lermaline's review
- 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
Graphic: Car accident, Slavery, Colonisation, Racism, and Torture
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Kidnapping
vaguely_pink's review against another edition
- 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
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
meaghancook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I’m looking forward to picking up the next book, but I don’t know that I’ll rush out and buy it.
Graphic: Racism, Violence, and War
Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping
miles's review
- 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
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
hailstorm3812's review
- 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
Spoiler
Also are we going poly ending?? I may be delusional but I think we could...Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Hate crime, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Colonisation, Grief, Blood, Murder, and Genocide
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Car accident, and Torture
pandaorb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Racism and Gore
Minor: Car accident
awkwardimagination's review
- 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
The amount of pain and trauma every single character has gone through in this book is absurd. Just bc the first one had more deaths doesn't make this one any better.
Because this is the second book all the characters are coming into their own more and becoming more loveable.
I'm still not onboard the Sel and Bree train, I wish they would be platonic like Will and Bree, but they are well written I'll give them that.
I'm looking forward to the next book, I need to know how this turns out.
Graphic: Kidnapping and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood, Rape, Violence, Sexism, Torture, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Medical trauma, Racism, and Grief
Minor: Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Car accident, Child abuse, and Death
kenzaett's review
- 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
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.
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Kidnapping, Car accident, Racial slurs, and Mental illness
Minor: War, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, and Vomit
willow_heartfilia's review
- 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
Graphic: Confinement, Gaslighting, Medical content, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Death
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Torture, War, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Slavery and Rape
Regarding the slavery and rape content warnings, if you read the first book then you should know thatSpoiler
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.saltylane's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Murder, Car accident, Grief, Medical content, Racism, Medical trauma, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Confinement, Bullying, and Colonisation
Minor: Misogyny, Vomit, Transphobia, Sexism, Racial slurs, Self harm, Mental illness, and Pregnancy