Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Legendborn - Der geheime Bund by Tracy Deonn

109 reviews

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Rape and Slavery

Minor: Sexism

fuguefire'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Loved this book! Cannot recommend it enough. A great book that centers Black voices and experiences. For those who are sensitive to the subject, it does not quite center Black pain or trauma, but does cover and include it. In my opinion, at it’s core this is a book about the inheritance of love from mother to daughter for generations, through some of the worst periods in history, and how it is stronger than any other obstacle.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Cursing, Misogyny, Slavery, Bullying, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Racism, Classism, Colonisation, Hate crime, and Mental illness

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Car accident

eldritch_archivist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Murder, Xenophobia, Violence, Death, Racism, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Blood, Alcohol, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Colonisation, Kidnapping, War, Transphobia, and Medical content

Minor: Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Sexual violence, Rape, Misogyny, Infidelity, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Police brutality

mmwi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Car accident, Colonisation, Rape, Sexism, Mental illness, and Hate crime

boglord's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Medical trauma, Violence, Death, Death of parent, War, Grief, Misogyny, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, Car accident, Classism, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

Minor: Torture, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Police brutality

starccato's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Death of parent, Grief, Car accident, Classism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Violence, War, and Gore

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Bullying, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Child abuse, Alcohol, Vomit, Rape, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Abandonment, Child death, and Torture

Minor: Religious bigotry and Transphobia

ruthlessreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.5

I love Bri & the way she talked about her grief & her internal world. I also think her ancestor work was portrayed really well. I really really enjoyed her mental wall & her fear of After Bri. I thought it was a great representation of compartmentalizing grief/trauma. I found I could relate to her a lot from teen-me perspective. I thought this book was fun & exciting with an excellent plot.

The pacing was a little off and the characters were 8/10. Some of the side characters were a little stiff or spare and felt like part of the scenery, even some of the “bigger” side characters. Why was I supposed to care when that one dude (?) died? Sad I guess but, like, your after school club is “war but with mythology intertwined” lol so idk it just didn’t hit like I thought it should. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, can’t wait to read more, and will definitely be picking up book #2.

I thought her romance with Nick felt really rushed & not super believable but then we find out that SHE is the scion of Arthur & HE is the scion of Lancelot so that makes a lot more sense to me. She doubles down on “loving” him at the end but her connection with Sel is much greater & the chemistry there is electric. I’m not big on love triangles in YA books but I’m willing to give this one a shot and keep reading because I do like the MC and I also enjoy a good enemies to friends to dating (feels weird to say lovers about minors)—which is where I hope things are going with Sel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Stalking, Racism, Sexism, Grief, War, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Classism, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcohol

cemeterygay's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

The beginning of this book is quite slow and I initially thought it was only going to be a three or four star read but I am incredibly happy I was wrong. 

When this book picks up, not only did I not want to put this book down, I grew to love this book so deeply. I was already a big fan of Arthurian inspired stories and retellings and not only did this fulfill that interest but it gave a very interesting take on Arthurian myth. 

Bree is such an amazing protagonist. I was rooting for her at every step along the way and was deeply invested in her growth as person. Bree learning to handle her grief and to confront generational trauma was so wonderfully handled and served as such an amazing and steep contrast to the privilege and generational concepts of debt and duty that permeated among the Legendborn students. 

I thought many of the side characters were very interesting. While I didn't personally like Sel or Nick that much I think they were both really interesting characters as were most of the mages. I also really liked the therapist and how she really helped not only develop more of the world and Bree's mom but really helped Bree grow throughout the book and confront her grief.

The discussions of generational trauma, exploitation, and systemic racism and violence were so well blended into the main plot and Bree's growth and struggle with grief. The discussions of family dynamics, roots, the relationships between parents and children, and descendants and ancestors was so well handled with all of the characters in which it is brought up but especially for Bree. The ending of this book was absolutely phenomenal, at times almost leaving me in complete tears, and I cannot wait until the next book comes out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, and Racism

Moderate: Vomit, Gore, and Slavery

Minor: Rape, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

CW: Discussions of past slavery, racial micro/macroaggressions. discussions of systemic racism, elitism, mind control/memory manipulations

moony78's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

jackelz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

I loved that this one was a mixture of a King Arthur retelling and “Southern Black Girl Magic.” 

There are squires and pages and mages called Merlins. Legendborn means someone whose family follows the bloodline of one of the Knights of the Round Table, and every Legendborn family has an heir. And there is a magic called root that has ties to Southern Black culture. Bree must grapple with both worlds and magic systems because they intertwine more than she realizes.

I don’t read a ton of fantasy because I sometimes get confused by all the details with the worldbuilding and the sheer amount of characters involved. You can find me Googling character maps to keep everyone straight. I did enjoy this one though, as you all said I would. The setting felt familiar and the Southern history bits were my favorite. I had to go get me a Bo-Berry biscuit after reading, IYKYK. I’m really looking forward to the sequel this Fall.

“Everything has two histories. Especially in the South.”

Bree deals with PTSD from her mothers death, and panic attacks. She was also diagnosed with PCBD, persistent complex bereavement disorder, and I hadn’t heard of that before. 

Bree is Black; Sel is bisexual; and Alice is a Taiwanese-American lesbian. There’s also bisexual, gay, and wlw side characters, as well as nonbinary side character who uses they/them pronouns.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, Car accident, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexism, Racial slurs, and Mental illness

Minor: Vomit