The Blood Gift (The Blood Gift Duology Book 2)

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My favorite was the main character, which is a bit too on the nose but hear me out. She is amazing. She has anger issues that seriously needs to be worked on. Well, I kinda liked how angry she got because I personally translated that to a lot of energy and passion for everything she does. At times though, she was just doing the most. For now, I believe Davenport wrote her this way to reveal how her rashness was the reason for some of her downfalls in this book. I hope she recognizes this more and would really encourage Davenport to write her character with some growth in this issue while mainiting her vivaciousness. I do understand that she wanted this to be a trilogy, the publisher wanted a duology so she had to combine her ideas for books 2 and 3 into one book. Honestly some of those ideas that were originally for book 3 could've been dropped in favor of fleshing out some other plots. I still had questions that didn't get answered because they were breezed past for other plots. More people needed to die! The deaths we had I feel like we didn't really get to know those characters well/weren't following Ikenna around them long enough for them to have big impact. I found the world-building really frustrating. The world of Iludu sounds beyond intriguing. Some people have gifts that are legacies of special talents bestowed by the gods before the gods were banished. This is a world with a long history of war that it seemed like the reader was supposed to be familiar with but was never explained in a comprehensive way. The first portion of the book swung from huge passages filled with info-dumping to situations where explanation would’ve been helpful but was notably absent. The synopsis of The Blood Trials explains the situation in Mareen better than the book itself, which about sums up my frustration with how world-building is handled in the book.

Bent on revenge as much as discovering the truth, Ikenna pledges herself to the Praetorian Trials–a brutal initiation that only a quarter of the aspirants survive. She subjects herself to the racism directed against her half-Khanaian heritage and the misogyny of a society that cherishes progeny over prodigy, all while hiding a power that–if found out–would subject her to execution…or worse. Ikenna is willing to risk it all because she needs to find out who murdered her grandfather…and then she needs to kill them. Mareen has been at peace for a long time… Ikenna joining the Praetorians is about to change all that. Much has been said about the violent nature of the books... and maybe I'm just a horrible person that has been desensitized... nothing here felt particularly worse than something I read a decade ago in The Hunger Games or experienced while on my Criminal Minds rewatch.... but that's going to be a reader by reader basis. I'd say that while the book feels very juvenile and filled with a lot of half baked ideas, it does mostly read as a book for the adults it's marketed toward. I also think it's one of the rare books with characters in the grey space age of early adulthood that doesn't feel like it's trying to split the difference and appeal to two age categories, despite the nature of the writing. This story starts out feeling very YA, which makes sense because the characters are teenagers. But this is not a YA fantasy despite the young characters and it does eventually find it's footing. One of the very first things I noticed about this book, which continued throughout the whole story, is that the writing is very choppy. There are lots of short sentences right after each other instead of being combined with commas and contractions. Stopping at so many periods so frequently was jarring and made for a reading experience that wasn’t too enjoyable for me. There also was not a lot of worldbuilding at all—just a little bit about the government of Mareen and the Pantheon of gods they may or may not believe in, but not much else. The writing style really makes this book feel like a debut novel to me. I kept being pulled out of the story because of how something was explained or the word choices made, and it made it clear that this story has a really cool concept but with poor execution. The blood spilled between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor long ago. The blood gifts of Mareen's deadliest enemies. The blood that runs through the elite War Houses of Mareen, the rulers of the Tribunal dedicated to keeping the republic alive.

The blood spilled between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor long ago. The blood gifts of Mareen’s deadliest enemies. The blood that runs through the elite War Houses of Mareen, the rulers of the Tribunal dedicated to keeping the republic alive. Speaking of Reed, I really liked the development of his character and thought his dynamics with Ikenna were tension-filled and thoroughly enjoyable, I can’t wait to see how things develop in the sequel.

I re-read The Blood Trials before I jumped into this just to be refreshed and immersed in this world and ready for one of my most anticipated reads of 2023. And I have to say it was not a 5-star read and at the conclusion, I have unresolved feelings. This does not mean I did not enjoy the book, I did, immensely! But I was a tad disappointed because I had hyped myself up so high for this as Blood Trials was one of my top 5 reads of 2022. Amidst all of this, the Blood Emperor wages a full-scale invasion against Mareen and leaves a trail of death in his wake. As the horrors increase, Ikenna and her team realize they must end the Blood Emperor to end the war. But the price to do so is steep and has planet-shattering consequences.

With a high-octane sci-fi setting, a twisty murder mystery, and a badass heroine, THE BLOOD TRIALS is a damn good time’ Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of For the Wolf But I could've ignored that, because I didn't have very high expectations for her anyway. However, I couldn't ignore all the issues I had with the writing. I really didn't expect this book to go as dark and detail in the violence as it did especially with the type of cover they chose. It's a matter of survive or die for Ikenna and crew as they face a series of harsh challenges meant to kill the weakest of the lot. Levity comes through the modern dialogue with familiar slang and the moments between Ikenna and her friends where they can talk about relationships and memories and aspirations. Ikenna's trials and tribulations: awesome. The ridiculously violent training that leads to hundreds of young people being murdered: awesome. Ridiculous, but awesome. The awful interlude where you have to sit through her watching cannibals roast and eat a fellow student: violent, disgusting, and a great indicator of where this book firmly sits.