Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

282 reviews

ellenwm's review

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

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

halem13's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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: Slavery, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, War, Death, Grief, and Racism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, and Torture

Minor: Sexual assault, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Car accident, and Rape

mamaewalk's review against another edition

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

ruthannejoy's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Kidnapping, Rape, and Blood

Minor: Transphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Colonisation, Car accident, Torture, Sexism, and Forced institutionalization

depmythmoon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

“They are past-tensing my heart—my whole beating, bleeding, torn heart—right in front of me.” (pg. 2)

“Death is not a thread. It is the sharp cut that severs us. Death separates us from one another, and yet it holds us close. As deeply as we hate it, it loves us more.” (pg. 305)

I have heard nothing but good things about this book, and I now see why! This has easily become my new favorite book, and I cannot wait to get my grubby little fingers on Bloodmarked and Oathbound when it’s released next year 😭. I don’t know why I put off reading it for as long as I have, but I will not be making the same mistake with the others in this series.

Brianna “Bree” Matthews is an African American teen who recently lost her mother to a car accident and is currently attending an early college program at the University of California, which her mother just so happened to attend 25 years prior. While there, she discovers that the world isn’t exactly as it seems, and there may be someone who knows about the mysteries surrounding her mother’s death. This story focuses heavily on the grieving process and the lasting, current impacts of slavery. As a black woman, I was able to relate to these issues and the anger/injustice that Bree felt throughout the book, which added another layer of enjoyment. However, anyone from any race can enjoy this book and learn from it, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has even the slightest interest in fantasy.

I’m not one to give out 5 stars so liberally, so believe me when I say that I really tried to wrack my brain for any possibly gripe I could have had with this book. None exist. This is an amazing book, 10/10, no notes. Period. Genuinely, I’ve sat with this book for a couple days, and I still am in love with it and I can’t even think to utter a negative word about it.

The background behind the magic systems was well thought out and helped push the theme even further. Bree was a complex character that helped spread awareness for PCBD, which is something I’d never heard of before reading this book. Alice was a true ride or die best friend that anyone would be lucky to have in their corner, and I loved their banter. There were cute, romantic moments that had me giggling and kicking my feet. And the TWISTS! My God! Towards the end of the book, my jaw gradually dislocated to the point that it hit the floor and beyond. I’m still picking it up to this day.

Ms. Deonn knows exactly what she’s doing!! I cannot wait to see where this story goes. I’m also curious about the end-game love interest. I have very high hopes for the rest of the series; I can hardly wait!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Slavery, Racism, Sexism, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Classism, War, Rape, Car accident, Racial slurs, and Alcohol

theaceofpages's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

Two faults. My race and my gender. But they are not faults. They are strength. And I am more than this man can comprehend.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed by this one. Don't get me wrong, it had good and important ideas, but I just really struggled to get into it properly. Maybe I'm just too old for it since I found a lot of the characters a little frustrating. I'm not saying that's a bad thing as they are teens and teens do act in the ways the characters did, but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to get annoyed by them at the same time. I think younger me might have enjoyed it though so I'm going to skip rating it since it might just be me being the wrong age/ in the wrong mental space for it.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Car accident

jei_reads_sometimes'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Slavery, and Medical content

Minor: Abandonment, Rape, Pregnancy, and Child abuse

aj9moon's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood