Reviews with content warning for Slavery - Bloodmarked

Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

178 reviews

kimschouwenaar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

The stakes are higher, the plot has thickened, the danger has surged, Bloodmarked has arrived.

The reader was too stunned to speak.

Holy shit.

Holy SHIT

What a rollercoaster. I sat staring at the final page for a solid ten minutes before moving again, jaw dropped, tears in my eyes, unable to do anything but grip the book in silent agony. Bree didn't have a single moment of peace.

I am still unsure of what I should write here. Bree is everything I look for in a main character: passionate, caring, hilarious, unapologetic, vulnerable, flawed, the list goes on. She captivates you from cover to back like the sword-wielding King she is bound to become, someone so mesmerising you cannot look away. The distinction between Before-Bree and After-Bree that was so prominent in Legendborn slowly dissipates until we are left with Bree , someone I don't ever want to leave behind, and someone I will NEVER get sick of.

And Selwyn. Oh, my dear Selwyn Kane how I laughed, cried and rhapsodised about Bree right with you. Selwyn Kane is the dark-haired, magic-wielding, morally grey anti-hero I am convinced everyone needs. With Nick taken, Sel is even more central to the plot than in Legenborn. He's witty, proud, impulsive, protective and absolutely hilarious. Let's be honest, he does not succeed at hiding his attraction to Bree, but, as we all know, Sel isn't great at being vulnerable. Bree and Sel together means flaming chemistry and the best banter I have read in a while. They're both unwilling to outright admit what they feel for the other, and reading them had me giggling like a kid and kicking my legs in excitement.

There are but a few flaws: some questionable grammar and punctuation (because I am an editor in training now, and, unfortunately, I cannot help but notice these kind of things), and two or three minor, minor plot holes that made me think I missed or skipped pages that just weren't there. The distance and time between several places was unclear, and character's actions weren't always well developed.

However.

I knew about halfway through that this would become one of my all time favourite reads. And I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I rated this anything under 5 stars. Five isn't enough, I need Goodreads and StoryGraph to have more.

The only reason I wouldn't recommend you to read it right now is because the third instalment won't be published until the BEGINNING OF 2025?! Nevertheless, if you do read it right now then we can cry about it together. Hit me up if y'all want to rave about this book with me. I don't think I'll shut up anytime soon.

If you have come this far, I am very much looking for more book friends! You can find me on:
IG: kimschouwenaar
TT: _kimschouwenaar
Goodreads: Kim Schouwenaar

- <3

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savvyrosereads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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? No

4.0

Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the sequel to Legendborn and the second book in the series of the same name.

Selwyn Kane is EVERYTHING and honestly the primary reason I enjoyed this book as much as I did. Overall, I’d say this one suffered from a bit of a sophomore slump—I wasn’t as connected to or engaged with the plot, and I was a bit frustrated with some of the characters’ decisions and with the ending overall.

But SEL. When I latch on to a fictional character I never let them go, and Sel is absolutely mine now. I urgently need more books in this series specifically because I urgently need more of him.

Overall, even with some mild criticisms, I do enjoy this series and think the world and magic system here is so interesting! I highly recommend these books for anyone who enjoys older-YA fantasy, and particularly fantasy with diverse rep and Arthurian inspiration!

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: Arthurian legend; Welsh terms of endearment (IYKYK); Black Girl Magic (literally)

CW: Blood/injury/violence; grief; racism and sexism; discussions of slavery

Content Warnings

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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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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sahramahtab's review against another edition

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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!

Content Warnings

viktoriya_sk's review against another edition

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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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nabecker13's review against another edition

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

3.5

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lermaline's review against another edition

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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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vaguely_pink's review against another edition

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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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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

rberdan's review against another edition

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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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