I've decided that, second to found family, trios are my favorite type of character grouping.

I read Legendborn a few years ago and never got around to finishing the series, but the theme of the year seems to be Abby rereading books and discovering that she was crazy for not scrambling to finish the series immediately. It's been three years since I read Legendborn, and I remembered very little of it, so rereading it felt like reading it for the first time again. I think I enjoyed it more this time, having a bit more of a background on Arthurian legend (I say that referencing BBC's Merlin and Gawain and the Green Knight, neither of which are super helpful but it's fine). This book reminds me a bit of the Shadowhunters series, but I found it way more enjoyable and thought the worldbuilding had much more depth and nuance.

On Bree's first night on campus for the local Early College program, she witnesses something supernatural: demons attacking humans. When one of the students - a Merlin - tries to erase her memories of the incident and it fails, Bree realizes that this secret society of "Legendborns" might be related to the accident that took her mother's life. The plot mixes mystery, academia, and fantasy-esque trials in a very well-balanced manner. The pacing is fairly quick and does well at maintaining a good proportion of page-time spent on each segment of the plot. The stakes are pretty high from the beginning, although most of the characters have a decent amount of plot armor. The mystery has enough elements that I don't think every detail is predictable, but I called two of the main plot twists (one of them without literally any reason other than vibes). Overall, I was engrossed in the story from the very beginning, and I think the balance of mystery and action was done masterfully.

It's not often that I find a book where I love all of the main characters. I liked most of the side characters, although admittedly, I did struggle to remember which characters belonged to which bloodlines and which Squires belonged to which Scions. Of the side characters, William was definitely my favorite (which I'm assuming is a popular consensus) because we love chill, healer types. I also really appreciated Alice. I think her arc was both relatable and realistic, and I just love her and Bree constantly quoting things at each other. Bree, Sel, and Nick's complicated dynamics were one of the highlights of the book for me. I love Bree as a protagonist. She doesn't shy away from speaking her mind, and she's one of those strong female protagonists who doesn't need to be an assassin to prove her worth. Her identity plays a central role in the story, and I think her narration was good at enlightening readers to the struggles faced by Black girls in America. Nick is your typical golden retriever with a stoic side type character. He reminded me a bit of Jason Grace, and I really liked his character. He did feel a bit basic at times, but I'm hoping future books will remedy that. On the other hand, Sel is your typical brooding bad boy with a mysterious past, and while I usually don't love that trope, I didn't mind it too much with Sel. I don't know why, exactly, but I think it might be that he's the black cat to complement Nick, and I just like his dynamics in the trio.

Legendborn is one of the best YA fantasies I've read that takes place in the "real world," and I'm super excited to continue the series that I should've kept reading years ago.

4.5/5