Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

175 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

The first book in this series was gifted to me for my birthday and I was excited to read it. I was very late with this series. I really enjoyed the first book, but I feel like this book was a mission to finish. 

This book is still based on Bree who we met in the last book. All she wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights – only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new: A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion. But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy that Bree had fell in love with, has been kidnapped. Bree wants to fight but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected. When the Regents reveal they will do whatever it takes to hide the war, Bree and her friends must go on the run to rescue Nick themselves. But enemies are everywhere, Bree’s powers are unpredictable and dangerous, and she can’t escape her growing attraction to Selwyn, the mage that is sworn to protect Nick until death. If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she lives, she must learn to control her power from the ancestors who wielded them first without losing herself in the process.  

I have a love hate relationship with this book, I was expecting so much more. With how much hype this book has got, I thought it would be action-packed and would feel satisfied once the book was done but I was left with more questions than answers and the ending drove me nuts and the additional love “connection” with Sel and then the love-triangle. I was hoping for Nick to be saved quite early and then all five of them go and kick some demon ass and then they go back to school like Avalon High and instead we got some random cliffhanger ending which drove me nuts. Everyone was giving me a headache in this book, the whiplash of Sel and Nick from yeah let’s work together to no Bree you are a damsel in distress. The Regents wanting to try and forget the war wasn’t going to help anything and Bree was just like I don’t know anything or have any control but I'm going to do it. 

The saving grace of this book was Alice. She was the only normal and reasonable one that was like you’ve just set off an explosion let's not announce that to everyone we meet. I love Will as well, and the fact that he is also getting sick of Bree and Sel putting themselves in harm’s way for no reason. I liked the storyline and the way this story did go a bit darker about how Bree became King Arthur, I was so shocked when that hint got dropped and I know I shouldn’t have been but I literally gasped.  

This book definitely wasn’t predictable and the way it ended made me think we are getting another book but before I went into this series, I was under the impression that it was a duology. It will be interesting to see if more is going to come out of this story.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Rape, and Slavery

sahramahtab's review against another edition

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

5.0

This sequel did not disappoint! I could barely put it down and with each page turned I fell in love with the characters more. And that ending? Did not see the plot twist coming at all. Can’t wait to read the next book and hopefully get to enjoy more Selwyn and Bree interactions!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Rape, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Confinement

viktoriya_sk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional lighthearted

3.75

Cozy YA book with a great plit and good characters except for the main character Briana. I found her to be extremely annoying, whiny, and dramatic. All the other characters acted fine in situations under high pressure, and then you get sentences like "the room is tilting in front of my eyes" in response to being asked to stay home. There were some good and serious themes, and the mc wasn't always that horrible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, Death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Genocide, and Pregnancy

Minor: War, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

nabecker13's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Death of parent, Gore, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Colonisation, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Rape, Violence, and Forced institutionalization

lermaline's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Slavery, Colonisation, Racism, and Torture

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Kidnapping

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

I was pretty meh about Legendborn but HOOOOOOO BOY this was so good I’m foaming at the mouth for book 3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, War, Death of parent, Grief, and Slavery

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Car accident, Abandonment, Medical content, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Rape, and Vomit

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Classism, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Colonisation, Pregnancy, Misogyny, and Rape

rberdan's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

I jumped into this book immediately after the first, almost compulsively. I loved the magic and the relationship development. There were some beats I saw coming and some surprises. Community showed up in some beautiful ways, and how Bree comes into her own is truly lovely to witness, particularly as I think of my own relationship with grief and anger after losing my mom. I am eager to read book 3 as I’m totally invested in these folks. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Gore, Death of parent, Racism, War, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence

miles's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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: Racism, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Kidnapping, and Medical content

Moderate: Rape, Death, and Car accident

catherinedsharp's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Incredible sequel to Legendborn. In a way, I think I preferred this one? The only thing I wasn’t sure about was the ending as it didn’t go the way I was expecting. Very interested in seeing what happens next; Deonn’s writing id captivating!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Slavery, Racism, and Gaslighting