Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

21 reviews

likeagilmoregirl's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Blood Like Magic is a high-stakes urban fantasy/sci-fi that explores themes of generational trauma, sacrifice, racism, and love. 

Based in Canada, the story follows a young witch who is about to perform the task that will solidify her magic. However, her entire family is stunned when their ancestor gives her the seemingly impossible task to destroy her first love. Filled with clever twists, dynamic characters, and a refreshingly unique magic system, Blood Like Magic is a must read for any fan of urban fantasy.

The only downside to this book was the pacing. It did take me two attempts to get into this book as I would find myself interested in the story and characters, but was struggling with how slow or fast the story was progressing. I wish the pacing had a bit more stability. I’m hoping this is something I will see improve with the sequel.

This is a powerful book. The characters are diverse and strong, but the storyline delves into difficult topics around racism and generational trauma. Please review content warnings before reading. 

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therainbowshelf's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

If you're looking for a dark, witchy sci-fi fantasy centering a strong female protagonist, this might be a pick for you! I enjoyed it but I didn't love it. A few things didn't work for me, especially every characters' insistence that words without set meaning definitely have this one specific random interpretation that doesn't make a ton of sense. That part was just frustrating and was a major plot element. 

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jenna_04's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

A lot of repetition in the story, it's very slow paced seeing it took 400 pages to get to the actual task being preformed. 

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gellyreads's review

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adventurous challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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annorabrady's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The magic system is interesting and well designed, though I won't lie and say it was particularly nice to read of some of the uses.
Especially in instances where blood mixee on open wounds or when Voya poured the blood into her eyes. The first drew me out of the story with thoughts of bloodborne illnesses and the latter triggering thosd thoughts AND completely grossed me out.
 

I understand and appreciate the resolution, and the point of the challenge. Though I feel angry about how the story wrapped up because Keis deserved betted.
I kept waiting for Voya to realize that self sacrifice was an option, or that revealing the truth to Luc about Justin was also an option. Also, binding Keis to the house with no contract with the outside world was especially cruel and selfish – the opposite of what she claims to be her goal. Hell, bringing down Justin would have succeeded in destroying both Keis and Luc while better appealing to the goal of helping everyone.
The ending is why I can't rate this higher. Though it's not bad enough for me to rate this lower. 

I do greatly appreciate the representation of various minority groups in this story, as well as the social commentaries on racism, colonialism, slavery, generational trauma, family dynamics, communities, dependencies on technologies, etc at various points in history. It's both timely and timeless. 

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xandra_'s review against another edition

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dark slow-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0


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jennyboj's review

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dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The blurb made me think the "killing your first love" thing was a tradition, but it's actually a unique task and the family is equally horrified about it. 

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twistykris's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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halfbloodprincess_hogwarts's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Blood Like Magic is pure perfection. I may have found my favorite book for 2022🥰😍

That was quite an emotional rollercoaster...I am speechless. It's impossible to add specific lines (I annotated this like crazy) without gushing over what happened that it felt like watching a movie series.

 It was quite indept... going through the various magic systems, magical families, scientific use of genes and the list goes on!!!!

 There were so many laugh out loud moments and one in particular was comic relief at the PERFECT moment 👏🏼🤌🏼 relating to a "certain" family member, it would be a HUGE SPOILER.

I ADORE Voya and find her to be a truly relatable character. From being afraid to making mistakes to her passion for baking to her fierce love for her family and grandma🥰🥺🦋.

I am so enthused its the first of a duology and will soon purchase physical copies to enjoy over and over again. BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR BLOOD LIKE FATE, released August 9th. I know for a fact it will NOT disappoint🔥🦋🦋🦋

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librarybookscene's review

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dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75


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