Book Review: Chain of Iron

About the book

Title: Chain of Iron
Series: The Last Hours #2
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Shadowhunters
Publication: March 2nd, 2021
Pages: 592
Read: March 2021

My Copy

Publisher: Walker Booksbr /> Edition: Hardback
Purchase Location: Illumicrate

My Rating:

Goodreads Summary

Cordelia Carstairs seems to have everything she ever wanted. She’s engaged to marry James Herondale, the boy she has loved since childhood. She has a new life in London with her best friend Lucie Herondale and James’s charming companions, the Merry Thieves. She is about to be reunited with her beloved father. And she bears the sword Cortana, a legendary hero’s blade. But the truth is far grimmer. James and Cordelia’s marriage is a lie, arranged to save Cordelia’s reputation. James is in love with the mysterious Grace Blackthorn whose brother, Jesse, died years ago in a terrible accident. Cortana burns Cordelia’s hand when she touches it, while her father has grown bitter and angry. And a serial murderer is targeting the Shadowhunters of London, killing under cover of darkness, then vanishing without a trace. Together with the Merry Thieves, Cordelia, James, and Lucie must follow the trail of the knife-wielding killer through the city’s most dangerous streets. All the while, each is keeping a shocking secret: Lucie, that she plans to raise Jesse from the dead; Cordelia, that she has sworn a dangerous oath of loyalty to a mysterious power; and James, that he is being drawn further each night into the dark web of his grandfather, the arch-demon Belial. And that he himself may be the killer they seek.

My Review (which might contain spoilers for Chain of Gold and Chain of Iron, beware!)

Wow. Just wow! After having read Chain of Gold just at the beginning of this month, I am so happy that I got my copy of Chain of Iron so soon too! I had ordered the special edition from Illumicrate (a book box subscription service with lovely content) and because of the high shipping costs to Switzerland, I could send it to my boyfriend's parents in the UK instead, and they then decided to send it on to me right away, even though I hadn’t asked (they’re book lovers like me too, so they wanted to make it possible for me to read this asap, even knowing nothing about the book or that I just finished the prior book in the series). With the current situation, we sadly can't travel to the UK any time soon, so I wasn't expecting to see the book anytime soon at all so this was a really nice surprise!

My heart aches and I don’t know what will mend it. Surely, waiting on the next book in this series for an entire year will only piece it back together to let it then be broken all over again. Chain of Gold was great. Chain of Iron was greater! So much character development, unpredictable plot twists and love triangles around every corner! Cassandra Clare managed to write another addicting book that I just couldn’t put down for days. And now that I finished it, I don’t know what to do with myself.

Chain of Iron picks up a few months after Chain of Gold, right before James and Cordelia’s “fake” wedding. Thinking about this now, it feels like ages ago! In reality, it was “only” 600 pages ago and yet I have little memory of the beginning because so much has happened after that. We get to see Cordelia and James grow affectionate of each other’s company in their new house and I really enjoyed seeing them enjoy their “married-life”. But it seems to be over too soon. The story picks up fast, and Shadowhunters are getting murdered.

I have to admit: for a while I thought James was the murderer whilst under the control of his grandfather Belial. Alas, I was wrong about this, which I’m pretty happy about because this means the story wasn’t too predictable and there were enough plot twists that I couldn’t foresee. It is safe to say, the last 50 pages of Chain of Iron broke my heart. I am a sucker for the they-love-each- other-but-neither-admits-their-feelings-openly-so-that-they-can-have-a-happy-ending-immediately trope, but this is killing me! We are left wondering for the next year, where the third book in this trilogy will set off and how the story is going to end! And all the love triangles are shattered at the moment. Cassandra Clare did a great job at taking my heart in both of her hands and crushing it without hesitation.

Cordelia oh Cordelia. Why is it that James and her just cannot catch a break from all the (rude) interruptions and tell each other what they feel for another?? They were so close, SO MANY TIMES! It drove me nuts every single time. But Cordelia also went through a big development in this book. She has become more self-dependent, very sure of herself and what she wants and she accepts no defeats. She stands up for her friends at every opportunity and I just really like her. It is great to read about a heroine who truly just wants to be a heroine and doesn’t let anybody else tell her that she cannot be that. Seeing her struggle with believing in herself after realising she’s become a demon’s paladin just hurt me so much. But she will get through this, because she is such a strong and strong-headed character.

And then we have Lucie, who is slowly developing into a character I’m unsure will find herself on the right side at the end of this all. At the end of Chain of Gold, I already suspected that she and Jesse would fall in love. But now, this love is probably threatening her clear view on things and I fear that she is going to develop into an anti-hero. Surely, she must understand, that any kind of bringing people back from the dead comes from “evil/dark” magic, and that even her powers cannot stem from good. And yet she still tried everything to bring back Jesse and then finally did it herself, by commanding him back to life. But at what cost? It also annoys me that she’s working with Grace and just keeping all these secrets from everyone! How are she and Cordelia supposed to become parabatai if she doesn’t even tell her the smallest thing about this??

So far, I like Jesse and I honestly didn’t think that he would be brought back to life in this book, rather than at the end of the trilogy. This probably means that he will play a crucial part in the war between Belial/Tatianna and James in the next book. I hope he’s going to stay one of the good guys, which is how I’d describe him right now. I do not like that him and Lucie are currently somewhere with Malcom Fade! It’s been a long time since I’ve read the first two books in The Dark Artifices trilogy (and I still need to read the last instalment there), but I remember it being about Malcom and Annabel Blackthorn. That is why I believe Malcom will already start to change his nature in the next book of TLH and slowly become “evil”.

Matthew’s alcohol addiction needs to find an end. Immediately! Nobody wants to talk about it, but they have to. Matthew clearly needs help, and he’s not going to go looking for it himself because he thinks he’s undeserving, which is utter nonsense. Matthew needs to be protected at all costs!

Thomas is still my favourite character, and although we’ve read more from his pov in this book, it still wasn’t enough!!! Please, I need more of Thomas’ story!!! Him and Alastair have finally made such good progress in their relationship and I really hope that Charles isn’t going to come between this again and mess it up for them. I don’t know how Thomas would tell the other Merry Thieves about his love for Alastair, but I am pretty sure that all of them (even Matthew, maybe after throwing a short rant) would accept it without hesitation.

Anna didn’t really leave any kind of impression on me in this book. Previously, she was a major part of observing the other characters and had some secrecy to herself. But I feel like her character could have left out of COI and nobody would have noticed a difference, except for Ariadne’s character development which would have gone missing then. I like Ariadne and I think her decision towards of the end of the book was the right thing to do! You cannot pretend to accept that the person you love doesn’t want to give themselves to you entirely and that should not be enough for someone who clearly deserves love and attention.

And still, Grace is my least favourite character (and I think that will never change). I think she’s unnecessary, her power is annoying, and I hope to read less of her in the last book. I understand that we needed to hear her backstory and see who she truly is, but I could have lived without that. The only decent thing Grace did in this book, was trying to stand up to Tatiana and telling her that she wouldn't do her bidding anymore. I hope she sticks to that and doesn't let her mother control her anymore.

I actually already wrote down my thought on Chain of Thorns and some of my predicitons of what will happen in the last book of this trilogy.

I'd like to know

Did you read and enjoy the Last Hours series, as well? I’d love to hear what you think about it in the comments!

Book Review: Chain of Gold

About the book

Title: Chain of Gold
Series: The Last Hours #1
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Shadowhunters
Publication: March 3rd, 2020
Pages: 617
Read: March 2021

My Copy

Publisher: Walker Books
Edition: Hardback
Purchase Location: Book Depository

My Rating:

Goodreads Summary

Welcome to Edwardian London, a time of electric lights and long shadows, the celebration of artistic beauty and the wild pursuit of pleasure, with demons waiting in the dark. For years there has been peace in the Shadowhunter world. James and Lucie Herondale, children of the famous Will and Tessa, have grown up in an idyll with their loving friends and family, listening to stories of good defeating evil and love conquering all. But everything changes when the Blackthorn and Carstairs families come to London…and so does a remorseless and inescapable plague. James Herondale longs for a great love, and thinks he has found it in the beautiful, mysterious Grace Blackthorn. Cordelia Carstairs is desperate to become a hero, save her family from ruin, and keep her secret love for James hidden. When disaster strikes the Shadowhunters, James, Cordelia and their friends are plunged into a wild adventure which will reveal dark and incredible powers, and the true cruel price of being a hero…and falling in love.

My Spoiler Free Review

How do I express my feelings for this book? I don’t know! But let me try! This feels like the uncountable-th book that I’ve read by Cassandra Clare, and honestly, I could read uncountable many more! I never get bored! I really like the Shadowhunters’ world and it has been a while since I’ve read a book in this setting. I still need to catch up on some stories, but after having started with the The Last Hours series now, I am fully invested again. So far, TID series was my absolute favourite, and that still hasn’t changed. But my emotions for the characters in this new(er) series are just as strong. And obviously, I am so happy to read about Will, Tessa and Jem again! It’s even more exciting to go on adventures with their kids now. And there are so so many of them! I had a really hard time following who was who, and who is related with whom and so on. At one point I just stopped trying to remember everything and saw thought of all of them as cousins.

In Chain of Gold we follow the story of Cordelia Carstairs and her soon-to-be-best-friends-group, as they try to fight against mysterious demon attacks in London. We get to closely know James and Lucie Herondale (Will and Tessa’s kids!!!) and read about the apparently first ever known demon-shadowhunter-pairing’s grandchildren. Without surprise, this means that they have inherited some powers from Tessa and their demon grandfather, whose identity James tries to figure out. I have come to love everyone in the group of the Merry Thieves as they call themselves. It is a Cassandra Clare story, so of course there is going to be a love triangle mixed into this story (or multiple, or love rectangles and worse) next to all the drama of the shadowhunter society and attacks against human- and shadowhunterkind. So, it is not surprising that there are hints of another big “Main Trio Love Triangle”, although at this point it is probably already a love quintuple? I am very intrigued and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the romantic part in the sequel!

Because I cannot fully describe my feelings for every single character in this book, I will have to suffice with some honorary mentions.

Matthew: Oh my god, my love for this character is indescribable! Why do I have such a weakness for such self-destructive characters, that seem to wish for no more than to burn down their own lives (as Magnus wisely described)? It has been pointed out to me that I need to read Ghosts of the Shadow Market to find out what makes Matthew look a bit too closely at the bottom of his flask that he always carries with him. But Matthew seriously has to be protected AT ALL COSTS! If anything bad happens to him in the rest of TLH, I will seriously throw the books out of a window!

James and Cordelia: At the very beginning I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about Cordelia, as she seemed a bit rather curt and not that interesting. She was too focused on her mission to rescue her father and saving the family's face and therefore finding a suitable husband. But with time, I warmed up to her and her strong character has really proven me wrong! James is the book boyfriend all of us have and want! Prove me wrong, if you don't agree! It is so painful to see this lovely character not being able to live his own truth as I'm sure that there are too many things meddling with his destined path!

Lucie: I believe (and hope) that there is more to her friendship with Jesse and that there will be some interesting developments there! I can’t wait to see her get a better understanding of her ghost-powers and I hope we’ll get to see more interactions between her and Cordelia. I don’t quite understand why they haven’t done the parabatai ceremony yet? But Lucie is truly precious and I love that she secretly ships Cordelia and James, too!

Anna: Yes, yes, yes! She is everything I ever needed in a historical setting like this and I really hope that we will get to read more about her in Chain of Iron!

Alastair: Honestly, I have high hopes for him and you probably all know who I ship him with so dearly! I really hope that their relationship will properly unfold in the next book and that Alastair can try and make things right! I do not like bullies, but I hope he finds a way to ask for forgiveness again and to get it.

Thomas: Please, Cassandra Clare, can I get more chapters about Thomas in the next book? Please please please!!!

And now lastly, let’s talk about the character that I really don’t like. Is there anybody who at this point has any positive feelings towards Grace? I have ZERO! I mean it is pretty clear that she LITERALLY has put some kind of spell on James and I cannot understand why not even Matthew, who has also fallen a victim to her magic or whatever that is that she can do, realised something is up! That bracelet is seriously messing with James “feelings/emotions” and whatnot and I just hate that he and Cordelia are not able to catch a break and talk about their true feelings towards one another! Ughhhh, honestly, I know Grace has been through a lot and lost a lot of people, but no! I just really don’t like her. And I really have a longing to re-read the Infernal Devices trilogy now!! But I don’t have the time for it and so many other new books still on my TBR! Ahh, the biggest sorrows of a book-nerd! :3

I'd like to know

I know there are a lot of people who do not like Cassandra Clare or her writing. Or even did like her books at some point but now cannot pick up another series of her set in the same shadowhunter world. How do you feel about this? Are you like me and can never get tired of this or are you of the opinion that she should just put down her pen and not write another shadowhunter related book/series? I’d love to hear what you think about it in the comments!

Manga Review: Stitch and the Samurai, Vol. 1

About the manga

Title: Disney Manga: Stitch and the Samurai
Series: Stitch and the Samurai, Volume 1
Author & Illustrator: Hiroto Wada
Genres: Manga, Disney
Expected Publication: April 27th, 2021
Pages: 176
Read: March 2021

My Copy

Publisher: Disney Manga
Edition: Ebook
Purchase Location: Netgalley
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review

My Rating:

Goodreads Summary

While fleeing the Galactic Federation, Stitch's spaceship malfunctions and he makes an emergency landing... not in Hawaii, but in sengoku-era Japan! Discovered by the brutal warlord Lord Yamato and his clan, Stitch's incomparable cuteness is no match for the battle-weary samurai, who decides to bring the "blue tanuki" home with him. Will Stitch's love of chaos turn into a formidable advantage for the samurai's influence? Or will his cute and fluffy form disarm the noble lord's stern façade?

My Spoiler Free Review

Hmm okay, I have to be very honest. As much as I love Stitch (he’s my favourite Disney character ever) and as much as I wanted to love this, it just wasn’t for me. I think young children, maybe around the age of 3-7, would enjoy this (but honestly, I don’t really know a lot about what kids read as I don’t have any kids around me). The story is simple, the art is cute and very well done, and any young child would probably pick up great things from this manga.

However, for adults like me, this is missing some plot and sense to the story. In Stitch and the Samurai, Stitch lands in Japan instead of Hawaii. When Stitch’s spaceship malfunctions it crash lands right in front of a warlord called Lord Yamato, who immediately is consumed by Stitch’s cuteness (who can blame him?). But it goes so far, that he grows obsessed with Stitch, and trying to pet and feed him. This obsession leads him to absolutely ignore the war that he’s actually leading and his samurai don’t know how to handle the situation.

What I had some troubles with, was that Stitch knew the words “Ohana – Family” and there were some other small references to Lilo… But if this is a story about him landing in Japan instead of in Hawaii, how would he know this? Lilo taught him the meaning of Ohana… So this felt a bit more just for sales than for actual story telling, which was a bit of a shame.

Overall I enjoyed this as a quick read, and it truly did make me laugh at some ridiculous parts, but I don’t think I would read this again (however, if this is an on-going series I might pick up the next parts anyways). It’s a nice way to relax after a tiring day, if you don’t want to have to think about too much plot twists and drama.

I'd like to know

Who else has requested a copy of this on NetGalley? Did you enjoy reading it? And are you also as obsessed with Stitch as I am? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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Book Review: Stars Above

About the book

Title: Stars Above
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4.5
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Retellings, Science Fiction, Short Stories
Publication: May 2nd, 2017
Pages: 400
Read: February 2021

My Copy

Publisher: Feiwel And Friends
Edition: Paperback
Purchase Location: Book Depository

My Rating:

Goodreads Summary

The enchantment continues. . . . The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories - and secrets - that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies? With nine stories - five of which have never before been published - and an exclusive never-before-seen excerpt from Marissa Meyer's novel, Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Stars Above is essential for fans of the bestselling and beloved Lunar Chronicles.

My Review

Cinder was the first book I read last year after a basically 2-year reading slump (starting University was more stressful than I hoped, and I just couldn’t find the time to read for leisure). I immediately fell in love with the series, like hundreds of others! I’ve heard about the hype around the Lunar Chronicles for a while, but I only picked up my copy from where it was lying hidden in my bookshelf at the beginning of the pandemic last year. Immediately, I joined the rest of the fangirls and fanboys of this series. As I was also on a blogging and reviewing hiatus, I never actually wrote reviews about the series, which is kind of a shame! But that’s why I now decided to review Stars Above instead! It was kind of ironic, that I picked up a book at the beginning of the pandemic without knowing that it would also revolve around a pandemic!

Please be aware, that this review might contain spoilers for the entire Lunar Chronicles series!

Stars Above collects short stories from the character’s childhoods and a story that takes place after the ending of Winter. My two absolute favourite stories in this collection are without doubt Glitches and Carswell’s Guide to being Lucky. I always loved Peony, as she embodies the “good sister” of the two stepsisters in the Cinderella-trope, but in such a sweet and lovely way! I think there’s nobody that can dislike her. The way she accepted Cinder into her home, as the only person of that family, is so precious and makes me miss her even more! Teenage Thorne is just so adorable! Honestly, I wished his story would have been even longer and that we could have read more about him and Kate Fallow. I could read stories about Thorne all day long, they would never get boring to me.

Another character I absolutely adore is Winter. She’s just so precious and I feel like The Princess and the Guard just proves what a strong character development she already went through at such a young age. Her decision not to use her gift is finally fully. In my opinion it takes a very strong character to decide to not use a gift one has to manipulate others even if it means that you would suffer from it. We also discover how exactly she got her scar and it’s a truly disastrous treatment from the Queen and I feel a bit torn between absolutely hating her and starting to understand her character and therefore not hating her. It becomes clear now, that she truly loved Winter’s father and how broken she was when he got murdered. This just makes me want to read Fairest that much faster, as I’ve heard great things about it apparently gives the Queen’s character new depth!

In After Sunshine Passes By, we get to read about Cress’s development as a 9-year-old and how she ended up isolated in her satellite. As much as I like Cress’s character in the Lunar Chronicles, her story here is one that I struggled with. Apparently, a 9-year old girl is the most capable hacker of all Lunars? And she gets exiled to a satellite because she’s the only person capable (or just that the Queen knows of) of spying on Earth. This seems a bit far fetched to me, as I remember myself as a 9-year old and I could just about use a computer to play games. I’m struggling with accepting that a 9-year old would be able to teach themselves how to become a highly capable cyber-spy and basically hack into very highly secured systems… It just seems so very unlikely to me. They even mention that the Shells were barely able to read at that point because the Thaumaturges didn’t see the point in teaching them. So how would a 9-year old that thought herself to read a couple of years prior, be able to write programs and code by herself and then make sense of all the encrypted data that she has to scan through?

Coming from an IT background myself, there’s another story that I have some problems with. The Little Android: I don't really know what to think about this short story. The ending is a bit “trist” and depressing, but overall, I guess it’s cute. However, seeing as I study computer science, I just have a really hard time imagining an Android developing its own consciousness and for it to make decisions based on emotions and pain that it apparently feels… But it was really nice to read a short story in this world’s setting, with new characters that basically had nothing to do with the rest of the characters we already know, except some few mentions of Cinder.

Now the only book set in Cinder’s world left for me to read is Fairest! Can’t wait to start with that one, and I think I’m definitely going to pick it up sometime soon. But first, I need to get some other books off my tbr pile!

I'd like to know

Have you read any books in the Lunar Chronicles or even Stars Above? I’d love to hear what you think about it! So please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

Comic Book Review: Supergirl (Reign Of The Cyborg Supermen)

About the comic book

Title: Reign Of The Cyborg Supermen
Series: Supergirl (2016 - #)
Author: Steve Orlando
Artist: Brian Ching and others
Genres: Comics, DC Comics, Superheroes
Publication: April 4th, 2017
Pages: 166
Read: February 2021

My Copy

Publisher: DC Comics
Edition: Kindle
Purchase Location: Netgalley
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review

My Rating:

Goodreads Summary

Supergirl moves to National City! As Kara Danvers, average American teenager and high school student, Supergirl must balance her life as a superhero with her new life on Earth. But some demons from her Kryptonian past are coming back to haunt her, and Kara will find herself face-to-face with her father: the sinister Cyborg Superman! Critically acclaimed writer Steve Orlando (Midnighter) comes a new beginning for Kara Zor-El in Supergirl, Volume 1, Reign Of The Cyborg Super-Men a new series that is sure to appeal to fans of the TV series! (Collecting: Supergirl 1-6, Rebirth)

My Spoiler Free Review

So back in 2017 I was very actively reviewing and reading a lot of comics and books. Back then I was also active on NetGalley and sadly after I started University, I fell into a blogging hiatus, that just wouldn’t stop. Now I’m in my last semester of my bachelor’s and I finally found the motivation again to spend more time on reading and reviewing books (and graphic novels). I found out that I still had a couple of ARCs on my NetGalley account that I never reviewed, so I’m gonna try to battle that specific TBR pile.

I actually had already read Supergirl back in 2017, but never got around to reviewing it, so I decided to start with this volume and reread it today! I honestly couldn’t remember much of the story anyways. And rightfully so, it’s a bit confusing, even for the Rebirth series. Supergirl once again battles the Cyborg Superman, who she battled in the New 52 area already. But now he appears to be her father? And he’s obsessed with bringing Argo back to life and basically “revived” the entire population with Brainiac’s technology. But for them to actually come alive they need the people of earth’s life force and attack Earth in order to kill National City’s citizens in Zor-El’s personal vendetta against Supergirl. It seems very strange to me that in such a massive alien/robot attack, no other superhero from Earth tries to save the city. It’s all left to Supergirl, the D.E.O. and CatCo to save the citizens. I feel like this would have been a scenario where the Justice League should have been involved?

But, there’s also good in this volume. I really liked the Artwork! However, I now am surer than ever, I don’t particularly like Steve Orlando’s writing (also after having read his Wonder Woman stories). I had bigger hopes for this volume, as I’m a big fan of the TV show!

I'd like to know

Is anybody else still on NetGalley? How are you keeping up with your reviews? And have you read Supergirl or watched the TV shows? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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Book Review: Legendborn

About the book

Title: Legendborn
Author: Tracy Deonn
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, Arthurian Lore, Retellings, LGBTQ
Publication: September 15th, 2020
Pages: 503
Read: February 2021

My Copy

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Edition: Paperback
Purchase Location: Book Depository

My Rating:

Goodreads Summary

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus. A flying demon feeding on human energies. A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down. And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw. The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates. She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.

My Spoiler Free Review

Wow just wow! This book deserves a full 5-star review and nothing less from me! It covers so many important current topics in a wild and gripping adventure! Grief and trauma, racist macro and microaggressions, racist violence, ancestral pain, love and more.

The struggle of choosing between going to sleep at 2 am because you have meetings in the early morning again, or just to continue reading throughout the entire night because the book you picked up is THAT good, who knows this feeling? Legendborn is exactly what put me into this situation for 3 nights in a row. The moment I picked it up and got entranced by this story influenced by Arthurian lore I had troubles remembering that I had work to do and other real-life things that needed my attention, like cooking food, sleeping, showering, etc. I was immediately absorbed in this book.

Bree Matthews, the protagonist, is such a strong character. She does not let anybody discriminate her without calling them out on it, and sadly this happened a couple of times. Tracy Deonn puts a lot of Older White Men to shame in this book (and rightly so) and the pure truth behind these happenings, and that this occurs nowadays more often than we’d like to think, made me angry at the world. Bree, being only 16, has to struggle with so much already, and even though there are hints at a love triangle, this is only secondary to all her other problems and her trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be. Her path to find out the truth about her heritage and her ancestry was filled with plot twists, some not even I could foresee (and I usually pride myself on being able on foreseeing A LOT).

On another note, I have to admit, I felt like I saw some references to Twilight. Am I the only one? In the beginning I already got a Twilight meets Shadowhunters feeling when we got to meet Sel in the woods.

The Part That Might Contain Spoilers

But then on page 349 I felt absolutely given right with this passage: “How would you like me to carry you? What would please you, Page Matthews?” (Sel) […] “Piggyback.” (Bree) “Excuse me?” “You heard me.” “Like that movie-“ “Shut up.” And then Sel says after Bree crushed her forearm against his Adam’s apple: “I do need to breathe,” […] “I’m not actually a vampire.”

I also felt a bit of fear about Nick and Bree, who I absolutely shipped from the beginning, because they “got together” so early in the book. I think it was in about the end of the first half when they first kissed and then I was immediately filled with dread because I’ve read too many stories where an early “coupling” is a very bad sign. Most often, something happens to one of the pair or there’s a love triangle that destroys the relationship or other things. Here, however, it felt quite appropriate and I can think of worse things that could have happened to the two of them (yes I know, Nick being kidnapped is definitely a bad thing!). But I mean, at least nothing big happened between Sel and Bree that could have immediately killed any hope for Bree and Nick’s future, … if you know what I mean. I am 100 per cent on team Nick + Bree! But I guess we will have to wait on the sequel to see how things continue!

The big plot twist I was talking about, that I could not foresee, was that Bree turned out to be Arthur’s heir. The moment Bree discovered this truth was filled with so much ancestral pain and to think that things like this probably happened so many times in those days is just dreadful. So many people today cannot trace back their line of ancestry for that many centuries (because they weren’t given the means to), and it pains me to think how many (slave) women/families have been faced with such evil. I figured that Bree’s ancestry would be somehow connected to Arthur, but I actually thought that she would turn out to be Lancelot’s heir or something of that sort. I am very excited to see how Bree will handle this Arthur heritage and of course her other heritage that comes with Rootscraft in the sequel!

I hope that for everyone who picks up Legendborn, this will become your new favourite book as it has become mine!

I'd like to know

Have you read Legendborn? I could talk about this book for many more hours, and I’d love to hear what you think about it! So please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments! Does anybody have any other Arthurian retellings recommendations?