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reason one: bree mf matthews, a badass black girl mc!! FINALLY i can read about a character who is like me FINALLY other people will see what it& #39;s like to be me
romance is not the main focus of the book but it is a subplot and i love it 
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🥰" title="Smiling face with 3 hearts" aria-label="Emoji: Smiling face with 3 hearts"> it is NOT a love triangle but there is some complexity! however bree is fiery and independent so when a love int is introduced the quality of her character isn& #39;t compromised which i love
the theme of grief is very present throughout, she shows how grief and trauma affects a generation within the black community. deonn draws from her own loss to authentically portray bree& #39;s coping along with the anger and confusion that results from it
thankfully, bree& #39;s loss isn& #39;t brushed over or forgotten about throughout the book despite the chaos she goes through. deonn shows shifts in the relationship dynamic between bree and her father, further representing how grief changes people
speaking of her dad, i absolutely love the father figure in this book. i wish i had such a bond with my own dad. these kinds of strong and healthy bonds that come from a reliable father figure are so important to see in the black community
family is another important and relevant theme throughout, along with history and ancestry. deonn shows there is power that comes from connecting with your roots and your history but also the struggle that comes from being a black american, only able to trace our roots so far.
the magic system!! very well thought out and elaborate but there isn& #39;t a confusing info dump, the reader learns as bree does, her own inquiry and curiosity reflecting the questions we, the readers, develop.
deonn did a TON of extensive research, bringing in experts and spending a very long time studying in order to fine tune the details of this book and it shows. she put in a crazy amount of effort to get things right and she executed perfectly.
it& #39;s dark academia + urban fantasy which is such a cool combo especially bc i rarely see black girls included in dark academia aesthetics. it& #39;s set on a college campus in north carolina, a real college that miss deonn herself attended so a lot of the details in the book are true!
rather than being a retelling of king arthur stories, this is an expansion on the celtic myths. she tells of the descendants of the knights and their newfound duty to defend the mortal world from monsters that are increasingly growing in strength and destructive capabilities.
this book, despite being fantastical, has a lot of achingly real elements– unmarked graves of black people, police induced anxiety, the need to shrink yourself to fit into the box people have created for you, micro aggressions, etc but these once again aren& #39;t at the very-
-forefront of the story. this isn& #39;t trauma porn, it& #39;s not about all the woes of black people. it& #39;s realistic but at the end of the day this is the story of a young black girl coming to terms with life changing events all the while she is grappling with her own internal conflicts.
also the pacing and THE PLOT TWISTS, i was on edge the whole time i love the way these were executed. every single person i& #39;ve recommended this to was surprised at least once and i still haven& #39;t recoveredhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😭" title="Laut schreiendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Laut schreiendes Gesicht">
there is an element of mystery and a lot of tension while bree is trying to investigate what really happened to her mom. deonn kept me guessing and timed the twists perfectly. i also love how in the face of these twists bree doesn& #39;t go a huge personality change, she remains true.
the final aspect i& #39;d like to comment on are the relationship dynamics, platonic and otherwise. the rifts and mends in relationships as you& #39;re adjusting to newfound independence in a college setting is something many new adults can relate to. the changes bree and her-
-best friend alice undergo reflect the same struggles new uni students have to adapt to. entering a college setting with a high school friend is not always easy, balancing familiarity with change can be difficult but it& #39;s not impossible.
i hope this thread wasn& #39;t too long, there& #39;s so many more things i could talk about because i love this book so so much, miss deonn if at some point ur looking for someone to send an arc to for LB2 i am right here https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😁" title="Grinsendes Gesicht mit lächelnden Augen" aria-label="Emoji: Grinsendes Gesicht mit lächelnden Augen">
