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A review by tabbyclancy
Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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? N/A
5.0
I can't review this without spoilers, so be aware.
The first book pulled us into Bree's world of grief and determination, and this second book shows us Bree's transition from child to woman. It's a journey that's really subtle while you're reading it, once you sit back and go over the parts you loved most, it becomes increasingly mores apparent. Now, this isn't some romanticized notion of adulthood. This is making mistakes, having your agency taken from you, the validity of your statements questioned - all things we start to experience as teens and sometimes continue to have to battle well into adulthood.
This narrative challenges the status quo from the outset of the second book. Bree is King Arthur's heir, Scion, and wheeeeew-eee, no one is that accepting of it outside of the people most loyal to Bree. Words like mistake are thrown around, it's blatantly implied that Bree is an inconvenience to the Regent Council because she's black. She's set to turn their world on it's head. If only they figured out she'd do it even if they didn't allow her too.
It's a story that has threads within it that resonate with me to a degree I wasn't ready for but embrace eagerly. Trapped between two worlds, do you appease to 'dominant' culture/status quo or do you kick the culture and quo to the curb. Finding yourself within and beyond the expectations of those around you is a coming of age that we all face. But the nuanced way of telling readers that the rules aren't always here to help, leaves me breathless. Death and grief are never shadowed, or glossed over here, in fact Deonn makes it a point to address grief in world and in her author notes which are just fantastic.
Everyone knows Arthur as a righteous and good king, except, well, look at history. War and the Warrior kings are bloody, and this tale shows us the man so defined by grief that he wasn't anything but a soldier in the end. One bent on 'fixing' things so it wouldn't happen again. The most pure of intentions that leads people straight down into the bowels of hell.
Bree is dear to my heart, not just because she faces struggles that echo mine within a far more dire context, but she gives voice to things people just don't like to think about. Over, and over again. Not once is she truly taken by any one doctrine. She works within the knowledge given and then continues to shift perspective the more information she has. Which is such a real-world thing that people do and represented so beautifully in this book. Her frustration, her fear, her need to be in control when everything is rapidly spinning out of it. Her loyalty is breathtaking when you look at it after a first read. She's told that dragons defend what's theirs and burn the rest and runs with it and I am cheering for her in the background.
I eagerly look forward to the next installment.
Spoiler
Deonn owns my soul with the Legendborn Cycle Series. These are the books I needed and wanted when I was a teenager, and I am thoroughly enjoying them now as an adult. This is a series that doesn't shy away from things, preferring to stare straight down the barrel at them.The first book pulled us into Bree's world of grief and determination, and this second book shows us Bree's transition from child to woman. It's a journey that's really subtle while you're reading it, once you sit back and go over the parts you loved most, it becomes increasingly mores apparent. Now, this isn't some romanticized notion of adulthood. This is making mistakes, having your agency taken from you, the validity of your statements questioned - all things we start to experience as teens and sometimes continue to have to battle well into adulthood.
This narrative challenges the status quo from the outset of the second book. Bree is King Arthur's heir, Scion, and wheeeeew-eee, no one is that accepting of it outside of the people most loyal to Bree. Words like mistake are thrown around, it's blatantly implied that Bree is an inconvenience to the Regent Council because she's black. She's set to turn their world on it's head. If only they figured out she'd do it even if they didn't allow her too.
It's a story that has threads within it that resonate with me to a degree I wasn't ready for but embrace eagerly. Trapped between two worlds, do you appease to 'dominant' culture/status quo or do you kick the culture and quo to the curb. Finding yourself within and beyond the expectations of those around you is a coming of age that we all face. But the nuanced way of telling readers that the rules aren't always here to help, leaves me breathless. Death and grief are never shadowed, or glossed over here, in fact Deonn makes it a point to address grief in world and in her author notes which are just fantastic.
Everyone knows Arthur as a righteous and good king, except, well, look at history. War and the Warrior kings are bloody, and this tale shows us the man so defined by grief that he wasn't anything but a soldier in the end. One bent on 'fixing' things so it wouldn't happen again. The most pure of intentions that leads people straight down into the bowels of hell.
Bree is dear to my heart, not just because she faces struggles that echo mine within a far more dire context, but she gives voice to things people just don't like to think about. Over, and over again. Not once is she truly taken by any one doctrine. She works within the knowledge given and then continues to shift perspective the more information she has. Which is such a real-world thing that people do and represented so beautifully in this book. Her frustration, her fear, her need to be in control when everything is rapidly spinning out of it. Her loyalty is breathtaking when you look at it after a first read. She's told that dragons defend what's theirs and burn the rest and runs with it and I am cheering for her in the background.
I eagerly look forward to the next installment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Racism and Violence
Minor: Car accident