Reviews

The Black Veins by Ashia Monet

sielantgem's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

OK this was really cute. Had a lot of representation. Lovable characters. I Y a fantasy with sound family and road trip tropes. Kind of a cliffhanger with a war finally announced and family members are missing from multiple members of the guardian group. I am willing to read the second book but I’m not sure when it’s coming out. 

sanaya863's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

mssarahmorgan's review

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

melisamber's review

adventurous funny 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? It's complicated

childoftheninth's review against another edition

4.0

A solid 3.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book, it's a super fun found family adventure that'll make you laugh and even tear up a few times if you're a sap like me. It's queer (I think?) and black own voices and just. so. beautiful. and so raw and real despite being fantasy. I want to squish these kids.

*potential spoilers warning*

I think I started to fall in love with the characters around page 152:

Blythe stammers, "Wh....wait a minute."
Cordelia blurts, "What the hell?"
Daniel screams. No word. Just raw power.

For some reason this was hilarious to me, and after that the charm of Blythe, Cordelia, Daniel, Antonio, Storm, Caspian and Jay was impossible to ignore. They're all such individual characters with their own motivations, fears, quirks and faults. The character building/growth which I thought this book lacked at first actually had in spades.

I loved that there was no romance but still an abundance of love between the characters, and some great flirting. The dialogue was real and great and I really can't say enough good things about this book. But I almost didn't get to the enjoying it part because I couldn't get past the first 1/4 of the book. The writing style is I think geared towards younger readers and it was hard for me to get into the story. I felt like the characters were flat in the beginning and there were a few too many nods to BTVS (a mean girl named Cordelia, mention of someone named Willow, an evil gang named Angelus?) and so many typos. But the rest of the book was so worth it and I'm glad I kept reading.

Also, this book was written in 2019 and Ashia Monet may be prophetic because:

Like dude, can you imagine if like, the apocalypse happened, and you had to make your entire life revolve inside your house because there's nowhere to be except your house?"

readsbyzoe's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

in love with this book omg. i fell in love with the characters EASILY!! never knew i loved found family so much until this book. would def reread and can’t wait until the second book!

lydaalexander's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.0

egreen453's review

adventurous emotional funny 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

666prada's review against another edition

4.0

“Once upon a time, a young girl lost her family and discovered a new one.”

hey uhm... may i introduce you to a book that's sadly slept on? i didn't even heard about this book until it came out, but as soon as i did, i picked it up, because found families, road trips, and urban fantasy is where it's at, and noone can change my mind.

blythe's family has a coffeeshop for people who know magic, so she is usually there, with her best friend and parents, helping out. she is also one of the guardians of magic. in this world, there are two bigger organizations for magic users, one of them is the black veins, where most people belong to, they control a couple of cities, and the guardians are under their control too. but there is also a newer group, the trident republic, who only control one city, electric city. their hegemony is kind of disrupted when the trident republic tries to control the minds of a few guardians and kidnaps blythe's family. so, blythe decides to go and save them, collecting the other guardians to help her get her family back.

-okay, so that wasn't the most well explained synopsis i have ever written, but this magic system and world is kcomplicated to summarize in one paragraph, and i still have a few questions about it. also the way it's told is the epitome of infodump, sadly, so i had a hard time getting into the book.
-but bitch when i did, i fucking loved it. the magic doesn't even play that big of a role yet, like they barely used their abilities, when i'm sure they are capable of some of the most badass things, considering that they are guardians.
-the plot is fast-paced and full of action, they are constantly on the road with a few breaks here and there, it mostly focuses on getting back blythe's family and getting the team together, while dealing with the obstacles they encounter on the road.
-the humor was exactly my brand™. it doesn't feel like a 30 year old trying to write dialogue between 15-16 year olds, it literally depicts millennial humor at it's finest, and sometimes i even laughed out loud.
-the writing threw me off at times, idk why though, for some reason it was different than what i usually read, but not in a bad way.
-and boy the characters and their chemistry... there is no actual romance, there is some casual flirting for fun, i don't know if that's going to change, but tbh there are a few ships i wouldn't mind seeing. but they work so well together as a group, and i loved all their interactions.
-like at the beginning cordelia and blythe felt like the bickering parents and daniel, their quiet child, and i was living for it.
-the only thing i missed was due to the whole book being focused on blythe's perspective as a main character. like i'd have loved to see how daniel and storm became closer friends, or what went down between those two and caspian at one point.
-but for real, a+ found family content.
-also there is a twitter thread written by ashia with character art and some info about the disaster kids. i checked it out way too many times while i was reading.

‣‣blythe
-our fave main character, guardian of ether, bisexual, black.
-they moved a lot when she was a kid, so she didn't make many friends, but now she has one, she also has two sisters.
-and a hockey stick. and she is into photography.
-she is so loyal and willing to do anything for the people she loves. and the best group leader you can find, probably.

‣‣cordelia
-guardian of the mind, british-chinese.
-she is a fucking hacker, because who doesn't need a good ol' hacker on the team?
-she is also a mean character, who obviously didn't signed up for all this shit.
-but boy, does she come around
-look mean girls are my faves in literature, so obviously i was heads over heels for her.

‣‣daniel
-guardian of nature, straight.
-his parents kept him sheltered, so he has no clue about the modern world. it's kind of ridiculous.
-he is also the smallest of the group, and he is incredibly shy, he barely talks at the beginning.
-he is also observant and read a lot about magic. and he has a secret.
-what was that about? i didn't really get what that actually was.

‣‣antonio
-another cute blonde apparently.
-guardian of animals, demi, attracted to boys, puerto-rican.
-he is a surfer, who lived with his mother before. he can also bake anything you'd ever dream about.
-dudebro acts like he took two mdmas and then drank two liters of energy drink, so with his constant talking, he is the polar opposite of daniel.
-he can pretty much get along with everyone, he is easy-going and overly friendly.

‣‣storm
-guardian of time, black, straight.
-she is the coolest person of the team, obviously. i mean, she is a fucking

Spoiler

superhero.

-always on her rollerblades.
-also didn't want to join the team, but her mission happened to align with blythe's.
-i love her, i just wish he got more pagetime, because she is great.
-her story is still a mystery, and i'm curious.

‣‣caspian
-guardian of death, asexual, trans, and he is a fucking

Spoiler

ghost.

because why not.
-he is sarcastic and apathetic most of the time, and he quickly became my favorite of the group(well, besides jay).
-his story is still to be told, and i'd say it's one of the things i look forward to the most in the upcoming sequels.
-he also loves ramen, because who doesn't.

‣‣jay
-guardian of the body, black, bisexual.
-your friendly neighborhood rich fuckboy, who is drop-dead gorgeous, obviously.(i mean i get it, look at that fanart)
-i'm not normally into the flirty bisexual character type, but he felt different than what i usually get, and i loved him. i'd take a bullet for him, if he was real and that's my two cents on that.

so, to sum it up, tbv has a few issues and the start was rocky, but i ended up enjoying it a lot, and it's different from most things i read this year. it's just such a feel-good, fun, fresh novel that doesn't take itself too seriously.

bizlet's review

4.0

I absolutely need Ashia to keep writing because these characters are so vibrant and sweet and cool! I wish the book had a better editor and I'm excited for the author to keep writing and improving since some plot elements were really... Convenient.

And at the same time, I love how many different people there were and how I could see myself in Jamie and in Blythe while struggling with the characters I couldn't connect with (but neither could Blythe! Haha) I'm excited to see what's next for them all.