Bloodmarked was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 and it definitely lived up to my excitement. Spoilers for Legendborn (book 1) below.

Bree has now discovered her powers for both different magical backgrounds and must come to terms with these harsh revelations and new responsibilities. With Nick missing and Camlann approaching the pressure to master her abilities is on.

Bree’s growth was astronomical in this book! The journey to her taking ownership of her power was both beautiful and gut-wrenching. From breeches of trust, demon attacks, racism, Order politics, magical manipulation, and a missing friend Bree has more on her plate than anyone should ever have to deal with. What I love about this character is that she always stays true to herself doing what she believes to be right and never giving up on the people she cares about.

My favourite side characters returned with plenty of page time for Bree’s best friend Alice, Rootcrafter Mariah, and Order members Will, Sel, and Nick. We also meet a lot of new characters, the tricky Valec being my favourite addition.

We got to see so much more of both the Rootcrafter and Order communities and this built on what we know from Legendborn. The magic system keeps getting better and I liked that we as the reader learn as Bree learns.

If you like a bit of romance you’ll be pleased to know the love triangle between Bree, Sel, and Nick is still going strong. As an avid romance reader I enjoyed the extra layer that this element added to the book and thought it was beautifully executed. That said the star of the show will always be Bree’s journey as an individual.

My attention was gripped from page one, I just didn’t want to stop reading! I flew through this in two days and have so many highlights it’s ridiculous. The writing was so beautiful I couldn’t help myself!

Rating: 5/5🌟
Steam Level: 1.5/5🔥 (some kissing and longing looks, keeping it YA)

I am so frustrated by this series! I really wanted so badly to love it, but I just can't seem to get there. The premise is brilliant but I find the world building confusing and half the time I'm not totally sure how the magic (Aether/Root) works. The plot picked up a few weeks after the big battle and shocking reveal of Legendborn, but rather than keeping the momentum going I found it to be slow and difficult to get through. I really wish I enjoyed this book more, but it was sadly not for me.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much for letting me read this! I have been waiting for the sequel, I don't think I could have waited for the release date. I NEEDED to know what would happen. I will not spoil anything for anyone but WOW. Worth the wait completely.

To put it simply, I’m obsessed.

The book opens a few weeks on from where Legendborn ended. Nick is still missing, and the Order haven’t given any indication that they’re all that concerned about trying to find him. Bree’s supposed to be their leader, their King, but you know how it is in both fantasy and through history with long time regents when the true monarch appears. At first they keep her identity secret for practical reasons that appear to be largely reasonable, but things soon take on a much darker tone.

The commentaries on generational trauma and institutionalised racism that were present in the first book haven’t gone anywhere in this one. Bree may be Arthur’s Scion, and the most powerful Scion there has ever been due to her own unique abilities, but in the eyes of many she is just a Black girl who needs to be controlled and possibly eliminated so that her power can go where they want it to go. Deonn doesn’t shy away from how horrific this is.

Bree learns a lot more about how the magic works in this world in this book and I really enjoyed that! Through the first book Bree met people who told her about magic that only works in a very specific way, and it was fun seeing Bree learn how these people were wrong, intentionally or otherwise. The magical world is a Lot bigger than Bree realised, and this isn’t always a good thing.

I liked Selwyn in book one but didn’t quite relate to the huge amount of hype centered specifically on him. It’s not incorrect to say that a lot of Sel’s hype stems from him being the mysterious hot white guy character who’s a bit of a jerk, and we all know that these are the characters that fandom likes to flock to. However, I get it. After reading this book, I get it. I’m surprised at how much I love him because he can be downright mean at times and I usually don’t like those characters at all, but this jerk does have a heart of gold and his meanness almost always stems from how deeply he cares about his friends, wants to keep them all safe, and doesn’t want them to worry about him. He’s not mean just for the sake of it, and he’s under a lot of pressure because a lot of people are relying on him. His relationship with Bree was So Good. There is an incident partway through the book involving him that has the potential to turn a lot of people off him entirely, but I think that his genuine understanding of what he did wrong and his genuine remorse, plus Bree not forgiving him right away due to how serious this incident is, has made me enjoy him and their relationship dynamic even more.

Loving Selwyn does not necessarily mean that I’m rooting for him to ‘win’ this love triangle. Nick’s not in this book as much as he was in the first one, but with his limited page space he still manages to shine. Does this make me Team Nick? No it does not. There are a couple of scenes where both boys are talking to Bree at the same time and they were great and I would like to formally make it known that I think Bree deserves two boyfriends. I’m sure the boys would be down.

A bunch of new characters were introduced in this book! I especially liked the new friendly cambions, Lark and Valec. Valec was particularly fun, and hit on a very specific trope that I enjoy a lot. Valec is attracted to Bree, is completely aware that these feelings are not reciprocated and is content with that, and delights in making fun of the other person present who also has feelings for her. Valec is the transparent sort, and Sel very much isn’t, even if Sel likely doesn’t know the meaning of the word subtlety.

I wrote in my review of the first book that I had a prediction about Alice and I didn’t write that prediction down and for the life of me I have no idea what that prediction was. I will learn nothing from this. Alice was great though.

Of course, with all these cool side characters, the fact remains that Bree is the star of the show here! She spends the whole book trying so hard to do the right thing, even when it seems like everything is against her. She doesn’t put up with anyone’s bullshit, isn’t afraid to put boundaries in place and fight for them when needed, and is willing to do so so much if it’s for the sake of the people she loves. She’s an excellent protagonist and I love reading from her perspective.

Speaking of perspective, the climax near the end was SO COOL! Once again there’s something that looks like a non-sequitur but really really isn’t in my review on this series, but I can’t explain in any more detail without spoiling things. Just know that I was yelling.

For some reason I was under the impression that this was a duology, and this made the final chapters of the book significantly more stressful for me. If that ending had been the ending to the entire series I would’ve been so mad. I’ve never been so happy to learn that I was wrong. I know that at the time of this review being posted this book hasn’t technically been released yet, but please I am begging for it to be less than another two years before the third instalment’s release.

I would absolutely recommend this book/series.

WOW! this book picks up exactly where Legendborn ends and it's packed with action from the get go- it was so great to revisit this world and I didn't think it possible but Tracy Deonn adds even more layers to this story.

I loved the introduction of new characters but more importantly I thought the growth of existing actors was fantastic and I love Alice!

To go back to the world building you are truly immersed in this adventure, I visualise when I read and woah this was a wild ride- I went through such a plethora of emotion and there were more than a few head in hands moments- no spoilers but I was constantly on edge to see who was getting out of this in one piece.

This series has my heart I was so excited when I read that this was going to be BiPOC, Arthurian Legend it's such a fabulous concept and Tracy Deonn has taken that and made it better than I could ever imagine.

When I started reading this I thought we were expecting a duology but as I was reading it felt like a middle book there are definitely elements of scene setting for the future story and I can't tell you how over the moon that this book is not the end but equally impatient for book number 3- it's gonna be a long anxious wait for lots of readers.

This series is just brilliant!

I absolutely loved LEGENDBORN and was super excited to read this one - though I was unsure on whether I would, purely because I didn't really want to add another series to my list.

Overall, I thought it was a very complex and tense yet interesting book.

There was so much happening that I had to read this in sections to stop my brain from feeling like it's going to implode. There's just so much to the magic elements that I didn't completely follow it, just enough to roughly understand what was happening.

There's a lot more exploration into the side characters which I really liked - my favourite being Alice, I loved getting to see her more involved.

I had made the decision to read this book, and no further ones because I didn't feel like I'd be able to stick with a fantasy series and completely enjoy it. However, after that ending, I now need to know what on earth is going to happen next!

Bloodmarked is a fantastic sequel to Legendborn and a wonderful own-voice fantasy novel.
Tracy Deonn’s notes in the acknowledgements provide insight into her own experiences and how she has woven these into a book which allows (particularly) black girls and women to see themselves in her characters, but also how other BIPOC readers may empathise with being ‘the first’.
Absolutely a book I would recommend for all my YA readers.
I can’t wait for the next book in the series!

This is the perfect sequel to the first book, I absolutely adored it!
The writing and storyline is phenomenal
It was fast-paced, wasn't overcomplicated and it kept you engaged.
I loved the new characters as well as falling more in love with the original characters
Thankyou for the ARC NetGalley and Simon & Schuster

I loved Legendborn and so I was so excited to get to read this and I wasn't even slightly disappointed. It followed on seamlessy with a fast paced and pages that were crammed full of action and mystery. The characters, both old and new were well developed and I found myself really loving them. I didn't want this book to end, and another stunning cover.

Bloodmarked was fast paced and action packed, full of constant surprises and a lot of strength (not just the whole excallibur thing.) I truly loved the sequel, and thought everything was executed perfectly.

I loved the new characters that were introduced, and was glad to see more development and focus on older characters too, especially Alice and William. As with the first book, I loved Bree and it was great to see her own her strength and continue to learn and grow.

The world building was really immersive, and easy to visualise, but my favourite parts of the book were the action scenes, which were handled with so much detail, and tension, it had me alternating between closing the book and taking deep breaths or jumping to the bottom of the page to make sure my favourite characters made it through alive.

Bloodmarked easily has one of the most interesting and engaging plots I have read in a while, and was really glad to get an arc, as legendborn was one of my favourite reads last year. The ending of this book has me excited but also terrified to read the next book.

Bloodmarked picks up soon after the events of Legendborn, and if you need a quick re-cap before jumping into book two, check out this one I found. Bree managed to infiltrate the league of Legendborn, only to find she was the Scion of King Arthur himself. Nicks father, none too happy with this turn of events, kidnapped his son and is on the run. Sel, after his shocking declaration, is giving Bree the cold shoulder, and the Regents, the people who are supposed to protect and revere the Scion of Arthur want nothing more than to keep her a secret, especially after they learn just how Bree's and Arthur's lines got intertwined. But Camlann is coming, and thanks to the Regents determination to keep this hidden, Bree finds herself on the run determined to rescue Nick, and find a place for Bree to learn to control both her Legendborn and Root powers. For if Bree is to save her friends and win this war, she must learn to wield the powers gifted by her ancestors, she just has to make sure she doesn't loose herself to them first.

Bree has always been a favourite character of mine, but her actions and growth in this book just made me fall even more in love with her. She is incredibly strong, especially when you realise she has these powers, her Legendborn ones, because her ancestor was raped, something she now has to live with the knowledge of. She is put through so much in this story, betrayal, loss, heartbreak, but through it all she just wants safety for herself and her friends. She's one of the most realistic 'ya' MC's I've ever read. She's got that resilient, almost indestructible mindset that teenagers have, always running headfirst into danger, she's confused about her love life, determined to learn to control her powers, basically she tries to carry the world on her shoulders. But what's truly amazing to see is just how much she grows through this book. She learns that in putting herself in danger, she is endangering those who are bound to protect her, that now she is the Scion of Arthur, there is no such thing as working alone.

We also get treated to loads more William, Alice and Sel in this book which made me so happy. Sel may not always show it, but these three are Bree's true believers and supporters. As a Knight, William is bound to protect her, but he also views her as a friend and someone he cares deeply about. Alice, thanks to not being from the Legendborn world gives Bree a sense of normalcy. She is someone who has known, and supported Bree for most of her life and is the one person who Bree can count on being there for her, not because of an oath, but because she loves her. Sel is... complicated. As a sucker for an enemies to lovers romance, as well as a bad boy redemption, I was a sucker for him in the first book, something that absolutely carried through to this one. We learn more about his past, his feelings towards Bree, and apart from a certain part where he was an idiot, I just fell more in love with him. The interactions between these four were some of my favourite parts of the book. The snark from Alice and Sel, the eye rolling and patience from William, Bree trying to keep the peace. It all added a levity to a heavy hitting and sometimes dark read.

As in the first book, Deonn writes Bree as a strong Black female MC, and through her shows the slights, both small and large that Black women deal with on a daily basis. Between the regents not wanting to accept Bree as the Scion of Arthur, to how she is treated by some of the other Legendborn as well as regular mortals, Deonn paints a bleak, but realistic story on how women like Bree are treated. But she also uses Bree, as well as the magic system to celebrate Black heritage. One of my favourite parts of this series as a whole has been learning about Bree's Root magic. How it ties her to her ancestors, how through it she can commune with and receives visions of them. Like the Arthurian legend and magic shiz is cool, but the POWER she shows through the Root magic, the power of a people who had to hide who they were for fear of being killed, it was incredibly well done, and some of my favourite, spine tingly and emotional scenes where when her Root magic was being used or she was communing with her ancestors.

I'm always amazed when an author can put that much detail into book one... lets be honest, it was a chunk, and yet still managed to build on it and surprise us with new bits of information in the second book. I think it's safe to say that Deonn has never heard of second book syndrome because there was no part of this book where the story lagged, the pace slowed down, it meandered. Instead the story takes off from the first page and the pace never really lets off. There are plenty of plot twists to keep us glued to the pages, as well as making us wonder who we can really trust, and if there is one thing Deonn writes spectacularly well, it's fight scenes. I sometimes struggle visualising fight scenes in my head, but these play like a movie. Her descriptive writing effortlessly brings them to life and I loved reading the parts where the Legendborn and Rootcraft powers were used.

Ok, I'm calling it. 2022 is the year of the killer cliffhanger because the ending of this book destroyed me! I knew it wasn't going to end well, especially after the ending of book one, but I think the author is determined to torture us because I cannot be expected to wait a WHOLE YEAR to find out what happens next. I think it's safe to say I loved this story SO MUCH. The year wait for the final book will be torturous, so ignore me while I just sit here and cry. But on a serious note... pick up this book. If you enjoy Arthurian Lore but just want MORE then this is the series for you.

I loved this book so much. I really enjoyed the first book and was so excited for this one. I loved the various relationships, both platonic and romantic, I adored a couple of the new characters. Just like in book 1 there were moments I felt so angry on behalf of the characters and at the situations. The relationship between Bree and Sel is a highlight for me. I did not get some of the twists and was so excited reading them as they unfolded. Can't wait for book 3

Oh. My. God. What just happened !?

I've just finished the ARC for this book (Thanks NetGalley and Tracy Deonn ♥️) and I am unwell. .

I was not ready for ANY of it.

Did I love it ? Yes. I ADORED it.

Have I felt through all possible human emotions and more ? Indeed. That book toyed with my feelings and I loved every minute of it.

Damn I need more 😱.