Scan barcode
montyalmoro's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Racism, and Death
Moderate: Rape, Colonisation, and Slavery
cady_sass's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Racism, Sexism, Abandonment, Medical content, Slavery, Classism, Bullying, Kidnapping, Misogyny, War, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Murder
katvou's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death, War, and Murder
Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Child death, Racism, Torture, Grief, Medical content, and Slavery
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Rape, Pregnancy, Vomit, Classism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Colonisation
naturally's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
the first 20% was very slow and infor-dumpy. plus, a large chunk of the story was spent away from the college setting that i fell in love with in book 1.
bree being disconnected from other black people worked with the themes that deonn wanted to explore in legendborn. however, bloodmarked, mostly exposes how bree's relationships with other black characters are centred around her having something to gain from them (be it therapeutic services, shelter or knowledge etc). the only relationship with a black person that feels non-transactional is the one she has with her father
furthermore, i can at least appreciate that bree's messiness shines through in this book. her decision making,,,was not the best. as a reader, i was trapped in a weird cycle of witnessing her make the same dumb mistakes over and over and over again. how many times did i watch bree recklessly run into fights, knowing that her friends would put their lives on the line to save her untrained self???
perhaps it's that i read book 1 and 2 back-to-back, but the love triangle has lost it's flair a bit. the toxic side of me enjoyed sel and bree's chemistry - not a delena shipper, but their dynamic mirrors elena and damon in vampire diaries season three. however, it doesn't sit right with me that bree gave significantly more grace to her white love interest than her own ancestor...
nick was kind of a non-factor in this book, despite having a rescue mission triggered by his kidnapping. i'm confusion??? at least two more books are needed to flesh him out as a character and love interest, because bloodmarked exposes how little they know about each other outside of bloodline history and lust.
this review marks me taking a break from the series to get my head together. i'll probably return when the series has concluded.
going forward, i hope to see:
- bree having BLACK friends
the ancestors allowing alice, william and sel into volition...doesn't hold much weight because they aren't black. essentially, these are non-black characters entering black safe spaces and it feels a bit invasive rather than being a bonding experience. alice can do black hair??? SO??? i'm not sure what the reasoning was behind her not being black... - bree apologising to vera
- return of the unc setting
- more valec <3
Graphic: Racism, War, Blood, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Cursing and Sexual violence
Minor: Infidelity and Sexual content
kaybob_0708's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Medical content, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Rape
kers_tin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: War, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Death of parent, Slavery, Racism, Grief, and Colonisation
Moderate: Addiction and Torture
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape
lu_fabre's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Moderate: War, Death of parent, Violence, Racism, Slavery, and Colonisation
Minor: Rape
keya_caivalur's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Kidnapping, Blood, Classism, Torture, Colonisation, Murder, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism
Minor: Classism, Rape, Religious bigotry, War, Addiction, Mental illness, Slavery, Torture, Blood, and Abandonment
laleha's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Racism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, and Rape
Minor: Cursing and Drug use
scrubsandbooks's review against another edition
- 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
Do I think my powers are worth the cost? The wound of grief from losing my mother sits open in my chest. It feels like it will never truly heal, no matter how much I acknowledge its presence. Then there are wounds my ancestors carried from one generation to the next. All the loss, multiplied and compounded and cumulative. All that running.
Don't be scared. Fight.
This was absolutely phenomenal. There's always this thing with second books in series where things don't live up to the hype of book one and it ends up being a filler between beginning and conclusion. It definitely was not the case here at. All. The stakes were high, much higher than they were at the end of Legendborn and this book surpassed all my expectations. Books where things are happening one right after another tend to be overwhelming for me and leaving me wondering if half of it was necessary and this was an exception. Every event, you learned something new, you met a new person who ended up being pivotal to the main character's story. Tracy Deonn has done an amazing job of bringing the pieces of the puzzle together. There is so much to love about this and nothing to hate (except for the obvious bigots and bad guys, of course). Tracy had even making me feel bad for
The world-building in this book with the Order and the Rootcraft seems to only expand even further, and I absolutely loved that we got to see more characters involved in Rootcraft and learned more about the magic itself. And a former plantation become a safe haven for Rootcrafters called Volition? Chef's kiss, all of it, ESPECIALLY the title. I loved the inclusion of Alice and William in this journey, as well as seeing more of Selwyn outside of the Order, and how his friendship with Bree continued to grow and evolve. And Bree. Bree is the most beloved of all, faced with so much betrayal and pushback, but holds her head up and keeps fighting. I want nothing but the best for her and I cried so much for her in this book because of everything she went through at the hands of the Reagents. Oh, how I wanted to reach into the book so bad to give her a big hug. Or punch some racists. OR BOTH.
"You don't believe history is true. You won't even admit it's possible. That I am Arthur's heir not by choice or honor, but by violence." [...] "You won't say it out loud, but I will," [...] "I am the Scion of Arthur by rape. I am your proof."
This book, this series, is too important to not at least give it a chance. Eagerly awaiting book three!
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Medical content, Slavery, Death, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Hate crime, Medical trauma, War, Self harm, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Confinement
Minor: Rape