Reading with Kaye

Helloooo beautiful people, and welcome back to Reading with Kaye.

If you’re new here, this is where I talk about the books I love while helping you diversify your bookshelf, one recommendation at a time.

I wanted to start off the new year and the month of February, BLACK history month at that, with one of my favourite reads of 2022, and possibly of all-time – Legendborn by Tracy Deonn.

If you were around me when I was reading this book, there was no way you did not hear me speak about it at least once a day. In fact, I don’t think one day has passed since when I haven’t either:

a.     Brought it up somehow in a conversation with someone

b.     Recommended it to someone

c.     All the above

After her mother’s passing, Bree Matthews decides she needs a change. Of everything. And a residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC-Chapel Hill is the perfect place…until she witnesses a magical attack on her first night on campus.

She finds out about the so-called secret society, the “Legendborn”, with students that do not only hunt for the magical creatures that threaten the school but are also descendants of King Arthur’s knights. And as it turns out, all these attacks and magic could all somehow be connected to her mother’s death. After recruiting Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn, Bree must now decide how far she’s willing to go to find out the truth.  

NOW, if y’all were not aware, I don’t read fantasy. I was never truly interested in that genre, nor did I ever think I would be, despite one of my good friends doing everything in her power to get me to read it. BUT this book alone has made a woman out of me. Perhaps it was because I was able to find one with a character that I could easily relate to. Plus, I can’t help but think that this book would have been really hard to not like either way.

Of the very long list of what I enjoyed from this novel, my favourite thing was the fact that, although it is a fantastical world, it is still rooted in history, with real life elements intertwined in the story. With where the story takes place, the school in which much of the story unravels, the details of Black history are added with purpose, and did not feel forced, which can sometimes happen.

And the plot twist?? I, personally, still have not recovered.

The protagonist, Bree Matthews, has easily made the top 5 in my favourite characters ever written. I wholeheartedly enjoyed reading her try to maneuver her way through grief and teenage hood. She felt familiar to me because of how much I could relate to her. Despite how much she felt, she was guarded, if only to protect herself. She’s just like me, she looks like me. It further proves that it doesn’t matter how old you get, representation will always make you feel something so special.

I am angry at myself for waiting so long to start this book (considering how long ago I bought it).

It was incredible and Deonn really created a world that I never wanted to leave. I recommend it and I forever will. And because I know you’ll love it, I will also recommend the sequel to the cycle, Bloodmarked. I won’t say too much about it (because I’m not cruel and I despise spoilers more than anything on God’s green earth), but just know that it was just as phenomenal, if not more, as the first book.

If you read it, please let me know so we can discuss, cry, and scream together <3