July 2025 Not First in a Series BOTM - Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

[Jamie]

The shadows have risen, and the line is law.

All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights—only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new: A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion. But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped.

Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected. When the Regents reveal they will do whatever it takes to hide the war, Bree and her friends must go on the run to rescue Nick themselves. But enemies are everywhere, Bree’s powers are unpredictable and dangerous, and she can’t escape her growing attraction to Selwyn, the mage sworn to protect Nick until death.

If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them first—without losing herself in the process.

**This BOTM thread will be open until August 5th @ Midnight (in your time zone)**

[Ellen-Arwen]

Haley, are you planning on reading this? I am going to try and read it before the 5th but reading (and life!) are a bit, um, chaotic. I can't remember if anyone else was going to read it, sorry!

[Ellen-Arwen]

I'm trying to read this by August 5th - not sure I'll succeed as i haven't left myself enough time lol (it's a CHUNKY book), and I was hoping for some interaction but I'll see what i can do. (Busy days ahead!) It's good motivation to get it off my TBR anyway!

To end of chapter 10 (view spoiler)[

woah, I'd forgotten how fricking COMPLICATED this book/world/magic system is! The difference between merlins and Onceborn and Morgaines and Regents and and and... since I'm reading this pretty fast, I think I'm probably missing some key stuff but there you go :(

Can't believe the regents are all such.... a-holes. I mean, they're not really (at least not all of them), but the amount of corruption and lies and politic-ing is gross. And the blatant racism towards Bree is just horrid. Gah. If there wasn't so much at stake, I'd say she'd be better leaving the lot of them behind.

I'm pretty confused on the difference between root magic and the awakened scion magic, but just breezing on... I'm glad Alice is involved.

I REALLY hope that Sel isn't completely screwed over... although I can see this becoming a love triangle (when Nick returns....) and I kind of hate love triangles lol. (hide spoiler)]

[Ellen-Arwen]

Discovered I'm reading this on my own I think lol. Makes it less likely I'll finish it without the impetus of someone else but I'm giving it a go!

To end of chapter 16 (view spoiler)[
Okay, it's not getting any less confusing I have to admit - this is one of the main reasons I wanted to do this as a buddy lol. ANYWAY.

The Rite to become the official awakened scion was... confusing (how many times am I going to use that word?), but also DEEPLY uncomfortable. I am not Black, but the White Guy privilege from Arthur (and co) was... realistic, but awful. The part that's confusing me though is that she refused Arthur... but she's still the awakened Scion? Having the two parts of her magic - root magic from Vera and aether/Onceborn magic from Arthur - is interesting, but I don't honestly understand how they interact. The one thing I do get is that her Root magic means she can withstand mesmer (to a degree) and SEE magic, in a way that all of the others can't.

Then, AFTER the rite... well. OMFG. What complete and utter a-holes, the lot of them! I know they think they're doing what they need to do protect the charter and, ultimately, the world but Bree is a PERSON. Nick is a person. Sel is a person (and a demon, but who's counting?). Waking her up, making her forget - she's literally a test subject. I didn't see this coming; I didn't see the council being this awful. I thought the awfulness was going to be external rather than internal...
(hide spoiler)]
I am interested to see where this goes despite my intense confusion... and I might go and see if there's an old buddy thread I can bounce off of to help me understand all my questions since no one is going to read this lol.

[Ellen-Arwen]

Keeping myself motivated... to chapter 23 (view spoiler)[

Okay, now there's a whole other faction involved (I have to admit I groaned at more characters, so was pleased that some were familiar) - the lieges? And they're people who were once Scions of knights of the roundtable? Ex-non-called-up-Scions... who are loyal to the king but not to the regents... how did the regents even get in on all of this?

Hiding the earpiece in her steak was a good move; lucky that wasn't a meal she decided to miss!

I loved Mariah calling the scion thing being "heir to the throne of white dude magic." That summed up a lot. (hide spoiler)]

Can't find another chat in this group to bounce off sadly :(

[Ellen-Arwen]

To end of part 2/beginning of part 3 CONTROL (view spoiler)[

Just when I feel like I'm getting a hang of this world, something else is thrown at me... but I do feel like I am finally getting the 'lingo' down at least. And the dual heritage - rootlore from Vera, Legendborn powers from Arthur, but of course they're the same because of the rape that happened on Davis' plantation...

Jonas' betrayal was horrible, but it did seem like too many good things were happening. I can't imagine what it must be like for Alice; unable to see aether and therefore the magical blades and armour, but still see someone dying...

(Bree being attracted to Sel is so... irrelevant! I know it's YA and therefore there's an unspoken rule there needs to always be some love interest stuff going on - like when B noticed William was finding Lark attractive: not necessary! - but c'mon! Right now! I'm ignoring it lol).

Alice, Sel and William having unilaterally decided that Bree needs to go into hiding, just as she's decided she needs to train and accept her powers... this isn't going to go well... (hide spoiler)]

[Ellen-Arwen]

Just carrying on writing to myself lol - it's like a little reading journal.

To end of Chapter 36 (view spoiler)[

I've said it before, I'll say it again - there's just TOO MUCH material here. There's enough for about six books in this book alone (and I think I said similar about the first book). Either, extend the series and split it all up so you can keep all the interesting off-shoots and complicated lineages and characters (SO many characters), or - simplify it, and cut a lot.

It sounds harsh, but it would make it more readable,

Not to say I'm hating it, but it's just... overwhelming. In a not-so-positive way.

Anyway, so we've got a whole new trope/interest thing coming in now (totally reminding me of TV show 'Supernatural' which is kinda fun), with the crossroads demon, and 'The Hunter' which these 'other magic users, and the Root user (Lucille) that Bree tried to find here all know about (under different guises). We also have reference back to book one, when Bree was in a memory walk and it turns out the proprietor of the bar is connected to her ancestors... I got a bit lost there, not gonna lie.

One thing that is irritating me is... Alice. She's epic and managed to COMPLETELY SAVE THE DAY but - where did it come from? She didn't really get much airtime in the first book, so maybe she was always this confident and cool but... I dunno. She isn't believable. She's better adjusted than Bree, more observant, actually more helpful despite not having powers. I like her, but character-arc wise it doesn't work for me.

And I'm just tired of the Selwyn/Bree situation going on (which has been further complicated OF COURSE), so I'm going to ignore it. (hide spoiler)]

[Ellen-Arwen]

To Part Four VOLITION (view spoiler)[

Wow. So much... stuff. And I still think this would be an easier read, probably a better read, spread over multiple books but I am sucked in at this point. We've got cross road demons - sorry, The Cross Road Demon/The Hunter/The Great Devourer - mixed up with... root and white supremacy and years of Black subjugation and I don't fully 'get' all of it but there's a lot to get.

And Nick choosing to run after murdering [I've forgotten the name because there are too many names!] and Sel's mesmer and root mixed with aether mixed with generations of Bree's family having to have their first-born girl die young...

I don't know how this is going to pan out, and at this point I don't have the spoons to guess. Just gonna read it out. (hide spoiler)]

[Ellen-Arwen]

Woohoo, finished! Lots of thoughts - no one to read them, but I'll put them down anyway lol

(view spoiler)[ The ending was simultaneously exciting and a let-down. Having it reported to us didn't work for me; I wanted it on page. The ending/conclusion felt... kind of rushed, while the book was meandering... a lot happened (how many times can I say that? lol) but there wasn't a clear pathway. Having had a lot of conversations recently about YA publishing and 'what sells/gets literary agents' attention' this wouldn't fit the bill... every scene does advance the plot, but there's also a lot of retrodden feelings/vibes even if the happenings are different.

The expanded world-building was good in theory, but in practice made for just too unwieldy a novel. I admire what Tracey Deonn has done (which she articulates fairly well in the afterward), but I feel like there's at least three separate novels in here - a retelling of the Arthurian story, an exploration of grief, and a very personal but also ancient almost polemic about Black subjugation and White Supremacy. Each of these is a novel/series in itself; trying to get all of these in one is just too much - for this reader at least. (hide spoiler)]

Honestly, I don't think I will read the others in the series. I am curious as to Bree's journey but I also don't think I can deal with the level of ANGST (as well as my own confusion lol). I'm glad to have read it, but it wasn't a particularly enjoyable experience...

It would have been fun to have someone to bounce thoughts off of, and I'll definitely try harder to find someone to read 'unwieldy' novels with in the future!