A review by dak256
Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing 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? Yes

5.0

If Legendborn lit the match, and Oathbound steadied the flame, then Bloodmarked was the wildfire. The emotional rollercoaster, especially with the cliff hanger ending—unmatched. It's much more emotional than Legendborn's cliff hanger ending. 

This book is raw, relentless, and emotionally immersive. Tracy Deonn takes everything she built in Legendborn—the legacy, the grief, the slow unraveling of self—and amplifies it. Bree is pushed to her limits here, and as a reader, I was too. And yet, I couldn’t stop. Page after page, I was pulled deeper into her fight for truth, agency, and identity. 

What makes Bloodmarked especially powerful is how it refuses to make Bree’s journey clean or easy. Her strength isn’t just in her magical abilities—it’s in her refusal to fold, even as her world fractures. And that’s what makes her such a beautifully layered Black girl protagonist: she’s not perfect, she’s not polished, but she is real. She makes mistakes, feels deeply, loves hard, and breaks open, all while being hunted, doubted, and underestimated. 

While this may be a fantasy, the themes are very real. It wrestles with trust, betrayal, displacement, and the cost of carrying legacies that were never made for you. It explores what it means to inherit power while also being denied it at every turn. And through it all, Bree continues to lead with her heart. 

Every time Bree described the furnace in her chest, I felt a tug on my own furnace. As a sun Aries, Mercury Aries, and Mars Leo, fire my language. It’s how I protect, how I move through the world, how I love. Bree’s furnace wasn’t just a plot device—it was a mirror.

And Bree is a Scorpio.

 

Her felt like mine. Watching her learn to carry that fire without shame, to choose when to let it burn, when to let it warm, and when to let it shine, reminded me that our passion makes us divine not dangerous. 

And when Sel gives up his humanity to save her—when he looks her in the eye and tells her she is worth that and so much more—I cracked open 😭.

Because in that moment, it wasn’t just Bree he was speaking to. He was speaking to every little Black girl who has ever been told she was too angry, too loud, too much. Bree proves we are not too much. We are exactly enough. And we are worthy of being saved, protected, and loved. 

This book also deepened my connection to the themes of ancestral memory, chosen family, and the right to take up space in broken systems. While Legendborn set the foundation, Bloodmarked cracked it wide open. And I felt every crack. 

The love in this book—romantic, platonic, ancestral—is complicated and messy, but so honest. No perfect resolutions, just people trying their best to love each other in a world designed to keep them apart. 

Bloodmarked isn’t a comfortable read, but it’s an unforgettable one. It made me ache. It made me pause. It made me feel seen. 

If you’ve read Legendborn, know this: the story only gets richer, Blacker, and braver from here. And if you’re not ready to be emotionally wrecked—in the best possible way—proceed with caution. But definitely proceed.