It feels like it’s been forever since I had a five star read so I’ve decided to write one of these posts this month to cheer myself up. I’ve had a lot of mediocre or just plain bad reads lately so reminiscing on old reads is a great way to get me excited about reading again.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
This was one of my favourites reads of 2020 and I loved it a lot. Which is obvious given the title of this post. I seriously need to continue this series at some point but the length of the next book is very intimidating right now. Books with more than 500 pages never used to faze me, but now that I post daily content, they’re terrifying.
However, I loved this book for many reasons. Firstly, Bree is such a great character. She starts out the book strong-willed but this evolves further when she’s thrust into the world of The Order, which is very outdated with it’s views about both women and people of colour.
There are also elements of this book that are just pure fun. Secret societies, fighting demons and a modern twist on the King Arthur and the knights of the roundtable story. I wouldn’t call this a retelling but it is heavily influenced by that story. I don’t want to spoil the plot but this is such a great read, one I will always recommend.
Synopsis: 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.
Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare
We all know by now how much I love Cassandra Clare so it’s no surprise this book made it into this series. This is actually the first book of hers that I properly reviewed, I think it’s one of my longest reviews on this blog.
I instantly fell in love with this cast of characters, especially Cordelia–she’s my all time favourite Cassandra Clare character. What I also loved about Chain of Gold and the The Last Hours series in general is that it follows on from The Infernal Devices. You have this wonderful new cast of characters that have joined beloved ones from the previous series. It’s really the best of both worlds.
Synopsis: An inheritance of shadows. A love in chains. An unconquerable foe.
Cordelia Carstairs is a Shadowhunter, a warrior trained since childhood to battle demons. When her father is accused of a terrible crime, she and her brother travel to London in hopes of preventing the family’s ruin. Cordelia’s mother wants to marry her off, but Cordelia is determined to be a hero rather than a bride. Soon Cordelia encounters childhood friends James and Lucie Herondale and is drawn into their world of glittering ballrooms, secret assignments, and supernatural halls, where vampires and warlocks mingle with mermaids and magicians. All the while, she must hide her secret love for James, who is sworn to marry someone else.
But Cordelia’s new life is blown apart when a shocking series of demon attacks devastate London. These monsters are nothing like those Shadowhunters have fought before—these demons walk in daylight, strike down the unwary with incurable poison, and seem impossible to kill. London is immediately quarantined. Trapped in the city, Cordelia’s friends discover that a dark legacy has gifted them with incredible powers—and forced a brutal choice that will reveal the true cruel price of being a hero.
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Like this post? Why not read this one too: ARC Review: We Called Them Giants by Kieron Gillen & Stephanie Hans