When I saw it was over 700 ebook pages, long, I almost didn't bother with Legendborn. But it's an epic Arthurian tale and warrants the time Deonn takes with it. I can be quick to put down a book, and I was not once tempted. The length made me read faster, with more dedication than I often put into book reading these days.

Bree Mathews is a gifted student who is admitted to an early college program, along with her best friend Alice Chen. The girls arrive at UNC Chapel Hill as high school juniors/college freshman. Bree's attendance is hard won, as her mother had been dead set on keeping Bree safe at home. But Bree's mom, like Bree's grandmother, died young, and the choice was taken out of her hands. Bree or "After-Bree" as she refers to her post-mother self, is ever grieving.

Bree and Alice get in trouble their very first night at school, and Bree is assigned a mentor, Nicholas Davis, to help her settle into the school better. Nick seems like Mr. Perfect, but it almost immediately becomes obvious that Nick is hiding something big...something that might have to do with a weird shimmer Bree saw at the hospital when she and her father learned of her mother's fatal car accident. Bree goes all-in, which definitely does not help her stay out of trouble.

I loved the story, characters, and relationships. I wasn't completely surprised by the twist, and I liked how Deonn built to it. My minor quibble is that I'm not super into the love triangle that is sure to come in the next entry in the series, which I would like to read right now tyvm, but it isn't out untl 2020. Aargh!

PS I liked this thank you in the acknowledgments

Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill historians, archivists, librarians, memory-holders, and truth-unearthers, for your work and research.