super interesting world building with great characters. sometimes the world building was be confusing and there’s a bit too many characters to memorize but not too bad. the ending i was spoiled but it didn’t take away the experience. the history of Bree was super cool to discover, learning her story through her ancestors was an interesting idea. overall took me a while to finish cuz busy but it was a great read.

was kinda eh abt the love triangle, i thought bree and nick were cute at first but then we warmed up to sel, hope they become a throuple lol

A fantastic start to this series.

a really really solid start to this series. i think upon a reread and/or reading bloodmarked i may bump this up to 5 stars.

basically,,, consider this like an unofficial 4.5 since i don't rate on 1/2 stars lol

AHHHHHH november 8 cannot come fast enough. i need the next one. 

I enjoyed this a lot. I was planning to read just one or two chapters a day but the storytelling was too captivating and it was so difficult to put the book down. I love everything about it -- a strong (but also vulnerable) black female lead character, an Asian best friend, and All! The! Women! It was a balanced mix of the Legend of King Arthur, magic, fantasy, and action while also tackling slavery, racism, and grief. Those last three topics are heavy and the author was able to weave it in seamlessly in the story without it being too preachy. I'm off to read the second book and I hope the third and fourth books come quicky!

4.25

Everything about this book is so magnetic. I love this book and I’m ready to dive into the second book

hello wtf just happened? the ending???? if you told my past self that I’d end up loving this book so much I’d never believe it, I literally soft dnfed this for four months the first time I tried to read it 🤡 the beginning did not work for me bc I was hating Bree and Alice so much it hurts (now I love both just so you know) but at some point things start to happen and out of nowhere *poof* you can't put the book down the first love interest we met is Nick and their romance was SO insta-love (I hated it) within a week they were already in the “I need to protect you at all costs because you’re my whole life 😭🫂💔😔” vibe and I was like ugh you guys just met calm down please the second one, Selwyn (aka my favorite), wasn’t exactly a love interest in this book but it’s obvious that he’s going to be, at first I swear all I wanted was to throw him off a cliff bc this boy was insufferable with that story of thinking she was a demon, if that continued for another chapter I’d probably throw my kindle at the wall BUT now I'm president of their ship till the day I die bc hello??? the chemistry? the banter? THE BALL DANCE SCENE????? just stop ✋🏻 i need them rn I felt that the book developed themes like racism and misogyny very well, unfortunately the world is not even close to being the same as most books and this one brought a necessary reality check, I also liked how well it showed Bree's grieving process the plot in the ending left me with my jaw on the floor for at least 10 minutes, at some point I imagined Sel as king but I SWEAR I never imagined who really is, I'm SO excited to see how this will develop in the next books but maybe I need a quick break before continue the next one (honorable mention to Sel calling her cariad 🫦)

this book is willlld. an romantasy based on king arthur tale and set in modern day chapel hill north carolina??? also themes of grief, self discovery, institutional racism??? hell yeah!

all the characters have the exact same mannerisms and vernacular. this reads like trina vegas one woman play.

ya is not for me anymore and that's fine i'm old (twenty one 😐) but i think making bree be between someone who has dated a racist (sel) and someone like nick is a little crazy idk, world building could've been better but the concept was ... interesting and dialogue was some rlly good writing

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!! I need book 2 NOW!!!! Such a great fantasy novel, I’m deeply invested in this story in Bree’s life and what will happen between her, Nick, and Sel!! LOVED!!

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!! I need book 2 NOW!!!! Such a great fantasy novel, I’m deeply invested in this story in Bree’s life and what will happen between her, Nick, and Sel!! LOVED!!

Mýtonoši mou pozornost upoutali hned jak vyšli v originále, hlavně tedy kvůli té krásné obálce. Když mi Valča řekla, že se stanou jejím prvním HumbookTipem, moc jsem se na ně těšila. A že jsem taky měla proč. Mýtonoši jsou jaksi netradiční urban fantasy, která je ale do hloubky propracovaná mnohem víc, než se na první pohled zdá. Naše hlavní hrdinka v knize řeší nejen smrt svojí maminky, ale třeba i trauma, které ze smrti vychází a nebo rasovou diskriminaci a historii svých předků, kteří to na jihu Ameriky neměli vůbec jednoduché. V mýtonoších se setkáváme s tajnými spolky, které se na první pohled zdají jako sešlosti boháčů, ovšem Bree zjišťuje, že se dostala k dědicům rytířů Kulatého stolu. Kniha sice má typické young adult rysy, jako například náznaky milostného trojúhelníku, autorka ho však napsala tak dobře a rozebírá zde tolik důležitých témat, že jí to ráda odpustím. Mýtonoši jsou sice - podle mého názoru - složitější urban fantasy (musela jsem si značit vše k magickému systému a dělat si poznámky, myšlenkové mapy a seznamy postav stranou) ale já vám říkám, že to za to vážně stojí. To propojení středověkých legend a historie černošských otroků mi prostě.. vyrazilo dech. Sice se vám to takhle zdá jako příliš a přijde vám, že to snad ani nemůže fungovat, ale autorka to vymyslela vážně parádně. A pozor - nebojí se zabíjet své postavy! Nakonec bych ráda vyzdvihla i to, že knížka má bohatou reprezentaci LGBT+ lidí, a navíc je do děje vsazena úplně nenucě, až přirozeně. Poslední, co chci pochválit, je překlad. Moc se mi líbilo zachování anglických frází a slov, které se už běžně nepřekládají. V knihách totiž často narážím na nějakou do očí bijící frázi, kterou všichni známe anglicky, ovšem překladatelé jí i tak přeloží do češtiny. Překlad mýtonošů tedy považuji za jednu z nejlépe přeložených knih, které jsem četla, co se neologismů a anglicismů týče. . 5*/5*, Mýtonoši si to bez debat zaslouží, stejně jako si zaslouží i to, že si je musíte co nejdřív přečíst i vy!

This book blew my mind off I'm quite speechless. To call this book amazing would be an understatement. This is a very famous book and everyone loves it and it's for a good reason. It deserves every bit of praise it gets and more. GO PICK IT UP NOW.  This series is gonna be one of my favourites series of all time and I can't wait. I don't remember the last time I'd read something like this. I'd recommend this book to every freaking one.

No words for how phenomenal this book is. NOOOO words other than purely phenomenal.

there was no reason for me to put this book off for so long. it was so good and i need that fairy loot release right now!!! nov 2023 read this was still a 5 star! i didn’t get the fairy loot release btw. it was sold out immediately!

I want to start off by saying that the concept of this was enticing, and I really do like Bree Matthews as a character. However, I disliked almost everything else about this story and will outline why:

Firstly, this love triangle thing didn’t need to happen. I’m very disinterested in “Black girl from a white area goes to white school and becomes involved with two white boys in a racist organization”. I’m well aware that the org is integral to the plot, but I feel like there’s were ways to work other racial minorities into the mix and shouldn’t have to wait two or three books to get more of their involvement. Bree being a token character in her own book feels egregious to me. I’m tired of seeing Black main characters navigate racism as a part of their arcs. Also, if she’s going to have these two white counterparts … they should be interesting — which they’re not. It’s very insta-love at some parts to me, and that’s just not an interest of mine.

Moving onto plot: it was very clunky. The pacing was off and the “exposition” was just lines and lines of info dumping throughout the entirety of the book. And even after all of that, I was still confused about the world and magic system. It just wasn’t engaging to me and took forever to read because I had to keep stopping to remind myself of the rules. The characters were not well fleshed out, and I found the B tier characters to be interchangeable. I wish I gave a damn about any of them, but I don’t.

Finally, the therapist. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone else comment on this, but as someone in a similar role, I found this representation of counseling abhorrent and borderline dangerous. The therapist isn’t helpful in the slightest and crosses so many boundaries. I am actually disappointed that the other main Black character we get in this is such a bad depiction of mental health services. Like I said, I don’t think most people would point this out or notice, but it truly rubbed me the wrong way.

I can see why people, especially younger readers, would enjoy this but the mixture of all of these things made this a very overhyped book in my opinion.

[4.25] im so excited to continue this series. Super easy to understand world and chefs kiss romance. what else could i ask for. misunderstood bad boy like erm yes please. and black fmc yesss gimme more!!

selbreenick better be canon in the next book or i will have a little chat with the author

What an amazingly unique magic structure and lore paired with commentary on different cultural traditions and the western belief that theirs is inherently right. Bree’s fight through these barriers while being forced to learn about herself alone while suffering a great loss was both heartbreaking and awe inspiring.

4,5 stars Really intriguing book! I enjoyed the romance and all the ideas behind the magic system. I think it is a great YA fantasy book! One of my best this year, for sure!

This is a spoiler free review.

I would like to preface this review by saying that I thought the voice of the writer was excellent and her criticism of how white society has treated and continues to treat people is valid and important. As someone who lives in North Carolina, it was interesting to know the setting to some extent, though I didn't attend that particular college.

I also feel like I need to say that I don't particularly love Arthurian mythology. It's fun I guess? I've just never been into it but I keep wanting to find something that will draw me into the world of it in such a way that I find it enjoyable. This book was not it.

I also feel it is very vital to point out that a lot of this book deals with the trauma that the main character faces in her first two weeks of attending college, right after the death of her mother in a hit and run accident. She almost immediately gets wrapped up in a magical society of Arthurian blood purists, meaning every other page she's having to deal with the trauma of constant microaggressions and slurs. Please be advised going into this that this trauma is a constant presence throughout the book. Mostly that trauma is what Bree is facing, but there are other traumas present as well, such as how Nick and Sel were raised by a terrible parental figure, or what happened to Nick's mom. It can be a lot at times, so if you're looking for a lighter read, I would put this one down a little further on your TBR. Even the ending felt like a microaggression in itself, though I can't say a whole lot more or I'll hit true spoiler territory. There is also very little in the way of moments of joy in this book. The whole book felt very tense to me.

I thought the integration of the Arthurian world into a modern college campus was interesting, though the constant infodumping left me reeling a lot of times. And even after all that infodumping, I still don't feel like I have a solid grasp on a lot of it. Some might be that Bree just didn't get told all of it because a lot of the characters view her as an outsider. Regardless, it wasn't as polished as I'd hoped for. That being said, for this being a debut novel, it's still pretty decent. I think this is a skill Tracy Deonn will likely develop as she grows as a writer, and I look forward to that.

Tracy Deonn's writing is, by the way, beautiful. I love the way, she describes things. The metaphors, the descriptors, the almost tangible quality of the feelings she puts into the writing makes you feel how much she really loved this book and these characters as she wrote them. There's a poetry to her phrasing that is absolutely lovely.

One thing I noticed that took me out of the story a little was that most of the characters of Bree's generation seemed to have a nickname unless their names were already short enough to escape it. It was a little strange. I do have to say that with such a large cast of characters, I thought that Deonn did a good job keeping the characters and the personalities distinct, although I did sometimes mix up some of the smaller Knights and Vassals. I connected best with Sel, though hoo boy does he need to get hooked up with Bree's therapist. He was a DICK for a good two thirds of this book, but he starts to really get a grip by the end.

Ultimately, for a debut book, it was good. I don't think it's something I'm likely to reread, but a lot of others have found joy in it and I'm glad of that. I will happily pass this book on to another reader who is interested in reading the legend of Brianna Matthews.

An adventurous and heartwarming story about grief and the pain and loss that follows. About found family, connecting with your ancestors and discovering more about them as well. A little slow for me at first although i’m not usually a big fantasy reader, but once it picks up i became absolutely enthralled with the story and all of its twists and turns. Also great representation for fellow black girls & LGBTQ+. loved this <3