Have you ever celebrated a book character’s birthday before? Well, this particular main character, Bree Matthews from The Legendborn Cycle series, celebrated her birthday this past month.
And she’s waiting for you to join her story.
Bree’s birthday month, or what author Tracy Deonn calls NovemBREE, is the perfect motivation to start reading The Legendborn Cycle series. For long-time veterans, it’s a good time to refresh your memory before the third book, Oathbound, releases on March 4, 2025!
Although the month is over, NovemBREE could be the sign for you to get into the series over the winter!
NovemBREE birthday post by author Tracy Deonn.
Background Information
Author Tracy Deonn wrote the Legendborn Cycle series. The first book, Legendborn, was released on September 15, 2020, and the sequel, Bloodmarked, was released on November 8, 2022. Through her works, Tracy Deonn wrote impactful and empowering novels filled with the wonder of multiple worlds within our own.
Deonn created Bree in her mind for a long time before even putting her on paper. Bree, like Deonn, was also grieving the loss of her mother.
Bree was the flame of resilience, the ferocity of injustice, the raw power of her emotions, the culmination of those who came before her. But she was still a human who could make mistakes and learned to own up to them.
Who wouldn’t want to dive into an incredible and complex world such as Bree’s?
Well, now is more than a great time to start reading! As for the long-lost readers, why don’t I serve small recaps, with reviews on the side?
Hold up! Spoilers ahead. If you haven’t read any of the books yet, save yourselves and don’t read the recap. You don’t want to ruin the fun right?
Book one: Legendborn
Main Points Recap:
Here are the major details of the book; the other important details of the book you can go back and read yourself! (Wink-wink.)
To begin, Briana Matthews (Bree) and her best friend Alice Chen joined an early college program at UNC-Chapel Hill in North Carolina, after the passing of Bree’s mother.
Then Bree and Alice went to a college party for the young adult vibes, but beings only she could see attacked the party. After, Bree gained a peer mentor to watch her: Nick Davis, a blond-haired, blue-eyed charming sweetheart.
Nick introduced Bree to the Lodge of the Legendborn, a place where the descendants of King Arthur and the Round Table lived and trained to fight the Shadowborn. Nick was the heir of Arthur’s bloodline himself, and Selwyn Kane (Sel) was his bonded Kingsmage, who was also a half-demon.
After Bree found out that her mother could have potentially been a part of it (or was accidentally caught up in it), she convinced Nick to infiltrate her into the Legendborn world so she could learn the truth about her mother’s death.
Bree and Nick also started developing feelings for each other (super cute!)
During the initiation, Sel questioned Bree’s timely arrival to their world without a background. Thinking Bree was a disguised Shadowborn, Sel decided that he should kill her. Rude.
Bree discovered magic within her lineage. Her assigned therapist, Patricia, was a Rootcrafter who worked with root aligned to the earth and her ancestry of Black women. Bree learned about abilities that her mother and other Rootcrafters had, as well as her own.
Revenge became Bree’s motive to infiltrate the Legendborn. Her last straw was facing the truth of her mom’s accident (with Sel, of all people) that led her away from them.
Nick shocked everyone when he chose Bree as his Squire. And then came the riots and racist remarks from the Order…not fun.
Nick’s father and another Merlin, Isaac, suddenly kidnapped Nick to force Arthur to call him and for Camlaan to begin (kidnapping your own child is wild).
Bree learned the truth of her powers: she was a descendant of both Bloodcrafters (still kind of Rootcraft, but her ancestor Vera made it a bloodline thing) and of Arthur, but not without the cost of terrible violence.
Bree joined the Legendborn and rescued Nick, only for the next day to be taken again by his father and Isaac. With the powers of Bloodcraft, a Medium, and of Arthur, Bree is faced with the truth of her lineage and is determined to rescue Nick.
Mini Review:
Things that worked well for me in this book:
Emotional writing: Bree’s emotions were well-written into her evolution as a character and how she grappled with herself throughout the story, along with the raw process of grief and loss. Deonn embedded characterization and individual reactions for all her characters that made them feel realistic.
Magic systems: It’s already so elaborate with the Order and the abilities of the Scions and Squires and bonds.
But my favorite part is how it coexisted with a whole other magic system called Rootcraft. This type of magic shared power among Black ancestry and their descendants, and the significance of venerating their roots and the sacrifices they made.
Both magic systems were very detailed, especially in expressing their ties to racism and colonialism.
Free verse: During the climax of the book, Deonn used free verse to reveal Bree’s family history with impact. The writing style is easy to read through with speed. This kept the revelation effective while not making readers struggle through paragraphs of backstory.
Themes of oppression: Racism and sexism, and explaining experiences of mental health, pain, trauma, and resilience.
The way Deonn wove them into the fabric of the book and its characters made them emotionally stimulating toward issues still happening now. Various examples of discrimination and oppression, both blatant and subtle, were frustratingly accurate.
Things that I think could’ve worked better:
The influx of characters: While I understand there are many characters needed to work for the magic system, I found myself often confused with who was who. I kept referring back to specific parts of the book to recall their appearances and connections. It made the events that happened with them less emotionally engaging unless Bree interacted with them more.
Presentation of the magic system: As with any fantasy book, there’s a lot of world-building to process. However, the information presented itself more in multiple paragraphs through a character’s dialogue. Sometimes, they interrupt the flow of a scene or plot.
I would also like a chart somewhere in the book explaining which characters belong under what bloodline, along with a glossary for the terms used in the book, if possible.
Lastly, where’s Alice? I wanted to see more of her. Bree’s journey separated from her, but Alice’s role and presence were supposed to be significant given their close friendship. Bringing in Alice solidified their relationship and was a reminder of Bree’s human life too, so I would like to see her more in the sequel.
Book Two: Bloodmarked
Main Points Recap:
The story starts with Bree meeting the Mageguard of the Order and Seneschal Erebus for the first time, who were sent to protect her during the funeral service. They arrested Sel after the Order accused him of being a traitor.
During the Rite of Kings ritual, Bree connected to Nick briefly through Lancelot, his ancestor. Then the Order tranquilized Bree and drugged her to dampen her power while interrogating her.
BOOM! Alice broke Bree out of the facility with the help of Lieges and rescued William and Sel. They escaped on a plane, action-movie style, to a safe house. Bree also discovered a new Medium ability to connect back to Arthur’s memories and connect with Nick.
They went to the Crossroads Lounge, where they met Valec. He revealed that Sel mesmered Bree from his true appearance of succumbing more to his demon nature.
Valec introduced Lucille, a Rootcrafter, who told them about the Hunter. Bree agreed to face him if Lucille helped her control her powers.
Bree and Sel figured out Nick’s location, but the Mageguard were already there when they arrived. They killed Nick’s father and in vengeance, Nick beheaded the killer and disappeared. Bree shared some of her root with Sel to fight against Erebus.
They moved to Volition, where Bree tried ancestor work. She figured out how to add Sel to Arthur’s memories (genius).
The Mageguard arrived, luring Bree out using her former therapist, Patricia, as a hostage. Bree summoned Arthur and harmed almost everyone in the process, including Sel and Alice.
The Mageguard brought Bree/Arthur to the Lodge. Descendants of Morgaine, Arthur’s sister, revealed themselves and tried to kill Bree’s body holding Arthur’s spirit.
Arthur shoved Bree into his world and took control. Lancelot (Nick) and Merlin (Sel) found her, but Sel’s choice to save her resulted in succumbing to his demon side.
Bree cut off her ancestors’ magic and called out the Shadow King, who revealed himself as Erebus. She bargained with him to strengthen her powers, in exchange for Sel to be brought to his mother.
Mini Review:
Things that I liked about this book:
The magic system and worldbuilding were as strong as ever: A lot of information, but still well-constructed combining Bloodcraft, Rootcraft, and Medium abilities and their histories. For example, their visit to Volition specifically gave me chills and left me in awe.
Alice showed up more in the book! Her bigger role highlighted her important friendship with Bree, as her connection to her humanity and her life before everything happened.
Also, we needed another girl as smart as hell to make retorts to Sel’s broody behavior.
Emotional writing and planning of scenes: So well-crafted, especially during the interrogation. It was haunting while watching what they did to Bree. But the culmination of Bree’s meeting with all three Regents? Her expression was phenomenal, as with all the other character transformations in this sequel.
The memories of Arthur: The way Bree and Nick played it like a script in a production gave a new sense of control for the characters in the story. It was an even better way to get context from Arthur’s story.
The point of view and control switching from Bree to Arthur was so jarring in the best way. And how Arthur’s world reacted to Bree and her defiance had great, nightmarish details.
Things that I think could’ve worked better:
How do we feel about the worldbuilding boundaries? For fantasy especially, it’s difficult to not get lost in how much the world expands after leaving the bubble of the first book.
Adding more characters wasn’t so bad of a transition, but at some parts, I got lost when universal magic systems were added to the plot.
More connections to Rootcraft magic and community. While Bree is understandably stuck in the Legendborn world, the Rootcraft community and its symbolic justice are so important.
We got more amazing details like Volition and bloodwalking through Bree’s ancestors, but I would love to see Bree’s identity solidify even more this way.
More exposure to culture: For example, the cuisine made at the station and the barn. A few details of culture would make it more personal for readers to understand “before” Bree. It would integrate more of her culture and identity outside of the world that we’re heavily in.
That’s all for now!
I encourage you to give this series a try – or reread it! Oathbound’s release in March gives you all the time to get lost in Tracy Deonn’s expansive world of fantasy. Bree would love to have you join, for the first time or once again.
For the people who already read it: what do you think about the series so far?
