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emfass's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Gun violence, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Cursing, Misogyny, Body horror, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Racism, Sexism, Gore, Death, Racial slurs, and Bullying
Moderate: Cannibalism, Confinement, Alcohol, War, Grief, and Colonisation
kbairbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Wow! Between this and Queen of Nothing I’ve been reading some of the most vicious, blood thirsty, and VIOLENT books I’ve ever read. It makes for a really intense experience. The backstabbing, betrayal, who can be trusted, political agenda absolute beast this book is took me by storm. I couldn’t put it down! I was gripped and at the end I was staring into space experiencing this book. Incredible storytelling, incredible challenges, incredible strength and resilience in times of adversary. Wow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Racism, Torture, Violence, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Outing, Sexism, and War
shaipanda's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.5
Ok this book is bat shit insaneeee - I absolutely loved it but definitely did not expect exactly how dark it is so keep that I mind if you read this. However despite that, I really loved Kenna and this was a superrr engaging book. Despite it being darker than I tend to prefer I’ll almost definitely read the sequel when it comes out cause omg so well doneee :)
However I will say I personally didn’t give it a 5 star because of how unlikeable pretty much every character is at various parts of the story (including Kenna occasionally lol) and I tend to prefer to at least somewhat like the characters I’m reading about
Oh also reallyyyy look at the trigger warnings fr cause this book is insanely dark and has no issues killing off characters
However I will say I personally didn’t give it a 5 star because of how unlikeable pretty much every character is at various parts of the story (including Kenna occasionally lol) and I tend to prefer to at least somewhat like the characters I’m reading about
Oh also reallyyyy look at the trigger warnings fr cause this book is insanely dark and has no issues killing off characters
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Gore, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Grief, Murder, Death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Sexism
Moderate: Cannibalism, Sexual content, War, and Vomit
Minor: Toxic friendship
kiwi_00's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, War, Grief, Gore, Racial slurs, Murder, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail
suspicioussherbet4's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, and Racism
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Cannibalism
elizamariereads's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Grief and Murder
Minor: Cannibalism and Body horror
jnl00700's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Blood, Violence, Body horror, War, and Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual content
rebeccajost's review
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
Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Confinement, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Body horror, Sexism, War, Blood, Torture, and Medical content
Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Alcohol
hownovelofher's review against another edition
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)
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)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Racial slurs, Body horror, Classism, Gun violence, Misogyny, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit, Torture, and War
Minor: Cannibalism and Confinement
natashaleighton_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Classism, Xenophobia, Torture, Misogyny, War, Body horror, Blood, Murder, and Violence