Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

716 reviews

pagecalico's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

If i could rate this book 10 stars i would.

I dont even know what to say but this is genuinely the best book ive ever read in my life.
Everything about this book is beyond perfection. From the writing to the storytelling to the ways it conveys emotion through its characters.  
I absolutely LOVE Briana!! She is genuinely so relatable and loveable to me. I love the way shes isn't afraid to express her anger and how shes proud to honour her ancestors. The way her grief is displayed throughout
the book I don’t even know how to describe is so touching and powerful i nearly cried multiple times every time her mum is brought up. 
Words cant even describe how sorry i feel for her, I mean
imagine that the only reason you are a DESCENDANT OF KING ARTHER is because one of his descendants (who was a slave master) raped his slave who happened to be your ancestor :///

I LOVED the author’s note and seeing her inspiration for Legendborn is so beautiful yet so heartbreaking, you can just tell the love and effort that went into this book, Deonn needs to be given her flowers!!
Overall, this book got be giggling, screaming and cursing out loud like no book has ever before. i cant WAIT to read the squeal!!!

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asuenram's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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

4.5


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bookishspy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

Legendborn is a solid and exciting YA read! 

I had a lot of people recommend this story to me over the past year, and after finally reading it, I'm actually regretting not getting around to it sooner! 

Bree is such a perfect main character. She is fun, smart, and has such a deep and real personality. She's not perfect and also had a temper when it was called for. She didn't just always let things slide right off her back as some might’ve. Her strength was the standout here. 

Nick is such a sweet guy and always had Bree's back. I love that he had a little rebellious streak, but he knew when it was time to put that aside. He did surprise me with one of the fights where he hit someone who he knew was not allowed to hit him back, and that left me wondering if he might be a bit darker than he seems. The romance with him was perfect, just a little flirty and cheeky. It was super cute, but he clearly has a jealous streak. 

Sel seems endgame to me. He has the dark and mysterious thing going on, plus a bit of that forbidden charm. He's also deeper than he first appears to be, and he seems to have a bit of a cheeky streak as well. I really want more of him. 

While it is not heavy on romance and is more fantasy with a side of romance, the love triangle is certainly triangling, and it is hitting the spot. The jealous moments and then working together despite it, just perfect. 

Now, if we get to the actual story, I will say this wasn't a perfect score for me, but it was close! The only thing that dragged down this story was how confusing the names and places got at times. We were thrown a lot of names and expected to remember who was who and where was where. I was winging it a lot of the time, and because of that, the bad guy reveal just didn't hit as hard as it should have. 

Despite that, this was so unique and exciting! It was also heartbreaking and hard to read at times that involved heavy doses of racism and sexism. Sometimes, I wanted to climb in this book and yell at some of these characters for their bigotry, which is a testimony to how well written this story was. I was enthralled and binged this as fast as I could, and I think I'll move immediately to the next book in the series.

I would highly recommend this fantasy book!

➛ 𝟒.𝟓 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬

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andelion's review against another edition

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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

4.5


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bookedbysyd's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

I really loved this story. It was very original there’s definitely nothing like it. I loved the diversity and Bree being a strong black female lead was something that made me pick up the book in the first place. And she did not disappoint. I have made it my reading mission to prioritize and uplift black stories and authors, and if this is your goal too, run and buy this book. HELL! Even that isn’t your goal, read this book. It really THAT good. 

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ellenwm's review

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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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everdeeen's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-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

4.0

Creates a great atmosphere while simultaneously making you reflect on the themes it approaches! 

I am a little conflicted though, cause while I really enjoyed this, the writing wasn't really for me (it's my own fault) but I just kept getting lost in the middle of the action and this happened throughout the book! It felt like running and I was prepared for a walk, you know?
Still, really worth it and I'm definitely gonna go into the second one.

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nikki_flowers's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0


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ms_sarah621's review

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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? It's complicated

3.5

my hopes were so high for this book. People love it so much, and I was super excited for a unique, fun story. However, I struggled with being able to really love this story. The King Arthur and Round Table lore was interesting, and I haven’t read much fiction that used that. I really appreciated the themes and conversations around grief, loss, finding identity, and race. I felt that these are tough topics to flesh out, but the author did a great job really exploring them. Yet, the rest of story felt so YA and underwhelming for me. There’s romance and conflict and twists and dealing with parents and coming of age. Of course, this is YA and those are typical topics for YA but that’s what pushed me away. I don’t read much YA anymore because it’s not written for me, but everyone talked about how different and amazing this book was, so I gave it a shot. Next, the romance got so messy and just uncomfortable for me. At first, I loved it and was very excited to see what would happen and how they would grow. Then, so many factors started being placed on them and their relationship that it threw me off and became less enjoyable. Lastly, I hate the final plot twist. The story behind it was heartbreaking and a great theme when thinking about history and lineage, but it didn’t feel like the book was leading us to that point or that that was even a possibility. It felt forced almost. I’m not sure why it had to happen. Of course, it makes Bree seem even stronger and more powerful, but it felt unnecessary and slightly ridiculous. Yet, that’s just my opinion and others may completely disagree. I just felt like it didn’t add to my experience, the story, and where things were headed. Overall, I did have fun being taken into this complex new world. Experiencing a very strong and talented main character and exploring a difficult new life she has to create for herself. I just feel it doesn’t live up to the massive hype this book has accumulated. 

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erudia's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring 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

A powerful reimagining of the King Arthur legend that pulled me in instantly. Could not put it down & cannot wait to get my hands on the next book. 

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