63 pages • 2 hours read
Oathbound
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Background
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying, racism, gender discrimination, antigay bias, sexual violence, sexual harassment, rape, mental illness, child abuse, suicidal ideation, graphic violence, sexual content, cursing, illness, death, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.
Series Context: The Legendborn Cycle
Oathbound is the third book in The Legendborn Cycle, a contemporary young adult fantasy series by Tracy Deonn. The trilogy was inspired by Deonn’s personal history, as she belongs to a line of Black women who lost their mothers too young. The Legendborn Cycle addresses various themes of power and prejudice, as the young protagonist, a 16-year-old Black girl named Briana “Bree” Matthews, must contend with the racist and misogynist power structures at her Southern university while also contending with similar power structures that govern her newfound magic. Bree must acknowledge her past and her ancestry while coming into her own powers both as a person and as a member of two distinct magical communities. The series draws from the history of enslavement and the Confederacy of its North Carolina setting, as well as from Black spiritual traditions and Arthurian legend.
The first novel, Legendborn, follows Bree as she enrolls in UNC Chapel Hill’s Early College program shortly after her mother’s sudden death. Bree senses that there is something strange about her mother’s death, and her suspicions intensify when she starts to see monsters on campus.
