Reviews with content warning for Cannibalism - The Blood Trials

I really liked this, but whoa is it dark. Like, feeling physically ill at times dark. I haven't been this disturbed at points by a novel since reading the Poppy War Trilogy. So fair warning - the cover makes it look like YA, but this is very, very much adult sci-fantasy, and DARK adult sci-fantasy at that. I liked the characters, though I wanted to shake Ikenna at times because she was so brash and impulsive that she was sometimes missing some really obvious clues. But while I may have felt that way, it made Ikenna feel very real, and I was invested in her. There were many other characters that was intrigued by and invested in, too, which is good. Though... don't get too attached, y'all. This book was also super fast-paced; I blew threw this in one sitting because I could NOT put it down. Every few pages something new and intense was happening, and I needed to know what was happening.

There are some things I wasn't totally sold on in this, though. The pacing, while fast, was also a bit off at times, with major revelations happening in three lines without much detail or explanation - including the reveal for the major mystery of the book. And sometimes I felt like character's motivations switched purely depending on what the book needed - there are a few characters whose final stances didn't seem earned. I also felt that there was just a little too much going on. There were so many plotlines, and some I felt weren't very well developed to warrant a mention in the story.

But I will absolutely be reading the final book in this duology. I am so intrigued by what this author is exploring with regards to the way the state will use the people it doesn't value, and what sort of loyalty one of those devalued people owes to the state, that I absolutely must see what her answer to those questions are in the context of this story. I recommend this, but also, maybe read it when you're a little mentally prepared for really dark shit, okay?

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suspicioussherbet4's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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elizamariereads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

5.0

I really enjoyed this book! The main character was flawed in a realistic way (she is a 19-year-old teen who has just lost a loved one) and the main plot was very engaging. You get a lot of info in a relatively short book and it was an easy read. Small problems with the pacing and some predictable plot points. All in all, a very solid read, and I will definitely be picking up the sequel.

Also want to mention: This book is very violent and gory. There are multiple scenes where I physically reacted to what the characters were going through. If you have any triggers I would highly suggest looking through the content warnings before you pick this up.

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bookwormbullet's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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

5.0

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thereadingskeleton's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Thank you to B2Weird Book Club and Harper Voyager for an ARC in exchange for an honest review and promotion. All opinions are my own.

Rep: Black MC, biracial LI, Black side characters

What. A. Ride.

Honestly, what else can I say?

Actually, a lot.

First of all, this book is extremely violent, bloody, and gory. It follows Ikenna Amari as she enters the Praetorian Trials, a brutal military initiation, to search for her grandfather’s murderer. With a premise like that (not to mention a name like The Blood Trials, amiright?), I went in expecting violence—but, even so, there was A LOT. I wasn’t particularly bothered by it, but if you’re squeamish, you might want to skip this one.

If I had to choose one thing about the book to gush over, it would be the blending of science and magic. I love science fantasy; it’s a genre I never get enough of. In The Blood Trials, Kenna’s home country of Mareen has eschewed magic in favor of technology—so much so that they’ve executed anyone in the country born with magic. This is a big problem for Kenna, since she secretly has a blood gift—one of the most reviled forms of magic. Throughout the novel, Kenna embraces her gift more and more, and I’m hoping that, in Book 2, that extends to the world and we get to see more mixing of magic and technology.

There were a couple of things I wasn’t as big a fan of. For one, Kenna hardly experiences any character growth. I expect we’ll see more in the second book, but it was frustrating to see her consistently making the same kinds of mistakes without learning a single thing. I was extremely frustrated with her for most of the book. That honestly didn’t detract much from my enjoyment of the story, because I was really here for the action-packed (if not always the least predictable) plot, and I’m excited to see the plot threads that were left dangling get picked back up in the sequel.

I also highly recommend the audiobook version! The narrator, Jeanette Illidge, did a fantastic job.

As a last note, this book is not YA. It is firmly in the adult category, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it for younger teens. Some older teens will probably enjoy it, though.

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rebeccajost's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

5.0

Content Warnings

foreverinastory's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Thank you to B2 Weird Bookclub and Harper Voyager for an arc in exchange for an honest review and promotion. All opinions are my own.

4.5/5 Y’all this book took me on a ride.

This was so bloody, but I loved it all! The Blood Trials is an immersive, bloody military fantasy that follows Ikenna Amari. She has just graduated her training and is planning to take time off to grieve the loss of her beloved Grandfather. When she learns he was murdered, she decides to pledge to the Praetorians to find out who killed him. But she’ll only find out if she survives the fatal trial process.

There is so much action in this story, and a shit ton of graphic and violent content. I loved going on this journey with Ikenna. She was a character I enjoyed getting to know. She doesn’t have everything figured out, but she has a goal in mind and nothing will stop her from getting there.

The magic and world building was really well done. There are so many cool parts to the societies to explore and I cannot wait to learn more about them all in the sequel! I really hope we get to see more of the other countries besides Mareen, because I am so curious about them all. Especially Ikenna's friendship with the Crown Prince. I need more details Ikenna!

Overall, I highly recommend this book.

Rep: Biracial Black cishet female MC, white cishet female side character, biracial cishet male side character, various Black male side characters.

CWs: Racism, racial slurs, xenophobia, violence, gore, blood, injury/injury detail, cursing, death, cannibalism, misogyny, sexual content (on page and discussions), classism, sexism, grief, war, bullying/hazing, torture, murder, death of grandparent/parent, gun violence, medical content. Moderate: vomit, alcohol, alcoholism, confinement, gaslighting, colonisation, genocide, abandonment.

Content Warnings

hownovelofher's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Blood Trials

Alternate Title: Hello, my name is Ikenna Amari, you killed my grandfather, prepare to die.

Wow. N.E. Davenport really chose violence. This book snuck up on me! I happened to see it on NetGalley and was drawn in by the cover and description and it lived up to my assumptions!

If you’re a fan of science fiction, magic, camaraderie, revenge plots with tons of twists and secrets, and underlying themes of social justice, this mixed bag will be something you look forward to.

Ikenna Amari is the granddaughter of the recently deceased Verne Amari, Legatus Commander of Mareen. His death was sudden and reeks of foul-play, though when we find Ikenna, she is far from coherent enough to even consider this a possibility. Drowning in grief, she spends her free time succumbing to the oblivion that drinking offers.

When she learns of the suspicious circumstances under which her grandfather’s death took place, her renewed sense of purpose propels her down the path to become a Praetorian, a highly-skilled military combatant for The Republic. Even though she deeply resents The Republic for its racism and bigotry, her mission to find her grandfather’s killer outranks her weariness to join the ranks.

After a series of grueling tests known as The Blood Trials, she will become a Praetorian and finally have the power to avenge her grandfather.

-

Things I thoroughly enjoyed while reading The Blood Trials:

1.) The worldbuilding is fantastic. It’s clean and confident, full of complex politics, peoples, and customs. The amount of information to take in about this world is abundant, as the author spares few details.

2.) I appreciated the amount of sincerity that is put into the struggle of this character due to racism. It really cuts and grinds on you throughout the book, as its easily relatable to real-world issues. Ikenna faces countless taunts concerning her heritage and the color of her skin. Because she is part Khanaian, she has many enemies amongst the Mareenians who are full of racist hatred. Still, she has an amazing amount of restraint in the face of all this adversity as her main goal drives her forward.

3.) Action with a side of romance instead of the other way around. I was a bit nervous whenever a “love interest” was introduced, but it was little more than a brief tryst at first, with a layered and complicated after-math that made it more intriguing. Sometimes attraction just leads to sex, not a fully-developed relationship. And I love that the author chose the path less traveled in YA and NA these days.

4.) Non-apologetic violence. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes the violence can be overdone, but in this story it served a purpose. Everything about this book seeps violence and anger from its pores. From Ikenna’s rage over her grandfather’s murder, to the silent fuming over racist comments, to the brutality of the trials. There’s a ton of dying in this book and much of it is cloaked in strong emotion.

5.) The scenes in Onei’s Expanse. It was horrific and at one point very much disturbing, but it was so full of fast-paced action and plot development that I couldn’t put the book down during that stretch.

Things I struggled to get past:

1.) Ikenna is strong and unapologetic, that I admire. However, at times she borders on completely irrational and flies off the handle at minor confrontations, yet keeps her cool under other more serious forms of duress. She was difficult to root for and even more difficult to like. Her allegiance flip-flops FAR too easily. If I could describe her in one sentence I would be, “Jumps to conclusions like she’s auditioning for Frogger.”.

2.) Her frequent, long-winded introspective monologues were redundant at times, enough so that I found myself skimming bits.

3.) Special Girl Syndrome. Too much power given under not enough detailed development, with little to no checks.

4.) Pacing. Whew, it was all over the place. Slow to start, action packed, then slow again, rinse and repeat. In the last 1/3 of the book suddenly, and without much preamble, we get a change of setting as Ikenna and her crew head to another location. The transition is so jarring that I had to go back several times just to be sure I didn’t accidentally skip a chapter. For some reason it felt like the book should have ended with Ikenna making it out of the trials alive. It seemed the natural conclusion and I was very confused when the story progressed even further from there. Because of this, we get another round of heavy info-dumping that would have been better served (in my opinion) at the start of the next book.

Still, I got a lot of enjoyment from this story and it didn’t feel like a repeat of anything else I’ve read in the past. I believe Nia Davenport is a wonderfully skilled writer and I will be reading book two. Look out for this author, I don’t think you’ll wanna miss her!

Extra Notes:

Take care of yourself if you are a POC, especially black, while reading this.There is so much racism in this book that it’s almost constant. Many of the slurs are world-specific, but obviously you can derive what they are meant to insinuate.

Read this if you’re a fan of: The Hunger Games, Divergent, Dystopia and Sci-Fi + Magic

Trigger and Content Warnings: A LOT of racism, misogyny, blood, gore, violence, use of guns and various other weapons, torture, death, grief, explicit sexual content (one scene, about halfway in)

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