Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

35 reviews

bookishperseus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Domestic abuse

sophieamreacher's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Loved this so much. I loved the history and magic system. I loved the depth and sadness. I loved the world building and the characters. I especially loved Bree and I have a crush on Sel. Can’t wait to continue this story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

savanah's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful sad 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

4.5

The first approximately 80% of this book was a steady 3 stars. Not bad, but a lot of what I had experienced before in books as far as plot. The last 20% is really what brought it to the next level. All the loose ends and questions that had been drawn out in the first part were not only thoroughly answered, they made sense with the story and changed the context of some judgements I had made. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

alexiconic's review against another edition

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

5.0

legendborn manages to be a great action-filled book that made me turn the pages as fast as i could and have a main character that struggles, has feelings she is processing, and side characters that were fun and (mostly) different. it has a serious message and bree is struggling with the real questions of coming of age, but she is also in love, and she does badass magical things. it was great fun all the way through. 

i don’t know if this is a perfect book.

i am on the fence about the sel/nick/bree relationships, for example, and was afraid for a long portion that it would be a typical “she falls for the blond good guy but now here is a dark mysterious hottie and she will go for him” situation. buuuut it feels like that is a misread of the situation - the three have complicated relationships with each other (and really each other person). sel is bound to nick, has loved nick, nick and bree are in love, but bree is also in a unique relationship with sel because of their ancestors.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

passionatereader78's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Authur and the round table fans this ones for you! This was a fantastic read! Fighting demons and monsters with twist after twist!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Death, and Car accident

Minor: Racism, Rape, Slavery, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

hilivingston7's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this fantasy. It was a great modern day telling of the legend of Arthur on the legacy of UNC Chapel Hill that examined how chattel slavery impacted and continues to impact characters. The depiction of Bree’s grief for her mother felt so real and coupled that with her feelings of tokenism and isolation as the only minority experiencing daily micro & macro aggressions. I loved how the ending threaded the nuance of her ancestors and her coming to terms with accepting her mothers death. Really excited to read the second! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Car accident, Abandonment, and Colonisation

bookishspy's review against another edition

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

4.5

Legendborn is a solid and exciting YA read! 

I had a lot of people recommend this story to me over the past year, and after finally reading it, I'm actually regretting not getting around to it sooner! 

Bree is such a perfect main character. She is fun, smart, and has such a deep and real personality. She's not perfect and also had a temper when it was called for. She didn't just always let things slide right off her back as some might’ve. Her strength was the standout here. 

Nick is such a sweet guy and always had Bree's back. I love that he had a little rebellious streak, but he knew when it was time to put that aside. He did surprise me with one of the fights where he hit someone who he knew was not allowed to hit him back, and that left me wondering if he might be a bit darker than he seems. The romance with him was perfect, just a little flirty and cheeky. It was super cute, but he clearly has a jealous streak. 

Sel seems endgame to me. He has the dark and mysterious thing going on, plus a bit of that forbidden charm. He's also deeper than he first appears to be, and he seems to have a bit of a cheeky streak as well. I really want more of him. 

While it is not heavy on romance and is more fantasy with a side of romance, the love triangle is certainly triangling, and it is hitting the spot. The jealous moments and then working together despite it, just perfect. 

Now, if we get to the actual story, I will say this wasn't a perfect score for me, but it was close! The only thing that dragged down this story was how confusing the names and places got at times. We were thrown a lot of names and expected to remember who was who and where was where. I was winging it a lot of the time, and because of that, the bad guy reveal just didn't hit as hard as it should have. 

Despite that, this was so unique and exciting! It was also heartbreaking and hard to read at times that involved heavy doses of racism and sexism. Sometimes, I wanted to climb in this book and yell at some of these characters for their bigotry, which is a testimony to how well written this story was. I was enthralled and binged this as fast as I could, and I think I'll move immediately to the next book in the series.

I would highly recommend this fantasy book!

➛ 𝟒.𝟓 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Slavery, Car accident, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Kidnapping, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, and Abandonment

ellenwm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

I am in awe of this book. Absolutely adore it and think it will surely become a contemporary classic in the genre. Tracy Deonn weaves together a masterpiece with a killer plot, wonderfully drawn characters, and beautiful, earnest prose. She’s embellished a real campus and based the story in history, lore and legend from multiple perspectives. The way she writes about slavery, violence, generational trauma and contemporary white supremacy is important. As a fellow member of the motherless daughters club, I found her meditations on grief, PTSD, rage and isolation refreshingly realistic and meaningfully expressed. Her depictions of friendship and found family rock. It is a gift to get to know Bree! Her relationships with Alice and her Dad ring acutely true. The pacing is awesome, too. I was sucked in and racing to the next snort-laugh-worthy line of dialogue or gasp-inducing reveal. I can’t wait to read the next book!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Transphobia, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Rape

jei_reads_sometimes's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Slavery, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

racheldonna14's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

If I could give this book six stars I would.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Stalking, Car accident, and Abandonment