Legendborn #2
The magic of the Arthurian legends continues! Can Bree control her own powers? All Bree ever wanted was to uncover the truth about her mother’s death. And so she infiltrated the order of toll-bearers, a secret society of descendants of King Arthur’s knights – and there she discovered her own powers inherited from her ancestors. And now Bree has become someone new. Medium. Blood shop. The heiress. But the ancient war between the demons and the Order is coming to a deadly climax. And Nick, the toll collector that Bree fell in love with, was kidnapped. Bree wants to fight, but the regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is just an unknown girl with strange powers, and as the living anchor of the spell that preserves the cycle of toll collectors, she must be protected. When the Regents prove they’re willing to do anything to keep the war a secret, Bree and her friends must go it alone to save Nick. But enemies are everywhere, and Bree’s powers are unpredictable and dangerous. And she also can’t escape the growing attraction she feels for Selwyn, the mage who has promised to protect Nick until his death. If Bree is to have even a glimmer of hope to save herself and those she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them first—and not lose herself in the process.
This is the second book in the Legendborn series that I read in a day as soon as I finished Legendborn. The first book was so good I just had to race through the second, and though I think overall I enjoyed the first book more, I still thought this second book in the series was excellent. I cannot wait to finish this series with book 3 when it comes out.
Bloodmarked follows Bree after her initiation into the Order and the new challenges she faces as more and more challenges arise. As Bree fights the hierarchy that has been established for 1500 years, more and more hurdles come to light, and the burden weighs down on her to try and reverse the tides of history and customs. Full of twists and turns, this is an exciting second book in the journey of self-discovery, and also in fighting against the given path.
The world-building continues to be top tier, and as we reveal more of the hierarchical society and how the strings are being pulled behind the scenes. This for me was the biggest element continue to pull me forward. I kept wanting to know more about the society and how it was integrated into the “real world” and how this supposedly tied into the history. This book moves away from the school life and is much more about the facing the adversity directly, and also adds a lot more dimension to the story as a whole and really expanded the world.
The composition of the cast of the characters has shifted slightly since the first book, but the characters continue to be interesting as more is revealed about each character. However, the book felt a little bit more plot driven in general, compared to the first book. As such, the characters weren’t as dived into, at least the periphery characters. However, some of the new characters were definitely interesting and this is not a downside to the book at all.
This book was a lot more fast-paced. It almost read like a thriller, and so in general it was a lot more plot-driven. However, it still suffered a little bit from middle-book syndrome, and I hope even more interest will be revealed in the last book. In that sense, it felt like the book was a lot of movement (think fast-paced thriller), and more light on actual plot points driving it forward. It felt much more like a situation-after-situation high speed car chase than a planned and executed heist. This in itself wasn’t a bad thing, but in a world where it felt like there were so many things to explore, this book half-felt like just a bridge to the last book (which I suppose, it is).
Overall, it was still a good second book, and I feel like I will need to read book three to complete the series to really get an idea of how good the second book was. As it is, I am left really wanting more in the third book, so I suppose that could be seen as a good thing or bad thing depending how you look at it. For me, I will reserve full judgment until I get the rest, but the overall vibe and atmosphere of the book was definitely different from book one to book two. Not different in a bad way, but could be more surprising if you weren’t expecting it
Overall Recommendations
Bloodmarked continues to follow Bree in her climactic journey as part of the Order. As she meets more and more of the Regency, and the longest held secrets finally come to light, what will she do when things may not be as they seem? How can she stand against centuries of precedent and unwavering hierarchy in the face of adversity. As everything. builds to a climax, just how much of a role can she play in shaping the future? Follow this exciting and fast-paced journey of a second book, and eagerly await the third book with me!
Down the Rabbit Hole 