Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

178 reviews

ellenwm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

I am in awe of this book. Absolutely adore it and think it will surely become a contemporary classic in the genre. Tracy Deonn weaves together a masterpiece with a killer plot, wonderfully drawn characters, and beautiful, earnest prose. She’s embellished a real campus and based the story in history, lore and legend from multiple perspectives. The way she writes about slavery, violence, generational trauma and contemporary white supremacy is important. As a fellow member of the motherless daughters club, I found her meditations on grief, PTSD, rage and isolation refreshingly realistic and meaningfully expressed. Her depictions of friendship and found family rock. It is a gift to get to know Bree! Her relationships with Alice and her Dad ring acutely true. The pacing is awesome, too. I was sucked in and racing to the next snort-laugh-worthy line of dialogue or gasp-inducing reveal. I can’t wait to read the next book!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Death, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Misogyny, Abandonment, Death of parent, Transphobia, Slavery, War, and Sexism

Minor: Rape

wytherwytch's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.75

This book was brilliant. It was slow to get going for me as the fantasy world was set up and explained but once it was going it was utterly brilliant. I really appreciated reading a book with a main character that was a woman of colour by a woman of colour and the raw perspective this book offered. More of this please.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Classism, Car accident, Racism, Death of parent, Death, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War, Blood, Infidelity, and Alcohol

laynerinke's review

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Slavery, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, Murder, Transphobia, and Cursing

mamaewalk's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Racism, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Slavery, Misogyny, Rape, Car accident, and Infidelity

knockoffrainbow's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Classism, Cursing, Bullying, Blood, Mental illness, Sexism, Slavery, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Violence, War, Racial slurs, Child death, Misogyny, Racism, and Body horror

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Slavery, Torture, Alcohol, and Transphobia

Minor: Infidelity

beansbookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, and Vomit

blakeandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

I am absolutely KICKING MYSELF for not reading this sooner!!! This is so much more than a fantasy book—it dives so deep into anti-blackness, colonization, racism, grief, self-discovery, familial history, complex friendships, and so much more. This is everything I want in a YA Fantasy. Bree is an absolute powerhouse, and I LOVED her as a main character. She has such an incredible character arc that I cannot wait to see develop into more of her power and strength in the rest of the series. I love all of the friendships she forms and how hilarious she is 😭 I honestly was expecting something wild to happen at the end, but I was so excited with how Deonn weaves Bree’s story together. I cannot wait to read Bloodmarked!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Colonisation and Death of parent

Minor: Rape

emilymax21's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

I definitely recommend it to all fantasy readers and anyone looking to diversify their reading list

My only real complaint is there were a few moments where modern references make sense but sometimes it felt awkward. 
Some of it was a little predictable, but for every one thing I could predict there were two that surprised me. 

The emotions that the characters and I go through in this book are such a wide range of complex feelings and I was entranced. This book addresses racism, classism, grief, and anger in ways no nonfiction book ever could, while still creating a compelling and engaging fantasy world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Racism, Slavery, Death, Car accident, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, and Child abuse

Minor: Sexual violence and Transphobia

chrisb913's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

The story and plot start out slow, we start off meeting the MC Briana a few months after the death of her mother. She has moved to a college campus to take part in an early college program with her best friend Alice. Immediately you are thrown into a plot of magic, demons, and secret societies. I found the initial descriptions of the hierarchy of the Order of the Round Table to be a bit confusing, but as you progress in the story it becomes significantly easier to follow along. One thing I really wish the author had done, was put a pronunciation guide in the back of the book, as there are several names and phrases that are repeated. She initially puts a phonetic description of how to say it in the story, but it would have been nice to have a reference page. 

At the end of the day, while the beginning was slightly clunky for me, the ending more than made up for any grievance I had with the book. This story is such an interesting and unique take on the Arthruian lore and the characters are so incredibly realistic. I cannot wait to continue reading in this world and this will be one of my go to recommendations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, Bullying, and Child death

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Homophobia, and Transphobia

kaylokay_'s review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Car accident, Racism, Racial slurs, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcohol