I loved book 1 and this was just as good, if not better!

The plot was just as fast paced as book 1 - there was no point where I was yearning for action, it was always coming exactly when you wanted it to.

At first I thought Bree was a bit off character, but I had to remember that this is a 16 year old girl in a totally new world. She doesn't know everyone and everything, and she has so much to learn before she can save Nick (and the world). Although they end up turning against her, it's not unreasonable for her to be trusting those in the order. She's young and has few true allies in the world she was thrust into.

We follow the best group of characters for the majority of this one, Alice, William and Sel are all amazing supporting characters with great personalities. We get to see them a bit more fleshed out and get to know them deeper than book 1. I do still wish we got more with Alice and William. They're strong characters and we see how they support Bree, but I would love a third person POV of them and their decision making. They're more neutral where Bree and Sel are the fiery ones.

Of course, all my fellow morally gray girls are probably also hoping for Sel and Bree to be a couple, and personally me too. I can't help loving his character arc and can't wait to see him in book 3. I don't love angst or a love triangle, so for me there needs to just be one person she wants and to me it's clearly Sel. Nick seems like more of a good friend.

The end was not a major cliff hanger, but certainly left me wanting more.

My 1 issue is Alice and Bree's parents. These are 16 year old girls that are on the run and just preemptively tell their parents "hey I'm busy and won't call for a few weeks." Personally I find that unrealistic. Certainly not every faculty member knows about the society and likely isn't covering for them. At some point someone would definitely call their parents, right? And they're missing homework and tests?

Overall I love this world and can't wait for book 3.

Goodreads review:
listed below

Tik Tok review: being edited, will be posted by 10/26

Amazon Review: Item not eligible for review until release

Tracy Deonn took no prisoners with this heart wrenching, terrifying, and un-put-downable sequel.

I truly have no words to describe this book because I'll either word vomit spoilers without any regard or be left speechless. Bloodmarked is officially one of my top ten books of 2022 and a top contender as one of my favorite sequels ever. I didn't think Deonn could make a better book than Legendborn, but I was 1000% wrong, anf I've never been more happy to say that. I can't wait to rant and scream about my feelings in a little over two weeks.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I recently read Legenborn and loved it so I was even more excited to read the second book. Tracy Deonn did not disappoint with this book.
Bree is still dealing with being the Scion of Arthur. Bree has so many things happening in the story and handles them well whilst Tracy Deonn manages to keep the fact that she is still a 16 year old girl. I absolutely loved this book.

The first book was so good, but this one seemed to drag. I kept putting it down in favor of reading other books, I was really frustrated with the love triangle and how immature Bree seemed. I’m still on for more though.

This book has so much going on and in my opinion, all of it was good. Teen angst and a love triangle? Yes, so much angst and in all the best ways. Arthurian legend retelling, magical, powers, ancestral magic and classic fantasy characters? Heck yes, but it also tackles American racism and ableism in our modern world in powerful ways. As Bree continues to come into her own as both a person and in her magic, I continued to fall in love with this southern teenage love story. The plot meandered a bit at times, but the ending left me entirely ready for a third book in the series immediately!

I think I enjoyed this one even more than the first one. Bree is still reeling from discovering that she is the Scion of Arthur, the one true King, Nick is missing, and a war is coming.
The order will stop at nothing to hide the war from everyone else. Bree is trying to learn how to use her root and has been talking to Arthur to learn to use his strength. Can she figure out how to become her most powerful self before it's too late?
I loved the new characters that were introduced and the usual cast of Bree, Alice, Sel, and Nick.
Highly recommend giving this series a read if you like fantasy.
Thanks to #netgalley for an ARC to read and review.

This was a fantastic sequel! Deonn continues to add layers and layers to the world of Rootcraft, Legendborns, Bloodcraft, and more. I'll always be amazed by her ability to craft a story that is so deep, honest, and real.

✨ ℝ 𝔼 𝕍 𝕀 𝔼 𝕎 ✨

If you need me, I live in the Legendborn world now. This was my most anticipated release this year, and it did NOT disappoint.

Bree is strong and vulnerable, resilient and in her feels, brave and terrified, intuitive and intelligent yet constantly learning something new; she is everything young girls should be inspired by. She doesn’t have it all together, she’s not perfect, and she has, and shows, actual human emotions. The way she navigates her trauma and the evil she must face leaves me awe-struck every time. At 16-turning-17, she’s handling life much better than I am and I don’t have magical beings after me. 🙃

I appreciate the way Tracy Deonn weaves issues of racism, from microaggressions to overt attacks, throughout the plot. It’s a very real part of Bree’s life, and of Black people everywhere, and it’s a reminder to us all that we must do better. This may be a work of fiction, but the racism evident in this book is all too real in our world today.

🛑 𝗦𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗻 (book one) 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 🛑

If you haven’t read Legendborn, first of all- what are you doing with your life? But also, stop here because spoilers for Book One are a’coming.

Now that Bree is known to be the Scion of Arthur, all hell breaks loose- obviously. Nick is missing, Sel is sullen as per usual, and Bree’s not sure who she can trust. As she navigates herself and her friends through the toughest battles they’ve faced yet, she may learn that the person she has to trust most is … herself.

I couldn’t put this book down for the life of me. I get so wrapped up in Bree’s world that it’s hard to walk away from it. Thank you so much to @netgalley and @simonand for this e-ARC. Out 11/8!! Don’t miss it.

Katie’s rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I loved the second book of this series and patiently waiting for the third. It was a little longer and slower than Legendborn to me but I could see the growth that Bree went through to get where she is now. It is just so well thought out and the twist and turns keep you on your toes. I also really enjoyed The Volition segment I can reread by itself I loved the history behind the ancestors and it just put things in a different perspective for me.

This was such a good follow up to legendborn! It had me refusing to put the book down because I just needed to know what would happen. I was excited to share my love for this story with Deonn at a festival this past weekend, but she had to cancel. Either way, I’ve been recommending this series to everyone, and I can’t wait for the next book!

This was exactly what I was hoping for in the sequel to Legendborn. Tracy Deonn takes us with Bree as she steps into her power and confidence and navigates through the trials before her. I recommend reading Legendborn if you haven’t already, and pick up Bloodmarked this November.

Deonn continues to amaze with the depths to which she can take this story. Bree is one of my favorite YA heroines, and I’m glad she gets the opportunity to continue to explore her powers, her history, and her future with all that this installment introduced. The world expanded with new characters, magic, and locations within the Legendborn world, which was fun to see.

I will say though that I was disappointed with the plot and pacing of this one compared to the first. The end of Legendborn perfectly set up the plot of a sequel, but Bloodmarked just… went in what felt like a completely different direction. And it didn’t always stick with that direction—the characters would decide on one course of action, only to double back to the other option after a few chapters. Also, some of the main characters I grew to love in Legendborn are barely given page time in order to develop other relationships, which detracted from the overall world/story for me.

Nevertheless, I still love this world and Bree, and I will definitely be reading the next installment!

I don’t even know where to begin. It’s been weeks since I finished Bloodmarked, and I still feel completely enveloped by it–scenes replaying in my head, bits of dialogue echoing through me.

This book was so good, and every review that says you’ll be clamoring for the next book after you finish is dead right. I NEED to know what happens next. (Oh, Bree, I hope you know what you’re doing!)

“Briana Irene, forever leaping before she looks.”

Bree’s journey continues to deliver and I love her oh so much. She is an amazing protagonist, perfectly flawed and achingly real. It is impossible not to root for her. The other characters–old and new, protagonists and antagonists–are similarly well-drawn. And, man, are there some new characters to loathe! Don't worry; there are some newbies to love too. Lots of “screen time” for William and Alice. Less so for Nick. As for Sel, let’s just say there’s a reason Sel is on the cover.

(For the Sel-antis made nervous by this, let me just say the totality of Sel’s actions in Legendborn are addressed on page and then some.)

This book does start off slower, necessarily so, but ultimately moves at a nice clip and does a great job of setting the stage for the next book while standing firmly on its own. The themes established in Legendborn continue to play out as Bree grapples with the truth of her existence and the expectations placed on her by both sides of her ancestry.

Meanwhile, the world expands nicely, and the magic system is both broadened and more finely detailed.

The writing remains amazingly immersive. It pulls you and latches right on to your senses and emotions. Tracy knows how to tell a story, that's for sure!

And ahh! I can't wait until November when I can re-read in physical form and highlight the hell out of my ebook and re-experience it all again in audio. Much love.

A wonderful, no, marvelous... I don't really have the words. Just... read this book, digest it, ruminate with it, understand its context and nuances... and tell every soul you can to pick this series up immediately.

I went into this with high expectations after "Legendborn" blew me away when I first read it, and somehow, this book managed to exceed those expectations. From the very first chapter, it was already intense and I was already hooked, barely managing to put it down. And the intensity hardly stopped throughout the entirety of the book. Moments where the characters could relax and be happy were few and far between and didn't last very long but that just made me cherish those moments more when I did come across them.

There were several times where what was happening and being said in the book made me angry to the point where I was visibly shaking and had to pause mid-chapter to take a breather and a few moments where I nearly threw my e reader across the room. Tracy Deonn is a masterful writer and great at making her readers truly feel something. She is also great at ending her book with cliff hangers that, once again, make me want to throw my e reader across the room. I thought the ending of "Legendborn" was bad, but this was somehow worse and it is made even worse by having not the slightest clue as to when the next book will be but I do know that I will be jumping on that as soon as possible.

I truly believe that Bree Matthews is one of the best main characters ever written and I adore her. She is strong and dependable and loyal and stubborn but she sometimes does things that will remind you that she is just a sixteen year old, which can be easy to forget with everything going on. I love her relationships, both platonic and romantic and... otherwise confusing and frustrating (I'm looking at you, Sel) and I loved getting to see more of that in this book. More of her friendship with Alice and Will. Not too much of her and Nick considering the circumstances but the few scenes we got of them I loved. Then there was a lot of her and Sel and as I said, confusing and frustrating, usually in the best way possible. I will also say I am not typically keen on love triangles but this is one of maybe two instances where I have actually enjoyed a love triangle. I love both Sel and Nick, they represent my two favorite book boyfriend tropes: Nick as the golden retriever type and Sel as the brooding, dark, mysterious, sometimes morally gray type. They are so polarizing and Bree has great chemistry with both of them and I am both excited and scared to see where it goes.

Overall this was an intense, very fast paced, stressful, heart wrenching page turner of a book and I think it might be in my top three books of the year, definitely top 5. I can't wait for everyone else to get their hands on this masterpiece and I can wait even less for the third book to be written and you better believe I will be snatching an arc of that as well.

On book 2 of this adventure, you’re taken on a journey of power, alliances, traitors, creatures. Just perfect. A page turner for sure & I can’t wait for the continuation of this storyline.

This is a great sequel to a stunning debut, and I love how Deonn went even deeper with her commentary on/remixing of 'traditional' YA fantasy tropes and narratives. This not only has amazing character building and work, but it also gives a much deeper, more satisfying twist on Arthurian legends than I've ever read before. I know this will be as big a blockbuster as the first book in the series, and I'm so excited to see it fly off the shelves.

I would love to interview Tracy Deonn for my podcast Raise Your Words. I’ve interviewed authors Priyanka Taslim, Intisar Khanani, Annika Sharma, and others. I am a huge fan of Tracey Deonn and the characters Bree and Sel.

Bloodmarked is a fantastic sequel to Legendborn. Bree is dealing with the fall out to the realization that she is King Arthur's scion along with Nick's sudden disappearance. The war is coming and Bree wants to fight, but the regents are concerned that she will be a liability. Soon Bree is on an adventure to learn how her powers work and where they come from.
Bloodmarked does such a good job of continuing Bree's story. I loved the focus on some of the characters in the background in Legendborn. It was also such an interesting ride learning more about Bree's power.
I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment.

In the course of about three days, I descended into "Legendborn" hyperfixation: I loved the first book and how it set things up, while still admitting that it had a few faults. While Bree as a central protagonist was one of the most fun, empathetic, and riveting main characters I'd come across in YA in years, Legendborn had a few tropes that felt "same-samey' - chosen one whose powers are of strange or mysterious provenance, dead mom hiding secrets, love triangle... etc etc. "Legendborn" was written well enough that the tropes weren't really to its detriment, but I did note them, and wondered whether its followup of "Bloodmarked" would wobble or walk.

I'm pleased to report that "Bloodmarked" takes everything "Legendborn" did and improves upon it. No second book syndrome here! No, following the events of "Legendborn", Bree is thrust into nonstop action as she tries to determine who she can trust. There are betrayals, revelations, and I read the whole thing at a gallop. Bree continues to be a refreshingly competent heroine, and her love interests - Sal and Nick - both shine in different ways (although Sal is given more development than Nick, the latter of which was off-page for a chunk of the book due to plot). Even my distaste at the love triangle mostly lifted, as there... were complications... that rendered all three characters' emotions and relationships very interesting.

And the next book? I can't wait for it. "Bloodmarked" has set everything up to be so interesting, so on its head, that I can't imagine where Deonn will go. And that is so exciting! I haven't been as in love with a YA series like this in a long time. Highly recommended!