I’ve recently sat down and made a decent-sized list of debuts I’ve read and loved, which was actually very fun and interesting. I’ve also made a list of debut authors to check out, which I’m very excited about. I love adding specific types of books to my to be read.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
I think everyone that has read this book agrees with me putting it in this post. Legendborn is such a great book and I’m actually thinking of re-reading it at some point so I can read the sequel (I read it when it first came out so I feel like I need a refresh).
If you haven’t checked out Legendborn yet, you absolutely need to.
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.
The Darkening by Sunya Mara
I wouldn’t say this was one of my favourite books of all time, but it is a very good debut novel. I was kindly sent an ARC of this, which hasn’t affected my opinion, I’m actually more critical of ARCs than any other books.
The story is very interesting and unique. Honestly, not like anything I’ve read before. I’d highly recommend checking this out.
Synopsis: Vesper Vale is the daughter of revolutionaries. Failed revolutionaries. When her mother was caught by the queen’s soldiers, they gave her a choice: death by the hangman’s axe, or death by the Storm that surrounds the city and curses anyone it touches. She chose the Storm. And when the queen’s soldiers–led by a paranoid prince–catch up to Vesper’s father after twelve years on the run, Vesper will do whatever it takes to save him from sharing that fate.
Even arm herself with her father’s book of dangerous experimental magic.
Even infiltrate the prince’s elite squad of soldier-sorcerers.
Even cheat her way into his cold heart.
But when Vesper learns that there’s more to the story of her mother’s death, she’ll have to make a choice if she wants to save her city: trust the devious prince with her family’s secrets, or follow her mother’s footsteps into the Storm.
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