Emily Maloney's essay collection is an indictment of the exorbitant costs of staying alive in America, and the weight of being hounded by a debt that reduces your life to dollars and cents.
(Image credit: Henry Holt & Co. )
UnCovered review by Nancy Wessler, Librarian, ACLS Mays Landing Branch
Sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews enters into the prestigious Early College program at UNC-Chapel Hill still deeply mourning the death of her mother three months prior. She is fleeing the painful memories of home, but on her first night at school she witnesses an act of magic - a magic that can erase memories, a magic that she realizes was used to erase her memories on the night her mother died. No longer certain that her mother’s death was an accident, Bree soon finds herself immersed in the world of a secret Arthurian society, the members of which are descended from the actual Knights of the Round Table and whose mission is to protect humanity from otherworldly demons. Joining their ranks may mean finding the answers to her mother’s past, but it also means risking life and limb in a magical war centuries in the making and discovering truths about herself that have long lay hidden.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn is a YA urban fantasy that hits all the
sweet spots of the genre. There’s a dangerous magical world
hidden within our ordinary one; an engaging and relatable protagonist with
powers she doesn’t understand; a diverse, fully-formed supporting cast ready to
provide banter, romance, tension, and adversity; scary monsters heralding
calamity; and the early makings of a love triangle. What sets Legendborn
apart, however, is the way in which Deonn interweaves the very real issues of
grief, racism, oppression, and inheritance into this tale of the fantastic. The
book addresses the entirety of Bree’s experience as a Black girl in North
Carolina, exploring the ongoing legacy of white supremacy and American chattel
slavery as well as championing the ways in which Black Americans have always
survived, resisted, and thrived. There are revelations later in the book that
are equal parts devastating and uplifting.
Ultimately, Legendborn is a story about love and loss. It explores the nature of power and who gets to wield it, generational trauma, and the things we owe our forbearers, each other, and ourselves. Also, King Arthur! Magic swords!
In his debut thriller, Brendan Slocumb employs polemic about racism to great effect as he reminds us that the high-toned world of classical music suffers from, and because of, racism.
(Image credit: Anchor)
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