m4rtt4's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
The world-building was quite poorly done, it took me ages to understand how the magical system works. There were so many words in Welsh that weren't translated, even Welsh creatures whose appearances still remain a mystery to me. There were too many fighting scenes for my taste, and I'm not sensitive to violence or injuries — I just don't give a fuck about who hit whom and when and how. Neither did I like the romantic aspects of the story; why must every female YA protagonist always have a love interest? Also I was promised a (boarding) school setting, but everything academic was slowly disposed of as the plot thickened :(
Positive aspects of the book would be its natural diversity in characters, the existence of Selwyn (my favourite character <3) and the subplot about Rootcraft and Bree's family history. I really wish the book had focused more on that, based on the short scenes I am already way more interested in Rootcraft than I ever could be in King Arthur and his knights' descendants. Applause to Deonn for creating such an original fantasy experience, I find it so unfortunate I wasn't able to enjoy it. I really wanted to :(
(tbh I have no idea why I listened through the whole 18 hours despite thinking about DNFing literally every half an hour. guess I really had my hopes up for nothing..)
Graphic: Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/injury detail, Racism, Violence, Death, Grief, and Medical content
Moderate: Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Car accident, Rape, Mental illness, and Slavery
lucual20'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
Graphic: Misogyny, Slavery, War, Racism, Violence, Death of parent, Sexism, Grief, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, and Car accident
Minor: Vomit and Police brutality
gitruz'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? No
4.75
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Slavery, Racism, and Grief
Minor: Kidnapping, Car accident, Classism, and Panic attacks/disorders
hiddeninfantasy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Body horror, Car accident, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Slavery, Hate crime, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Cursing, Injury/injury detail, Blood, Gore, Grief, Racism, Violence, and War
happilyeveralli'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, and War
Moderate: Medical content, Kidnapping, Sexism, Misogyny, and Slavery
Minor: Rape
kynthebookworm'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
4.5
Graphic: Homophobia, Death of parent, Injury/injury detail, Colonisation, and Racism
Moderate: Death, Religious bigotry, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, and Panic attacks/disorders
hattieosha'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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Racism, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Slavery, and Car accident
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Injury/injury detail, and Rape
Minor: Forced institutionalization and Racial slurs
getlitwithamy_'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
Legendborn is an incredible story with a badass protagonist, fantastic world-building, and prose that is so easy to digest because of its beauty. Tracy Deonn really knows how to make readers like myself have very strong feelings about the characters, whether they are positive or negative. It was also a great fantasy story that incorporated the terminology and history of the Order in the Legendborn world without making it confusing. This is extra important because a lot of fantasy books tend to dump a bunch of terms that make it hard to get into the world of the book for a while.
Arthurian retellings are very new to me (besides that one Magic Tree House book). However, Deonn provided part of this history that made me interested in potentially reading other retellings of this legend.
Now that Bloodmarked is out, I plan on reading it soon so I can go back into the world of Bree and the world of the Legendborn Cycle.
Graphic: Grief, Murder, Blood, Racism, Violence, Kidnapping, Injury/injury detail, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Colonisation and Death of parent
Minor: Rape, Car accident, and Slavery
spark_879's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief and Death
Moderate: Blood, Violence, and Racism
Minor: Death of parent, Slavery, and Kidnapping
kendal_reads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Car accident and Kidnapping
Minor: Rape