers that magic is very much a real thing, most of the members of the Legendborn are descendants of the knights of King Arthur (Nick and his dad are apparently directly descended from King Arthur himself), and they are fighting a war to prevent demons from escaping from another realm to overwhelm the world and humanity. She also discovers that the reason she seems able to withstand the Merlin's mindwiping is that she comes from a long line of witches herself, and the root magic she has access to is very different from that of the Legendborn. Of course, the Merlin is convinced that she is possibly a demon herself and refuses to trust her.
Having finished this back in February, there are quite a few elements of the story that are now a bit hazy to me. So I'm going to list what I liked and what didn't work so well for me.
I liked:
- This took a lot of the tropes of YA fantasy and in part subverted them, and in part just did something new and interesting with them. Yes, Bree is a lot more powerful than she initially seems and she has access to two different kinds of magic. She's also a very conflicted young woman who struggles with rage and grief and figuring out how to move forward after her mother's death.
- The way the casual racism Bree has to deal with a lot of the time isn't brushed over or ignored. Also how the history of chattel slavery is explicitly tied into the various powers that Bree is discovering within herself. The flashbacks to her various descendants were very interesting, if rather harrowing.
- The whole 'descendants of King Arthur' have their own secret society and are protecting humankind from demons and evil was pretty well done.
- The reveal towards the end of the story absolutely makes me interested in reading more of the series.
- This book gets rather violent in places and the danger the characters faced felt very real. Always good to see that not everyone is protected by plot armour.
What I didn't like:
- The insta-love between Nick and Bree. Come on, children, you've barely met. Even with the proximity to danger, you shouldn't head over heels that quickly.
- The inevitable love triangle. I like everyone involved outside of the forced romantic situation, but I don't really care who ends up with whom (although it would be very progressive and surprise the heck out of me if the other two parties decided to hook up and leave Bree as the forgotten party altogether).
Having waited until book two was out, I now have to decide if I want to read book two and have to wait for heaven knows how long for book three to come out, or whether I'm going to wait patiently until the trilogy is completed. It worked out well for me with The Scholomance, so we'll see how it goes.
Judging a book by its cover: I think this cover is stunning. Even if this book hadn't gotten very good reviews all over the place, this very spooky and cool cover (which captures Bree perfectly) would have made me pick up the book.
Crossposted on Cannonball Read.
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