Bloodmarked

Zuviele Ebenen und Handlungsstränge machen das Lesen und Verstehen manchmal schwierig - auch die Entscheidungen von Briana sind für mich nicht immer nachvollziehbar - mir hat dieser Teil nicht gefallen und er kann mit Band 1 überhaupt nicht mithalten.

I'm struggling to rate this book. So let's start with some things I liked: Deonns writing is wonderful. Her way with words reveal her very intricate, thought through worldbuild that never ceases to impress me. I liked that the book continues to show that the Order is a deeply bigoted old white men's club that is merely invested in self preservation for preservations sake. I also liked the ending. It's unexpectedly painful but a good conclusion to the story told. I'd be satisfied if the story stayed a duology but I also wouldn't be mad if it became a trilogy eventually. Unfortunately, there were a number of things I didn't like 1) the book feels very bloated. In Legendborn, it felt like Bree had accomplished a lot of thing throughout the story, like dealing with her mother's death, and adjusting and adapting to this twofold magic world she had only just begun to discover. I'm missing that sense of accomplishment in Bloodmarked. Brees main objectives at the start of the book seem to be "Find Nick" and "Learn to control both my root and Arthur's powers" While she sort of does both in the very very end, for 90% of the book she is just running around doing nothing and being attached by demons left and right. Generally, I felt like the pacing was off and for long stretches very little of actual relevance happended. 2) Bree My god this girl was annoying. I remember liking her in Legendborn but in Bloodmarked, she misses. The main plot for about two thirds of the book revolves around Bree not listening to anyone ever. Sometimes, stubborn main characters with very little regard for their own safety and wellbeing can be sort of endearing. This is not the case here. Bree is Arthur's Scion. If she dies, the world will go to shit. Best case scenario, she is killed by a human. The spell stays intact but Arthur's legacy goes to some unbeknownst relative of hers and the table is left without a king during camlann. worst case scenario, she is killed by a shadowborn and the spell ends leaving most of the world defense less. Bree knows this, mostly because everyone tells her every two to three pages. Still she refuses to listen because "I just... I don't like feeling coddled and useless. I'm not some damsel" Her entire thing is wanting to prevent more deaths and yet, she risks her friends deaths again and again by being incredibly reckless, full well knowing that each one of them would gladly sacrifice themselves to save her and keep the spell intact. Still she is obnoxious, careless and more than once pulls the "I'm your king you have to do as I say" card. She also spends a significant amount of time whining about how no one will let her make decisions and guess why girly? Because every decision you've made thus far has been fckn stupid and when her friends (very reasonably) suggest that being in the field is too dangerous for her she acts like it's the biggest betrayal in the world. Girl chill. Speaking of her friends. They're all obsessed with her and I can't figure out why for the life of me. I never liked Alice as a character that much in the first place because she very much felt like a plot device and that hasn't changed here. Most of her interactions with Bree are her telling Bree how strong brave kind amazing and special