The second book in the YA Arthurian modern fantasy series Legendborn.
Publication year: 2022
Page count: 561
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Format: print
Bree Matthews wanted to know who killed her mother and why. To do that, she infiltrated a secret society called the Legendborn. The inner circle are descendants of King Arthur and his Knights. They protect humanity against demons. Almost all are white and some of them made it clear that Bree wasn't welcome. However, Bree found out her own power: she's a medium, a Rootcrafter, and a Scion of Arthur himself. Only a couple of her closest friends know about her power. She's tried to train her abilities but the other Legendborn have been training their whole lives.
Now, the three Regents of the Legendborn know that Bree is the direct descendant of King Arthur and therefore their future king. They tell Bree that they must keep it a secret for her protection. Reluctantly she agrees. The Regents take Bree to an underground place where she will draw Excalibur and perform the rite to accept Arthur's spirit into her body.
However, Bree doesn't want anyone else to control her body and during the rite, she rebels. Also, the Regents are not going to let anyone, let alone a black girl, take away their power. They drug Bree and imprison her.
Now, she must learn to control her abilities to save herself and her friends.
This was a good second book in the series. Bree makes mistakes and pays for them. She's stubborn and stubbornly independent. She's also fiercely loyal and smart.
The story examines, again, grief and living with it, but also the structure of society that it built by white people for white people. Bree is often the only black person in the room.
Most of the cast from the first book returns. I really like Alice, Bree's best friend. Alice doesn't have any mystical abilities but she helps any way she can. Bree's love interest Nick has been kidnapped and is missing most of the book. However, her second love interest Selwyn the half-demon is very much present and they have many sweet moments together as well as moments of disagreement and misunderstandings. I also enjoyed a new group of people we meet.
The Arthurian stories are twisted in an interesting way at first but I didn't really care for some of my favorite characters turning out to be villains.
The book was mostly enjoyable if a bit too long and the romance felt forced to me. It ends is a cliffhanger.
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