Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Legendborn, by Tracy Deonn

29 reviews

fivecatsinacoat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Slavery, Bullying, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racism, Classism, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, Body horror, Death, and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy, Car accident, and Rape

hailslynn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

Definitely one of my top 5 books of the year and possibly ever. Felt the same kind of joy and excitement while reading that I used to get when reading my favorite series from middle school

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Colonisation, Classism, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Blood, Medical content, Slavery, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Injury/injury detail, and Police brutality

woolgathering_jane's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

“Love is a powerful thing, more powerful than blood, although both run through us like a river.” 

I had no idea how to rate this book because I have very conflicting feelings about it.
The story was trying to do so much. The author was trying to fit so many themes into it. It felt like it had... too much plot? It got to a point when I'd be second-hand stressed for Bree because she had far too much on her plate. The chapters were so long. And still, nobody, including me, could catch a damn break.

Spoiler

except when Bree washed her hair. That was such a lovely moment.

Because the story was constantly jumping between one subplot to another (and, to be honest, the painful chapter length), I never sat down to read for very long because I would always feel a kind of closure when the story moved on. Seriously, this book took me so long.
And still.
Even all these issues couldn't distract me from how important this story is. As a white person living in a predominantly white country, Bree's point of view was such a new way to see the world, not only because of her race but also because of her loss. Not to say she was unrelatable (as many white readers like to talk about POC heroes), but I actually found more of myself in her than I thought I would. If it weren't for all the problems mentioned above, I would be running around recommending this book to everyone. 
But alas, this wasn't a story for me. But please, still give it a chance. I don't regret reading it (at all!), and I even considered buying the second book solely to support the writer haha

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Racism, Grief, Blood, and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Car accident, Medical content, Colonisation, Death, Slavery, and Misogyny

Minor: Murder, Rape, and Pregnancy

emjen16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is AMAZING! Such a beautiful and raw take on grief, racism, and slavery. The world building was incredible, the characters are so lovable and real, and so many plot twists to keep you on your toes. In short, just read it :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Blood, Car accident, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Death, Racism, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Classism, Gaslighting, and Infidelity

Minor: Slavery, Rape, Racial slurs, and Pregnancy

em_of_swags's review against another edition

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

4.0

On the one hand the book was super diverse and I loved how much Black History was woven through it.

On the other hand the plot did feel very generic of all other typical YA fantasy novels.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Torture, Sexism, Rape, Murder, Slavery, and Death

Minor: Blood, Gore, Pregnancy, and Kidnapping

sophiafaurs's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Injury/injury detail, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Sexism

Minor: Transphobia and Death of parent

meghansarmiento97's review

adventurous dark informative mysterious sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Slavery, Bullying, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, and War

carissa0906's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Murder, Death of parent, Grief, War, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape, Bullying, Kidnapping, Injury/injury detail, and Gore

Minor: Pregnancy

rebeccajost's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Misogyny, Death of parent, Medical content, Grief, Violence, Classism, Blood, and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Murder, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Kidnapping, and Slavery

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Rape, and Pregnancy

bex_knighthunterbooks's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.75

Incredible, especially for a debut! This plays with familiar tropes of the genre with a chosen one who discovers the magical world through a secret society at college, which made the story engaging and easy to follow, but with a fresh perspective and really interesting worldbuilding interweaving King Arthur myths with black culture and southern US history. My favourite elements were 

Spoiler

the two conflicting magic systems, and memory walking as a way to include history and the sacrifices of generations of black women especially. 

 

The story was also incredibly tightly plotted with action, twists, and reveals galore. By the point the heavy world building started with all the terminology I felt well primed and just as hungry as the main character to learn more, and the secret society gave lots of potential for mystery. There were a few tiny parts of the 'Order' functioning that I don't feel I understand but that didn't impact my enjoyment.

I loved the main character, who was wilful and strong, while also facing the complexity of her feelings around her mother's death. It was also interesting to see the world through her eyes, including the racism she faced. Some of the side characters stood out but were perhaps underutilised, especially Alice her best friend (hoping to see her more in book 2!). There were a lot of Order side characters introduced but I wasn't always able to keep track and didn't feel as much as I expected when some died, but there was good diversity in the cast in general. The main boys were interesting enough, but kept a little close to standard tropes for my liking (the golden boy: heroic, puppy-energy vs. the dark one: brooding, traumatic past), and the relationship with Nick didn't develop as steadily as I'd like jumping all too quickly to insta-love and wanting to die for each other. I hope the love triangle element isn't leant into for this series, and that more books give opportunity for the relationships to grow organically. Very excited to pick the next book up!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Gore, Car accident, Death, Slavery, and Racial slurs

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Vomit