The Blood Trials
Ratings21
Average rating4.2
💬: "I’m a cadet. I’m nowhere close to his rank. I’m also so much more than that and good ol’ boy Radson decided to fuck with me on the right day. I smile at Radson while motioning him forward. Feeling the severe strain of my cheek muscles, I know I appear a little psycho."
Davenport, N. E.. The Blood Trials (The Blood Gift Duology Book 1) (p. 9). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: fantasy, sci-fi, romance, adult,
📚Page Count: 453
🎧Audiobook Length: 18h 20min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5
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The Blood Trials by N. E. Davenport is a sci fi/fantasy ADULT story about a Black woman
who lives in a racist and misogynistic society who finds out her grandfather was murdered when she previously thought he died of natural causes. Ikenna is spending her last night as a cadet with friends when she privately gets the news, she instantly decides that she wants revenge. Joining The Praetorian Trials means that Ikenna can get close to the people who might have had a hand in her grandfathers death, so that's what she decides to do. She's sure that she cans survive the challenges, because she was trained by the best (her grandfather) and she has a secret blood gift to help her. Will Ikenna be able to survive the challenges while also figuring out who killed her grandfather?
There were plenty of things I really liked about this book. I love how the main character made impulsive decisions, now these decisions weren't always the best ones but I felt as if the character's personality really shined through and it was consistent. I liked how Ikenna often remembered her grandfather and how she would think about what advice he might give her. The action scenes were really well described in this book. And although some of the twists in the story were predictable, the story was written well so it was still interesting when revealed.
There was only one thing that I didn't like. I couldn't understand why the challenges were so hard, there were characters dying left and right and it felt like the Praetorians reasoning for the challenges being so hard didn't make sense. If no one survives your challenge then who actually wins? Literally no one, because the Praetorians wouldn't gain any new soldiers. There were so many people dying that it no longer became a shock when someone died, and it was no longer impactful. It ruined the immersion for me. Thankfully the story was written well so I was able to re-immerse myself back into the story a few chapters later.
There was one spicy scene, it was written well but I'm uninterested in spicy scenes between young adults. I'm giving the spicy scene a one chili 🌶️ out of five chilies.
Overall, this book was really good. There was so much I enjoyed and very little I disliked. The theme of this book is "revenge" and it really reminds me of "Iron Widow" by Xiran Jay Zhao and I gave that book a 5. This book definitely deserves a 5 as well. I'm giving this 5 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5 Stars
I listened to this for free on the library app [HooplaDigital.com]
I'm simply speechless. This was a stunningly written book that is a guaranteed emotional roller coaster. The way it dealt with racism, misogynoir, sexism and their intersection with certain privileges was perfectly executed.
Whew... this was a read.
I've been so in to fantasy/sci-fi books lately and this scratched an itch I had to blend magic and technology together in such a satisfying way.
Don't be fooled this book is not YA. I'm not sure why I thought it was 🤣. This book is dark and goes into detail about the violence the aspirants go through. If you are looking for a book to transition you from YA Fantasy to Adult Fantasy this is the one.
Our FMC Ikenna is very impulsive in her actions. Of course not thinking about the consequences, but every step of the way she is hit with circumstances that force her to reflect on her actions. It was actually very refreshing to know that she isn't just this hot headed vengeful kid, but that she understands that her actions not only affect her but everyone else around her.
Overall, I think this was a great debut that dealt with racism, grief, and revenge! I can't wait for book two this year :))
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It ended a way that I didnt expect so I have mixed feeling but I loved everything else about the book so how can I give this book anything less than 5 stars plus i think the next book is going to be interesting and we are going to learn many things.
This reads very much YA in terms of the interactions between the characters. Ikenna is 19 and everyone else is about the same age. With that said there is a lot of violence and the political intrigue is very adult. I by no means think a cover or the gender of an author dictates the genre. I mean have y'all read The Poppy Wars or any of NK Jemisin???
Pros:
* Action: I love it! This is action packed. It is constantly happening and I'm OK with it.
* The magic system is interesting.
* The political intrigue is interesting.
* Cover: Beautiful. Gorgeous. Amazing. Ethereal.
Cons:
Magic system and the politics of it all needs to be fleshed out. We really don't get too much information about the magic system. I kept waiting to learn more about the goddess and hope that we learn more in the next installment. We were introduced to some of the politics towards the end of the book but don't really have details that would help us understand some of the moves that occurred towards the end of the book.
Ikenna worked my last nerve A LOT throughout the book. (I'll keep an open mind). My comments about it reading very much YA is more about the fact that I don't have much patience for YA these days and I had to push through some of the interactions because they were so childish at times. The amount of maturity needed to carry out these missions is something that is lacking from the majority of the characters.
Overall, I had a great time reading the book but really hope we get more world building just to understand the world outside of Ikenna's inner circle/bubble.