BOOK RECOMMENDATION PLEASE READ

If someone doesn't read Legendborn and Bloodmarked by Tracy Deon I'm going to lose my fucking MIND please someone read this.

But to info-dump in a non-spoiler way: there's a lot of Classic YA Girl Tropes that are at play here. Hidden bloodline, secret powers, everyone impressed by how Powerful and Cool and Strong the main girl is, potential love triangle (or triad?? i have hopes) between golden retriever boy and dark mysterious mean-tragic raven boy who think she's the most specialist girl in the world. 

It sounds, on page, kind of redundant? Maybe a little cringe?

But heeeres the thing is that someone on Tumblr once was like "things that are not empowering for white girls are so so important for Black girls". Black girls--and Bree, our main character, is a Black teenage girl--don't get to see themselves worshipped and venerated and Not Like Other Girls. I would argue that positioning little girls of color in the "dated" Final Girl position that white girls have enjoyed for so long until the trend moved to something else is EXTREMELY important and fresh and new.

I argue that you can take old tropes and freshen them up with how they sit with a new face. What if the plucky girl-hero who inspires everyone is a little Black girl instead of a brunette white girl? What changes? 

Tracy Deon challenges us to interrogate these things, she never shies away from calling her protagonist a Black girl, names the racist parts out loud, and celebrates the joy and empowerment that comes with being a Black girl. I am not Black, but I am a person of color, and once upon a time, I was a little girl (for now) that was teased for being too "brown" for my handmade Jedi costume. Tracy Deon's work like...healed a part of that childhood for me a little!

Also the writing? Choice. Hilarious. Amazing. I have laughed, I almost cried, I screamed, I had to walk around my apartment breathing deeply.