Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

288 reviews

savvyrosereads's review

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective 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? No

5.0

Rating: 5/5 stars

After Bree’s mother is killed in a car accident, she finds herself tangled up in a secret Arthurian society at UNC.

Before this year I hadn’t read a single Arthurian inspired fantasy, and now I’ve read two and I’m coming to the conclusion that I love them. This book was SO good—the world building is incredibly intricate but still manages to be accessible, and the plot had me actually gasping by the end.

In fantasy, it’s almost always the characters that are make or break for me, and I really enjoyed the characters here—especially both Nick and Sel. This is one of the rare times you’ll find me ALL THE WAY IN on a love triangle, and I can’t wait to get to Bloodmarked and see how things continue to play out.

Thanks to some awesome friends for buddy reading with me!

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: Arthurian myths; well-done representation; love triangles

CW: Death of parent; grief; racism/slavery; lots of death/blood/injury; mentions of sexual violence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Car accident, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

crybabybea's review

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Racism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Violence, Rape, Misogyny, and Slavery

Minor: Blood and Gore

nordicat's review

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Moderate: Murder, Racism, Blood, Misogyny, and Violence

Minor: Rape and Slavery

unicornofthesea's review

adventurous 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Sexism, and Racism

Minor: Medical content, Rape, Car accident, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Slavery

ehmannky'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

4.0

A really good, fast-paced, and innovative spin on the Arthurian legends and a really beautiful look at the way that grief--both generational and personal molds can really do a number on people, especially young people of color. The strongest bits for me were the character building, when magic was actually being done, and the deep-dive into grief. I felt the Trials(TM) parts were the weakest links in this book, but hopefully they won't appear in book 2. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child death, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Violence and Blood

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, and Vomit

kiwij96's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

Bree's story covers so much in terms of family history, history, grief, power, friendship, and self discovery. It is very well written in some respects - a modern-world YA fantasy with links to Black history, world history, mythology and folklore. The worldbuilding, mythology and magic systems are well-researched and well-written, and it even includes Cymraeg (Welsh) words and phrases (which, as a Cymraes, I absolutely ADORED).

My only gripe is that at times things felt a little rushed or poorly explained compared to the rest of the story. Patricia would massively overstep at times which was uncomfortable. And even the romance was rushed given that they'd known each other for what, 3 days? Also the fact that Bree is 16 and everyone else is like 18+.

However, this is perhaps the best YA book I have read in a long while. And I need the sequel immediately.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Slavery, Racism, Death of parent, Grief, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Minor: Rape

catherinedsharp's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Absolutely fantastic read! A generational fantasy that as a white person, forced me to think as well as feel and enjoy the escapism. 

A really interesting mix of legend and reality, with beautiful writing.

It can get heavy at times but it’s worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Slavery, Blood, Car accident, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Racism

navibo's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Omg I literally binged this book! It was kinda slow and hard to understand ( for me) the first 130 pages, but the rest was so gripping. I still probably don’t understand everything about the world building, but that’s cause I had no clue what happened in the Arthurian legend 🥲 Anyway, it doesn’t really matter if you don’t either, cause the plot and the relationships are amazing, the grieving process is realistic and well-written. The diversity of legendborn is pretty good as well, with both race, disabilities and lgbtq+🫶🏻
 P. S. The banter between some characters got me giggling for real👀

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Grief, and Racism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexism, Police brutality, Blood, Car accident, and Torture

rloden95's review

adventurous mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Minor: Slavery, Blood, Violence, Rape, and Racism

gabriella_'s review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Read this entire book on a flight to England and holy shit. The way this book captures grief, trauma, and how it can intersect with misogynoir was gripping.

Tracy Deonn is excellent at character writing and establishing interpersonal dynamics (and conflicts). She also creates a unique atmosphere with obvious (and not so obvious) foes. She empowers her protagonist and makes her multifaceted. She breathes life into Bree and, as a reader, makes her feel so real. And this doesn’t get into how she writes an ensemble cast either - good GOD I would be remiss if I didn’t get into that. 

Every character contributes something to the plot and it’s amazing that this author finds a way to do that without rendering them to be one-note or just a plot device. She has a plan for every character - and pieces of dialogue have a way of retaining relevance chapters later in a refreshing way.

I wish I had a book like this when I was a kid. 2,000/10 recommend reading this book if you are interested in fantasy and coming of age books. It’s the gift that keeps on giving! Tracy Deonn, thank you for writing this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Blood, Body horror, Death, Car accident, Child death, Violence, Kidnapping, Racism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Classism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and War