Reader Thoughts - Tumblr Posts

As a black reader/writer I feel compelled to talk about Legendborn and Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn. I also want to hear what other readers think of the series and to see if I’m not alone in the way I feel about it.

I picked up Legendborn two weeks ago and finished it before the week was even over. It was everything I wanted in a book. A black main character, a magic system based on legends, a romance with a guy who is actually nice. I dove in Bloodmarked immediately and I have never been more disappointed in a book. I haven’t even finished it yet that’s how disappointed I am.

Spoilers for both books below

Bloodmarked stripped Legendborn of everything I liked about it. I mean, I loved the beginning and it felt in line with the first book, but from the second Bree escapes from the regents, it feels like a different book.

I first started feeling something was off when William, Alice, and Sel told Bree that she had to go into hiding. We had such good development from the beginning of the book—Bree is king but isn’t treated like one then Bree is finally treated like a king and starts making decisions for her people. Then we regress back to Bree is not treated like a king. Such a big deal was made out of the argument too. Bree said they were shattered, but then…everything is fine a page later. No one brings this up again.

The second thing I noticed is Bree’s friends told her she had no time to train then immediately search for someone to train Bree. I tried to give this the benefit of the doubt and assume they meant they had no time to train her while searching for Nick, but they had time to train her in hiding, but more inconsistencies kept happening.

When the gang went to the Crossroads Lounge, this is really when I felt Deonn lost the plot. We are damn near 35 chapters into this book and Nick hasn’t been found. My man was Kristoff’d. Most of the characters from Legendborn don’t exist anymore. Even new characters like Lark disappear and don’t seem to have any importance. Bree has learned nothing about controlling her powers and somehow seems weaker than in the first book. Remember, she defeated Vaughn. She punched through a hellfox. Now she needs now be rescued at every instance.

It doesn’t even feel like it’s written by the same author anymore. There is no plot. There is barely any mention of Bree’s mother, which was her driving force in the first book. And now a bunch of new, unneeded stuff is being added in.

I feel like everything about the lounge, Valec, and the other aether users could have been a spin off book without Bree. This series was supposed to be about camlann coming, which I guess waits for Lancelot to be ready.

Back to the inconsistencies. After William, Alice and Sel made such a big deal about how Bree is such a damsel and will die if she doesn’t go into hiding, the second Nick is in danger they’re like “ok bye Bree”. This one nearly took me out. There isn’t even a discussion about it. They just changed their minds for absolutely no reason.

I don’t get why Nick even told Bree where he was because when she first spoke with him he begged her not to find him because it was too dangerous. Guess he changed his mind for absolutely no reason too.

I again nearly lost it when Valec finds out that Bree is king. He not only said the pendragon was not welcome, he insinuated he would kill Arthur’s scion. He was so serious…and then said nothing when Sel, who was previously intent on keeping Bree’s identity secret, tells him she’s the king. Not one word about it. The only thing he does after is help her.

The part that made me stop reading entirely is when they said Bree was bloodmarked. First of all, don’t change canon like that. We saw it happen in Vera’s memory, why are you acting like we didn’t. Second of all, I don’t see what the point of doing that was. To me, it feels like it undermines what Vera did. Like yeah, Bree actually isn’t powerful as the product of racism, it’s because of a demon.

Don’t even get me started on Bree’s relationship with Sel. I knew from the first time she met him that the author would force them together, but I prayed the entire way she wouldn’t fall for such a stupid cliché. I was so happen when I saw the chemistry between Bree and Nick and thought I was mistaken, but now I feel worse about Bree and Nick being together. Because why would you have her kiss him for a second later to be swooning over Sel. It feels less like a love triangle and more like emotional cheating. I hate it.

I also hate how every ya author feels the need to make the girl end up with a guy who repeatedly hurts her instead of the one who treats her like the goddess she is. What are we trying to teach young girls?

I could say so much more, but in summary Bloodmarked feels more like a poorly written excuse for a love triangle than the black empowerment Legendborn was. Legendborn stood out among the crowd and it felt like something I needed. Bloodmarked is like every other ya fantasy and makes me wish Legendborn was a stand alone.

But I don’t know. Is it worth it to finish it?

I just finished Gideon the Ninth and I have THOUGHTS

I’ve seen people talk about this book for a while but never about the plot, so I pretty much went in blind. I wish I knew before reading it that there is a glossary at the end. I was so confused for most of the book and would have gotten invested a lot faster if I understood the terms. That one was on me. My bad.

Okay so obviously there are some issues—every book has their own. It took me over a hundred pages to really get into the book because I didn’t understand the world or plot. I think more can be explained at the beginning. It’s such a fascinating world; Muir should give us much more of it. My other main issue is that sometimes there are paragraphs after paragraphs of dialogue and each line has a dialogue tag. There’s only two people talking. You don’t have to keep telling me who they are.

For a book I thought I wouldn’t like for the longest time, I was pleasantly surprised. Like I love it so much that I got on here to share my thoughts, which isn’t something I usually do. It’s not my favorite, but it sure is unique and entertaining.

I love the different houses and how they interact with each other. I actually wish we learned more about them. We understand the Ninth House, but what is life like on the different houses. I at least liked the little bits I learned about the fourth with the child soldiers. I also like that each necromancer has a different title because each house serves a different function. But seriously, how are you gonna casually write about princesses and give no details about what they do on their planets?

This book has some of the best character development I have ever seen. Especially with Harrow. She and Camilla were my favorites so I’m glad they made it to the end. I also think it’s really funny how there’s all these fantasy names and then there’s Camilla.

I like when Gideon gets more depth too. She went from seeing the fourth as bad teens to trying to protect them. That was one of my favorite parts.

I can’t believe Gideon forgave Harrow. I’m glad she did because I love them, but I have held grudges over much less offenses. I like that Gideon comes off as abrasive at first but the more you learn about her you realize she’s really compassionate. It’s amazing considering the environment she grew up in. Such a great character.

I LOVE the trials. I just love when people slowly figure things out, and this is also when I started understanding necromancy so I was really into the learning. I also appreciated that even though Harrow and Gideon hated each other, they made such a good team and that without trying, Gideon made such a good cavalier.

I often say I like the idea of enemies to lovers and not the common execution of it, but this book embodies that idea perfectly. Gideon and Harrow never become lovers, but the emotional growth they go through and the passion they have for each other kinda represents that feeling. They don’t need to be lovers for this trope to work. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for instead of just an asshole male lead who was never actually going to kill the female lead and they’re both attracted to each other from the start. Nah, these two despised each other and still worked through it. Other authors need to take notes.

The ending was so good. I loved Cytherea flirting with Gideon while fighting her. There’s something about evil characters having a soft spot for a character that is so appealing to me. I’m also an absolute sucker for characters from the far off past existing in the present. Give me this and I will love you forever.

Cytherea is actually a lot like the villain in my wip for the exact reasons I like her. The more I thought about it, the more surprised I was about how much my wip ressembled parts of Gideon the Ninth considering I wrote this stuff before reading the book. The houses are like my clans, the necromancy is similar to the spirits, and both sets of characters are shuttled off to a new location that is full of death. That’s probably like I like this book so much.

Also—the quote “And God said, ‘And I am not enough.’” is one of the best quotes I have ever read. It solely makes up for all the book’s flaws.

So that’s it. I hope Harrow the Ninth is just as good. I get scared to read sequels now because certain sequels are genuinely the worst things I’ve read. I also hope the next book goes more in depth with the worldbuilding. I’m excited to continue this series.