Oathbound by Tracy Deonn: a Deep Dive

in which the third installment of the Legendborn Cycle gave me too many feelings, so now I get to dump them on you! Get excited.

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All I have had on my mind this past week is Oathbound, Oathbound, Oathbound. There is so, so much to say about the unquenchable Briana Irene Matthews and her rich, fearsome, exciting world. I hope you’re ready because we’re gonna do a deep dive!

BEWARE, READERS: from here on out, there are VERY MUCH SPOILERS for Oathbound. Proceed with caution.

What worked in Oathbound

SO much!!

First and foremost, as I said, Briana Irene Matthews. I think her character journey from terrified, guilt-ridden, helpless victim on page 1 to decisive, dauntless leader on page ~638 was freaking spectacular. Bree continues to be a fiercely loving, deeply compassionate, fully realized character. The kind of girl you’d absolutely want as your Chosen One, sixteen-year-old brattiness and rash impulsivity and all. Which is another strength of Bree’s character: on every page, I know I’m reading about a sixteen year old being a sixteen year old while also navigating some pretty WILD things. It is a mark of Deonn’s excellent character work that Bree always feels decidedly like an impulsive, righteous, fearsome teen. Not only were her training sessions with Erebus and growing her fearlessness awesome, but I also loved every minute she spent learning about the demon world: its rules, its politics, and its social mores. This really opened up the world building in such rich and exciting ways, especially given that ending!!

Speaking of that ending: first of all, Selwyn Kane being the Shadow King’s son was an EXCELLENT plot twist. Its funny, because when Erebus talked about his time in school with Natasia in Bloodmarked, I thought to myself, “huh, I wonder if he ~liked~ her?” But the thought flitted away before it could go anywhere, because too much else was going on, and it didn’t seem that important. Well, excuse me while I wipe the clown makeup off my face!! That’s the kind of plot twist I love — where the seeds are planted in seemingly very innocuous conversation, that you don’t think much of, until suddenly those innocuous moments are staring you in the face. God, that was so well done. Hats off to Tracy Deonn with that, truly.

In fact, I do not think Deonn is getting enough credit for just how deeply, satisfyingly well plotted & steeped in lore Selwyn Kane being the Shadow King’s son is. For those who may not be as familiar with Arthurian legend, here are some things I know about the lore that make Sel’s journey even more compelling than it already was:

1. Arthur’s conception — In the stories, Igraine, Arthur’s mother, was married to Gorlois, a good friend and vassal of Uther Pendragon. Upon meeting Igraine, Uther covets her desperately. Uther then asked Merlin to enchant him to look like Igraine’s husband, so he could spend a night with her (ew 🤢). He goes to Tintagel Castle, where Igraine lived, in this disguise, and takes advantage of her (may I say again, ew). Igraine conceived Arthur through this violation. Similarly, the Shadow King disguised himself either as Erebus or as Natasia’s actual husband, probably because he coveted Natasia, & Natasia conceived Sel. Which, by the way, is very much a FULL VIOLATION of her body against her consent. I’ve seen some discourse around Natasia “needing to explain herself” and unless she knew Erebus = the Shadow King when ~shit happened~, no, she extremely does not. Poor Natasia. Someone give that woman a hug, a blanket, and some tea, because she has been through so much and yet it’s about to get worse for her somehow. Anyway, in this way Selwyn isn’t just the Shadow King’s son, but is being set up as the Inverse, Shadowborn!Arthur, in direct opposition to Bree (oh no!).

2. After his birth, Arthur was sent away to be raised as the ward of Sir Ector, who had a son, Kay. According to the lore, Sir Ector doted on Kay, while both Ector & Kay treated Arthur like a servant, bullying him, mistreating him, etc. If you’ve seen the 1960s Disney movie, you know what I’m talking about. Arthur and Kay eventually rectified their relationship enough that Arthur made Kay his seneschal & a knight of the round table. Similarly, Sel was sent away to be raised by the Davises, and was treated as a servant/half-feral guard dog by them both, but especially Martin Davis. Sel & Nick could reconcile enough to at least be friendly (maybe more??). We’ll have to see where that relationship goes from here…

   

   from Bloodmarked, by Tracy Deonn

3. Excalibur / shadow crown parallels. Of course, there’s the popular story: Excalibur sits wedged into a stone in the middle of London. Arthur, acting as a squire to Kay in a tournament, pulls out the sword without realizing what that means. Eventually everyone realizes where the sword came from and is like “oh SHIT that’s our king!!” which, lol, is definitely similar to how everyone found out Sel is their Shadow Prince.

4. In another version, though, Arthur is given the sword by the Lady of the Lake, a kind of lake fairy/enchantress. She brings it from Avalon & gifts it to Arthur as a symbol of his birthright and also her blessing. I could kinda see Bree occupying this space in relation to Sel’s role as Shadowborn!Arthur — she is, in a way, the one who brings Sel to the crown. ALSO, I believe it’s the Lady of the Lake who escorts Arthur to his final resting place in Avalon after Camlann. Which, seeing as there’s a VERY good chance Sel dies in the final book (GOD, I don’t want that to be true, but…), would also support the Bree-as-LotL parallel.

I’m sure there are even more parallels that I’m missing, given that I am not as well-versed in Arthuriana as Tracy Deonn is. And if you know of any parallels between Arthur’s story and Sel’s story that I haven’t brought up, I’d love to hear them!

So, it’s clear Tracy Deonn wasn’t playing checkers when she guided us to that epic plot twist in Oathbound — she was very much playing chess, in the best way possible.

Speaking of Natasia: her chapters with Sel were hands down the best part of the book for me. Yes, even more so than Bree’s chapters with Erebus / Zoe & Elijah. As a teacher, I have been in so similar a position to Natasia, many times. Sitting across from an angry, lost kid who believes everyone sees them as the problem, so they might as well become one. Trying to get through to that kid, build a connection, get him to see themself as more than just “a problem.” Going one step forward, five steps back each time. Whew, Deonn really captures the nature of connection building and emotional healing beautifully. On top of which, Natasia’s love for Sel was so tenderly rendered in those pages.

I also really loved the missing Rootcrafter girls plotline, and how it highlighted the way racism and misogynoir impact the lives of real missing Black girls / women. I actually wish that had been a little bit more front-and-center — especially when we got stuck at Penumbra.

Finally, other things that worked: the Zoe / Mariah / Bree Black girlhood friendship was SO lovely — sweet, funny, loving, fierce. Zoe in particular was SUCH an excellent addition to the cast. Her ferocity, her sense of self, + her growing tenderness for Bree was equal parts warm and funny. On that note, I absolutely loved how gloriously queer this book was. Bree being confirmed as pansexual? Amazing. The addition of Zoelle, a Black trans female character? Incredible. William and Lark taking steps towards becoming more? Fantastic. I can’t wait to see where all of that, + Bree’s journey, goes from here!

What didn’t work

Sigh. There were a couple of things, but in today’s newsletter I’m really going to dive into the thorn that has existed in my side since book 1: Nick.

I’m actually so tired of even reading about Nick, let alone constantly ranting about him in each of my reviews of the Legendborn books, but Tracy Deonn keeps insisting he deserves to be discussed. So, let’s discuss.

There is a version of Nicholas Davis that exists inside Tracy Deonn’s head that simply is not translating to the page. Either that, or she is attempting to gaslight the shit out of me just to keep me guessing on how the romance is going to end. Whichever it is, both of these feelings are deeply unpleasant to experience as a reader.

To be very clear: if Deonn wants to write The Perfect Boyfriend for Bree, I emphatically support this. Give her a veritable army of candy-sweet Perfect Boyfriends, please!! She deserves, especially after the last nine-ish months she has had!!! The make out sessions at Penumbra simultaneously made me chuckle — because of course two hormonal teens are going to make out when they’re locked in a house together, lol — and sigh because genuinely, I was happy that Bree was happy, and getting all those tender moments with a boy who adored her.

The problem is that I feel like I’m looking at a bucket of water, and someone is insisting it’s actually the ocean. If a bucket of water makes Bree happy, great! I want that for her! But why are you telling me it’s the ocean? Like, I am SEEING where the boundaries of this water exist! I can SEE how small it is! Stop telling me it’s the ocean, dammit! I know what the ocean looks like, and feels like, and sounds like. If you want me to believe I’m looking at the ocean, at least give the bucket of water some ocean-like qualities, please!!

To start, let’s talk about the “I’m holding a shard of the shadow crown inside my body” thing. One of the main qualities we learn about Nick in Oathbound is that Nick is evasive. Unfortunately, his evasiveness makes it pretty much impossible to get to know him as anything other than Bree’s Devoted Boyfriend. When he wasn’t saying the absolute perfect things to Bree at all times, he was doing every damn thing in his power to avoid telling Will, or Lark, or literally anyone, what he is feeling, what he is doing, and above all why he is doing it. Deonn very intentionally had readers sitting on the outside of Nick’s decision making process, in literally every way. But, a perhaps unintended consequence of this is that his choice to pursue the Morgaines…didn’t mean much.

And his apparent sacrifice to take in a shard of the crown to save Bree from Arthur felt even more emotionally flat. This is not just because we have very little understanding of Nick’s character, as Deonn wrote him to be that way, but also because we still know frustratingly little about the Morgaines, their power, and the effects of the crown. I really wish we’d forgone at least one make out session at Penumbra to actually get some more face time with Ava, & learn more about the Morgaines’ power from her. Or find out more about it through other characters, even.

To compare: Sel’s sacrifice of his humanity was built up slowly and ominously over two books, with each stage of his change into demonia being showcased right alongside his growing devotion to Bree (which actually grew organically, but again I digress). So when Sel says “you are worth this and more” and makes that choice, there is a profound emotional resonance there for readers, because we have seen, intimately, how much actually tipping into demonia would cost him. He loses everything about himself, his purpose, his love, and his entire life that he holds dear. That is a devastating sacrifice.

The same simply cannot be said of Nick’s decision to take in a shard of the shadow crown. At least, not by the end of Oathbound. Outside of “he could die,” we don’t know what, if anything, Nick has given up to do this. He may lose his life eventually (Lol, Tracy Deonn’s favorite child outside of Bree? I doubt it), but there doesn’t seem to be much of an immediate or concrete cost to himself for what he did. So while Bree was crying and flailing and generally losing her shit over the idea of Nick potentially making a sacrifice that feels very unlikely, all I could muster was…a shrug. Again, it felt like this choice was supposed to be as profound as the one where Sel sacrifices himself. But, alas, a bucket of water =/= the ocean.

And then there are moments of more direct gaslighting. The scene where Sel meets up with Bree & Nick after 600 pages is INCREDIBLE. (It’s amazing how like, three pages of dialogue with Sel were somehow more electrifying than two hundred pages at Penumbra, lol). But one of the things that I keep coming back to is how Nick basically says, “Of course Bree knows I have a dark side, Sel,” with absolutely no push back from either Bree or the narration.

I felt like I was going crazy. When? WHEN?? WHEN did he show her any kind of dark side?? Or even a flaw? At Penumbra, when they were too busy talking about how kissing each other is like kissing sky? When he oh-so-nobly told her about his ~sacrifice~ to save her from Arthur? Maybe he’s referring to how he was playing Mr. Spy with her at times, putting on emotional masks with the other guests at Penumbra to glean info etc. Except that was never presented as a flaw. It was most definitely presented as an asset, his ability to ingratiate himself with the powerful white men to help their group. And Bree saw it as such, even if it left a slightly sour taste in her mouth. Is it the evasiveness? Except Nick is never truly evasive with Bree the way he is with Will or Sel or anyone else. So how would she even think of that as “his dark side”? Was it when he was standing up for her to Valec?? WHEN???????

I feel like I’m supposed to know EXACTLY what Nick means when he said Bree knows he has a dark side, but I don’t. I emphatically do not think Bree, or the readers, have seen any side of Nick the feels like a genuine dark quality, a fatal flaw that could fuck things up for himself and/or his allies. Sel’s arrogance is a dark flaw that fucks things up big time, and could get him killed. Bree’s rash impulsivity is a dark flaw that fucks things up often, and almost does get her killed. What is Nick’s? I might say his evasiveness / avoidance of hard feelings, except again he doesn’t show it around Bree. And even when it does come up around Will, it’s is kind of turned into something that adds to his nobility of character (him nobly taking on the burden to pursue the Morgaines for Bree, for example), so dark/fatal flaw it is not.

So when Nick calmly says “of course Bree knows I have a dark side” it feels as though Tracy Deonn is insisting she showed me something I HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF SEEING. This is the literal definition of gaslighting, lol. And what frustrates me even more is I can’t tell if she’s gaslighting me on purpose, to serve a larger story design, or if it’s just because she loves the version of Nick that lives in her head that much. Which, again, I 100000% support giving Bree a love story where the partner’s devotion to her is their ENTIRE personality. If Bree longs a bucket of water, a bucket of water she shall have! And hey, if in fact the bucket of water is going to become an ocean in what’s left of the series, great! But UNTIL THEN, for the love of all things good and true in the world, stop telling me it’s an ocean until you give me some concrete evidence that it is, in fact, an ocean!!!

I don’t know. Did I miss something about Nick that everyone else picked up? Am I the crazy one?? If you have thoughts about Nick’s character, please, let me know.

Sigh. But, I do also have to ask myself — is Nick the only issue here, or is he the symptom of a larger problem — mainly, the amnesia trope? That’s the other question I have been pondering since closing Oathbound. Because I think a lot of my frustration about Nick might also be tied up in Deonn’s choice to employ a trope where Bree would be forced to re-tread pathways she’s already tread once before.

But that, dear friends, is going to have to wait till our next newsletter! Mainly because my brain is still chewing on the effectiveness of this trope and the plot overall of Oathbound. So I hope you’re strapped in because I am not done talking about this awe-inspiring girl, or this incredible world, that Deonn has built.

And well, I might complain a lot — a LOT a lot — about Nick. But it has been DECADES since I have felt so passionately about the world that an author has built that I have sat down to write entire dissertations on one character. That really speaks to the sheer excellence of Tracy Deonn’s pen. Her ability to create such fascinating bits of humanity and deftly move them through a juggernaut of a series has been pretty much phenomenal — which is why I gave this book 4-4.5 stars, in spite of my hang ups about some of her choices. Because even with those hang ups, I am so, completely, totally 1000% invested in her story, and in awe of her storytelling power.

So, once again I have to say — hats off, really and truly, to Tracy Deonn. She’s created characters that have stuck with me long after I have closed the book — occasionally for worse, but most definitely for better.