Book Review: Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

The Legendborn Cycle series by Tracy Deonn currently consists of three books: ‘Legendborn’ (2020), ‘Bloodmarked’ (2022) and the highly-anticipated ‘Oathbound’ (2025).

Following on, almost immediately from the events of ‘Legendborn’, ‘Bloodmarked’ explores the levels of control that the Order of the Round Table and its Regents have upon the Scions and Squires.

After Bree manages to pull the ancient, legendary sword of Excalibur from the stone, and slays the demons that attacked her friends, she is forced to acknowledge a lot of cruel truths upfront. No longer is she Squire Matthews, a forgettable face in the order, despite being connected to the Scion of Arthur, Nicholas, she is in fact the Scion of Arthur herself. She should be king.

But the order don’t want to face their institution waging war on demonkind with a sixteen-year-old black girl, who was living a normal life, just months before, at the helm, wielding Excalibur.

Sel, Bree’s reluctant friend, and capable Merlin, is not bonded to her, and tried to kill her multiple times, and is being tried for treason over mistaken identity, and Bree can’t help him. And he can’t help her.

After a disastrous ceremonial event where Bree would be heralded as the called, and therefore Awakened Scion of Arthur, she is drugged and shipped off to an institution, brainwashed with mind magic, and forced to forget how long she has been in the care of the Regents, and subsequently manipulated into answering the same questions again and again, with no company or allies within reach. The only other member of the Order with her is William, who is being forced to help administer power dampening serum and take samples from Bree to help the Order discover the way her Root works.

When they are finally freed from the Institute, Bree, Sel, William and Alice, Bree’s Onceborn best friend, seek Rootcrafters for their guidance and help to allow Bree to nurture her ancestral power.

While one could argue that this book was effectively a filler book, dense with necessary information amidst a training arc, I believe that the character development between all the characters in this book make this story incredibly necessary to further the plot. I loved the pacing, and the different places and characters that Bree came across. It made the world feel richer, and ensured that it was clear that there was another way to celebrate ancestral craft, like the Rootcrafters do, as opposed to the Order.

I loved the greater insight into Mariah and her family unit that was established in this book. There was so much depth and room for character growth through her actions and her inactions in the first book, so to see her let her walls down and ensure Bree is welcome, despite being a Bloodcrafter, a tabboo in the Rootcrafting community, it was very well-executed.

Similarly, I loved the way that William and Sel responded to the Rootcrafter community, and were willing to learn, be corrected, and chastised and become better people through listening to what Mariah and her family had to say.

This book was fantastic, and the twist was incredible. I would have hated to have had to wait the three years between the release of ‘Bloodmarked’ and ‘Oathbound’, and was grateful I read this book upon the release of the third book. I loved this book and was quick to start book three.