Reviews tagging 'War'

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

78 reviews

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful 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

AHHHHHHHH. There are drugs in these books, one of those books where you look down and have read 100 pages and didn't notice. I think this book did a good job building on the themes and relationships of the first one while expanding into new territory. I really liked the dynamics of the quartet we have for most of the book. Also can I say how much I love Alice. I'm so glad she's in this book more.

Also are we going poly ending?? I may be delusional but I think we could...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Car accident

gabriella_'s review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book has almost everything. Structures of oppression, intergenerational trauma, grief, romance, war, friendship conflicts, learned bigotry & privilege, and governmental conspiracy. It scratches any itch you have from Harry Potter, Maximum Ride, and The Hunger Games all rolled into one. Shit, it even satisfies the Warriors cat series fans too. It does all this will surpassing all of these series. Wish I had this when I was a younger, more voracious reader.

Tracy Deonn one-ups herself in this sequel book. This book further expands on characterizing her central cast while also giving other (more background) characters a chance in the limelight. She developed a core ensemble cast that feels compelling and stand-alone. This book made me cry, especially when

Bree talks with her mother

- Bloodmarked is raw and real. Bree is one of my favorite series protagonists I’ve ever read. She feels so real. I love reading about a protagonist who is strong, really strong, and in more than just a physical (or even girlboss) way. She has grit and emotional stamina and she’s navigating through systems rigged against her. 

More random things I love about this book that didn’t seem to have a place for me to write them in this review: 

• The rest of the cast - especially Selwyn - tugs at my heartstrings. 
• Tracy Deonn’s dream sequences are an amazing exploration of themes that are relevant later in the book and offer a refreshing way to engage with old magic.
• The descriptive settings!! 
• The use of LANGUAGE. Ugh. CARIAD!
• The men in this book have a “written by a woman” charm. Well, the men that matter do, at least.

I love the way this author lays the groundwork for future plot twists - she has a gift for finding a way to keep the reader on their toes without insulting their intelligence AND while still making the twists believable. Some you can see coming - but that’s a credit to her foreshadowing. 

I just want to keep gushing about this book because honestly it left me soooo hungry for the next book in this series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

pip10's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Sexism, Alcohol, and War

jadorereadss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I'm still trying to process everything that happened with this book... so for now all I can do is give it 4.5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Gaslighting, and War

kenzaett's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective 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? Yes

5.0

What a wild ride. I finished this at work, with an audiobook. Couldn't not finish it today. Soon as I got off work I hit the five stars, haha. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND PICK IT UP. I would have neveerrrr guessed two of the big plot twist reveals. 
This series is absolutely beautiful, and I haven't been quite enthralled in a long time. I first heard about the cycle from "cary can read" on YouTube who hyped it as her favorite, and I just wanna thank her sm. I understand you know, though the book was very different from what I imagined. The world building is INTENSE, especially compared to Book #1, and you can tell Tracy has spent soo much time planning and researching and writing for this. Thank you, if you happen to read this. 
I didn't realize how very important and underrated/used POC main characters were, and to not only mention them but to highlight their struggles unapologetically, brief on their trauma and make them human and not a plot device. The diversity didn't feel forced, rather natural, in flow with how the real world is reflected. I'm happy for a generation of young girls who will have many new heroines to look up to and identify with. 

I found myself not really caring for their ages btw, as I do believe it all to be a bit unrealistic for 16 to 18 year olds to to through, knowing curring 16 year olds and their maturity, so I just decided to imagine them all aged up by 4 years. But my 14 year old self would have loved it and identified with them, no complaints. 

Anyhow, I loved the writing, wording, the integration of Welsh in the many flashback scenes, don't think I've ever looked up so many words in my kindle dictionary, loved the character development, even in minor characters ... Even the Southern charme got to me a a German girl, I now have American suburbs and cowboy ranches on my tiktok algorithm. Top ten favorite reads this year for sure. Cannot wait for the third book. There's still so, so many questions unanswered. 

Oh - and I'm definitely Team Nick (although the waterfall and clearing scene gave me huge butterflies). I hate the trope of good guy disappears so he's replaced by the one who stayed. Naaaaahhhh. Give him time to find himself again pls Bree.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, and Car accident

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Vomit, and War

siennakt30's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

shaipanda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

This book was insaneee - I read it over a longer period than I probably would have otherwise since I read it mostly at work but I absolutely loved it and I cannot wait for the third and final one!! 
Truly one of the best series I’ve ever read and worth every bit of hype it’s gotten and more imo :) 
Is definitely a darker and more violent book/series at times tho so recommend checking trigger warnings 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racism, Violence, Kidnapping, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

chloewilson_13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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: Death, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, and War

abookwormspov's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

willow_heartfilia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Rape and Slavery

Regarding the slavery and rape content warnings, if you read the first book then you should know that

it is regarding situations in the past with the characters’ ancestors. However, unlike the first book where you experience the memory walk and witness some of their traumatic memories, Bloodmarked may refer to that knowledge gained in passing, but it doesn’t show anything as prominent.