Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Bloodmarked

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

14 reviews

rberdan's review

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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saltylane's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

The two books in this series (so far??) are full of emotions and plenty of drama & action. There are many mysteries intertwined, and by the end, most are buttoned up nicely… Others are left to either set up for an additional book or to give readers something to think about after.
It’s rough listening to some scenes, especially because the reader is excellent at inflecting intense emotions in their voice acting. There are heartbreaking moments, as well as moments that will leave you mentally yelling at the very-much-flawed characters when they make questionable decisions.
The author has a good method of fleshing out characters in a way that makes them very three-dimensional and making their interconnected relationships really show in the best and worst ways. The twist endings and plot points are also ones that make sense and aren’t there only to mess with the reader expectations. The end of this book especially makes me want to know the answers to the many questions left by the last words. If there’s not an additional book in the series, the ending still works, even with threads hanging in uncertain directions.

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katvou's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.25

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naturally's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

unfortunately, bloodmarked was a victim of the sophomore slump! the introduction of valec

Spoiler

the cross roads baby from the memory walk in legendborn

and the evolution of bree/sel were the only redeeming qualities of this book, for me. i still had a fun time reading. but, overall, bloodmarked is significantly weaker than it's predecessor...

the first 20% was very slow and infor-dumpy. plus, a large chunk of the story was spent away from the college setting that i fell in love with in book 1.

bree being disconnected from other black people worked with the themes that deonn wanted to explore in legendborn. however, bloodmarked, mostly exposes how bree's relationships with other black characters are centred around her having something to gain from them (be it therapeutic services, shelter or knowledge etc). the only relationship with a black person that feels non-transactional is the one she has with her father

Spoiler

who wasn't around at all in book 2 :(

. bree's attitude toward rootcraft was frustrating to read, because it was established that the practice was used to connect with the ancestors and that it focuses on reciprocal exchange. bree seemingly only calls on her ancestors when she needs them to teach her something, and the way she spoke to vera (an enslaved Black woman and victim of r*pe) was disgusting, disrespectful, UNGRATEFUL...

Spoiler

whilst i understand that it was overwhelming for bree to deal with intergenerational trauma as well as her own...she displayed astoundingly little empathy and consideration for how vera suffered. vera made a deal with the shadow king and the ancestors so that her descendants (including bree) could LIVE. if not for that deal, her child, the true scion of arthur would have died. for a character who lamented about being unable to trace her lineage, it was strange that bree ended up destroying her own ancestral plane and sole method of conversing with the ancestors she only just discovered???

the series could be redeemed if bree reflects on her behaviour and choices, otherwise i'm failing to see what deonn wants the overall message of this series to be.

furthermore, i can at least appreciate that bree's messiness shines through in this book. her decision making,,,was not the best. as a reader, i was trapped in a weird cycle of witnessing her make the same dumb mistakes over and over and over again. how many times did i watch bree recklessly run into fights, knowing that her friends would put their lives on the line to save her untrained self???

perhaps it's that i read book 1 and 2 back-to-back, but the love triangle has lost it's flair a bit. the toxic side of me enjoyed sel and bree's chemistry - not a delena shipper, but their dynamic mirrors elena and damon in vampire diaries season three. however, it doesn't sit right with me that bree gave significantly more grace to her white love interest than her own ancestor...

nick was kind of a non-factor in this book, despite having a rescue mission triggered by his kidnapping. i'm confusion??? at least two more books are needed to flesh him out as a character and love interest, because bloodmarked exposes how little they know about each other outside of bloodline history and lust.

this review marks me taking a break from the series to get my head together. i'll probably return when the series has concluded.

going forward, i hope to see:

bree having BLACK friends
Spoiler
the ancestors allowing alice, william and sel into volition...doesn't hold much weight because they aren't black. essentially, these are non-black characters entering black safe spaces and it feels a bit invasive rather than being a bonding experience. alice can do black hair??? SO??? i'm not sure what the reasoning was behind her not being black...
bree apologising to vera
return of the unc setting
more valec <3

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kers_tin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.0

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ck11's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

I loved this. Tracy Deonn has become one of my favourite authors; the way she writes relationships between characters is phenomenal. Really, she's been gifted with the ability to imbue her writing with so much meaning, it's spectacular.

I loved Bree, Sel, William, Valec. Everyone but for those three fuckheads + Tor.

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