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mamatrauma's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Cursing, Violence, Racism, Medical content, Death, Murder, Gore, Death of parent, Blood, Grief, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
laurenbeetea's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
gcjay1994's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
One of those books where I smack myself in the head for not reading it sooner
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Slavery, Bullying, Mental illness, Classism, Racial slurs, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, and Violence
katebella's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Grief
Moderate: Death, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, and Violence
Minor: Torture, War, and Sexual assault
sn03's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Blood, Death of parent, Misogyny, Slavery, War, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Grief, Torture, Violence, Pregnancy, and Racism
Minor: Alcohol
maximind's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Racism, Slavery, and Violence
Minor: Car accident, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Vomit, and Rape
sarahbearas's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Legendborn is YA fantasy at its best and I mean that so sincerely. This is one of my favorite YA fantasies I’ve read in a while and I can't believe it took me this long to pick it up. I’ve been missing out!!!! For so long!!!!
I came into this book without a lot of prior knowledge, which I've been doing nowadays since that seems to bring out a different, more enjoyable reading experience for me. All I knew was that 1) this was highly loved and 2) it's a fantasy. That's about it. Read no blurbs or plot summary because apparently, that's how I operate now. So, as a kid who really enjoyed Arthurian legends growing up, I just about nearly screeched when I realized that this was a twist on that.
It's rare that a first page really gets me hooked on a story; I’ve become accustomed to the idea that a book takes a chapter or two to really get going and pull the reader in. When I tell you that this story drops you in immediately, I do; I’ve never started caring for a main character as fast as I have for Bree. At the core of this story, it's really about her grief and she learns to cope and live with it. And kudos to Tracy Deonn for handling such topics with the care and grace that should be used when talking about grief.
With regards to the fantasy aspect, I felt as though I understood everything in the moment but the further we got along the more I was like “do I actually understand this magic system?????”. Alas, I think it's just the nature of a dense magic system to lose some details on the first read. I never felt like anything was too info-dumpy, I personally would have to go back and re-read a lot to really understand the concept of the Order and Root as well. It’s really excellent, once you start to grasp the ideas presented.
My only true gripes are 1) there's so many side characters that they kinda got lost in a sea of names, for me personally 2) I’m not a huge fan of love triangles 3) Sel gets on my nerves. Me and Sel have beef. Truly. But am I going to go ahead and devour Bloodmarked after finishing this review? Why yes. Yes, I am.
I highly, highly recommend this book, especially if you're itching for a well-written YA fantasy right now. Or if you want to try someone new outside of the genres you typically enjoy, I feel like this is a great pick. I’m so deeply excited to see where this series goes, and whatever future works Tracy Deonn puts out, I will definitely pick it up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Slavery and Violence
Minor: Rape
lri_reads's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, War, Racism, Death, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Slavery and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Kidnapping
madlereads's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
✨️ YA urban fantasy
🩸 bloodlines & ancestry
🗡 Arthur & the Round Table
❤️ love triangle(?)
I unexpected loved this. I wasn't sure if I'd like the Arthur type vibes or YA Urban fantasy again but this was absolutely fabulous. Sure I was confused as heck in the beginning trying to grasp an understanding of what all The Order is. But when are we not confused when starting a fantasy book?
The worldbuilding for the magic in this was phenomenal. It was complicated for sure. But that makes it better. It's well thought out and I loved the twists. Bree only knows as much as we do and boy was it a journey to get down to the *root* of who she is.
The book touched on some darker themes of grief and racism. Bree is mourning the sudden departure of her mother and that's what propels her to join The Order because they're somehow involved. And some roadblocks in her way had to do with facing racism from not only a lot of people in The Order but the admin at UNC Early College. And that sad part about this is, the awful treatment she faced from some of these people doesn't only exist between the pages of a fantasy book.
Bree is so darling to me. She dealt with a lot in this book (I almost cried) but she was determined and sassy. I loved how she always had a comeback. I had a lot of emotional moments with her as she unearthed things about her own history and magic.
The final climax of this book was pretty intense! And the little twist 😱 I loved how Tracey Deonn so subtly left little hints/foreshadowing that I immediately traced back to when all was revealed. Everything is truly interwoven.
And is this really a love triangle? Cause one guy is really a winner in my eye right now barely a contest. 🤣
This book was truly wonderful and had me OBSESSED. When I put the book down, I counted down til I could pick it back up. Even when I was confused I was really latched onto the utter vibes of this book.
I think if you're fans of Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters world, this would be a great rec to jump to!
🩸 bloodlines & ancestry
🗡 Arthur & the Round Table
❤️ love triangle(?)
I unexpected loved this. I wasn't sure if I'd like the Arthur type vibes or YA Urban fantasy again but this was absolutely fabulous. Sure I was confused as heck in the beginning trying to grasp an understanding of what all The Order is. But when are we not confused when starting a fantasy book?
The worldbuilding for the magic in this was phenomenal. It was complicated for sure. But that makes it better. It's well thought out and I loved the twists. Bree only knows as much as we do and boy was it a journey to get down to the *root* of who she is.
The book touched on some darker themes of grief and racism. Bree is mourning the sudden departure of her mother and that's what propels her to join The Order because they're somehow involved. And some roadblocks in her way had to do with facing racism from not only a lot of people in The Order but the admin at UNC Early College. And that sad part about this is, the awful treatment she faced from some of these people doesn't only exist between the pages of a fantasy book.
Bree is so darling to me. She dealt with a lot in this book (I almost cried) but she was determined and sassy. I loved how she always had a comeback. I had a lot of emotional moments with her as she unearthed things about her own history and magic.
The final climax of this book was pretty intense! And the little twist 😱 I loved how Tracey Deonn so subtly left little hints/foreshadowing that I immediately traced back to when all was revealed. Everything is truly interwoven.
And is this really a love triangle? Cause one guy is really a winner in my eye right now barely a contest. 🤣
This book was truly wonderful and had me OBSESSED. When I put the book down, I counted down til I could pick it back up. Even when I was confused I was really latched onto the utter vibes of this book.
I think if you're fans of Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters world, this would be a great rec to jump to!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Violence
lizzieuch's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Super cool by the end just a little slow to start. Difficult to keep track of the side characters and their relationships because they aren't really developed but the main character is great
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Violence
Minor: Sexual violence