Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

49 reviews

fivecatsinacoat's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Slavery, Bullying, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racism, Classism, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, Body horror, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy, Car accident, and Rape

jennfs10's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

Amazing story and characters! The way Tracy Deonn wove the legend of King Arthur with Bree’s ancestral history was incredible! Loved how the connections were made between the aether Magic and root magic were made! Might be my favorite book of 2023!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

lovebugger's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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

4.75

this book is so good. lost my mind

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Gore, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Racism, War, Violence, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Misogyny

jenmcreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

As a local, I knew as soon as I heard about Legendborn it had to go on my TBR and it absolutely did not disappoint. The way Deonn has layered this book with the Camelot derived fantasy elements as well as with the Southern history and experience of black people from the days of slavery to the present is really remarkable. It does not feel forced or didactic, the elements of the story fit together neatly and lead up to the truly thrilling conclusion of this part 1. The last 100 pages or so were paced so fantastically, and with such suspense I was totally unable to put the book down. Not just Bree, but the cast of characters are all beautifully developed and fleshed out. Tracy Deonn is on my must-buy authors list after this start! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Racial slurs, Violence, Slavery, and Racism

Moderate: Sexism, Rape, Torture, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Medical content, Grief, Death, Hate crime, Gore, Death of parent, and Car accident

Minor: Transphobia

tea_bex's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Physical abuse

Minor: Rape

evieolive's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

5.0

WOW. Just wow. Beautiful writing, amazing characterisation - a masterpiece. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Racial slurs, Rape, Misogyny, Murder, Infidelity, Infertility, Car accident, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

liseylovesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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

I’m always wary of books that everyone hypes up because I’m afraid they won’t live up to the hype; Legendborn definitely lives up to the hype. This book was phenomenal and truly made me so happy that we have diverse YA novels for kids to read today because I know that teen me would have loved this book as much as 24 year old me does. If you love King Arthur and the Knights at the round table you will love this modern twist on the old tale. Our main character Bree goes through such an amazing journey throughout this novel that helps her find her self after such a huge change has happened in her life and discover so much about herself and her family’s history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: War, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Racial slurs

Minor: Death, Medical content, Blood, Bullying, Rape, Sexism, and Vomit

bex_knighthunterbooks's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.75

Incredible, especially for a debut! This plays with familiar tropes of the genre with a chosen one who discovers the magical world through a secret society at college, which made the story engaging and easy to follow, but with a fresh perspective and really interesting worldbuilding interweaving King Arthur myths with black culture and southern US history. My favourite elements were 

the two conflicting magic systems, and memory walking as a way to include history and the sacrifices of generations of black women especially. 

 

The story was also incredibly tightly plotted with action, twists, and reveals galore. By the point the heavy world building started with all the terminology I felt well primed and just as hungry as the main character to learn more, and the secret society gave lots of potential for mystery. There were a few tiny parts of the 'Order' functioning that I don't feel I understand but that didn't impact my enjoyment.

I loved the main character, who was wilful and strong, while also facing the complexity of her feelings around her mother's death. It was also interesting to see the world through her eyes, including the racism she faced. Some of the side characters stood out but were perhaps underutilised, especially Alice her best friend (hoping to see her more in book 2!). There were a lot of Order side characters introduced but I wasn't always able to keep track and didn't feel as much as I expected when some died, but there was good diversity in the cast in general. The main boys were interesting enough, but kept a little close to standard tropes for my liking (the golden boy: heroic, puppy-energy vs. the dark one: brooding, traumatic past), and the relationship with Nick didn't develop as steadily as I'd like jumping all too quickly to insta-love and wanting to die for each other. I hope the love triangle element isn't leant into for this series, and that more books give opportunity for the relationships to grow organically. Very excited to pick the next book up!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Gore, Car accident, Death, Slavery, and Racial slurs

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Vomit

caitlin_bookchats's review

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-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? Yes

5.0

Well, this was as spectacular a story as everyone told me. Excellent knights of the round table retelling. High stakes and interesting history.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Slavery, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Car accident, and Physical abuse

Minor: Rape and Racial slurs

libraryghost's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Blood, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Gore, Kidnapping, and Slavery

Minor: Sexual violence, Car accident, Alcohol, and Vomit