Review: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (Spoiler-Free)

I loved the layered depiction of grief in this story, but unfortunately was not gripped by the plot.

I think for me, this book tried to do too much. I was so on board for the Rootcrafters and multiple generations of women but could not get myself to care about the Bloodcrafters and Arthur stuff nearly as much. Bree was a well-developed main character who I genuinely enjoyed following, but the same cannot be said about the peripheral characters because there were so many I felt like we didn't get enough time with any of them. Kayla from BooksandLala suggested that maybe multiple POVs would have solved this issue and the massive dialogue info-dumps and I completely agree. Also, the attempt at a romance subplot... I was not there for that insta-love. (Granted, part of the allure might have been magical compulsion, which would make more sense, but I don't think that was the ultimate claim.)

All that being said, there were several aspects I did enjoy. I think that on a prose level, Deonn is a strong writer, I just wasn't a fan of the structure of the book. If this whole novel had been about root and leaned more historical fantasy than urban, I probably would have rated it 4 stars or higher. I also loved picturing the setting at UNC because I just visited some friends there (hi if you're reading this!!!) and I appreciate the attention to detail regarding that (also shoutout Cheerwine and Waffle House which were included).