The Legendborn Cycle Series


by Tracy Deonn (Author)

Book Cover for the Legendborn Cycle Series
Reading level: Ages 16 and up
Books in series: 2
Read in order: Yes
Next book: 2025
Tags: fantasy  magic  romance  paranormal  action 

Filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn’s YA contemporary fantasy Legendborn offers the dark allure of City of Bones with a modern-day twist on a classic legend and a lot of Southern Black Girl Magic.

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.

Recognition: Locus Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Book (2021), Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Young Adult Literature (2020), John Steptoe New Talent Award for Author (2021), Lincoln Award Nominee (2023), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2020), Lodestar Award Nominee (2021), Manly Wade Wellman Award Nominee (2021), Ignyte Award for Best YA Novel (2021)

Legendborn Cycle Series Books in Order

 Print series book list

1. Legendborn  (2020)
2. Bloodmarked  (2022)