Reviews with content warning for Violence - Blood Heir

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao

16 reviews

witcheep's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

3.0

I got more out of analysing the characters than from the plot; the plot doesn't offer anything very new to a reader who consumes a lot of fantasy. The magic system is built upon affinities of different kinds of magic and has the potential to be interesting, but unfortunately it is left somewhat vague. The big plot lines are quite predictable, but the smaller nuances and the intertwining of different plot lines is entertaining and at some points even surprising.

In the beginning of the book the main character Ana is an annoyingly naive, impulsive and irrational person who sees the world as black and white, divided clearly into good and evil. She has always regarded the world from the perspective of a vastly privileged aristocratic heir, which skews her thinking. Suddenly Ana is framed for the murder of her father, the emperor. Ana flees to avoid execution, but struggles to change her attitude and view of the world, even when her new position of no privileges forces her to face a whole new side to the world. I almost DNF'd the Blood Heir because how annoying Ana was, especially with her friend May.

Ramson's character is what saved the story for me and kept me reading. He is introduced as a crime lord, but it is revealed that he is actually more like a

henchman, altough high in the hierarchy, and comes from a more morally noble background

. His world views include thinking everyone as some shade of gray, the choises and actions defining people rather than them being just good or bad. It is a little disappointing that he isn't written as a properly bad character.

Ana and Ramson don't always get along, but they get friendly with each other in their own ways even if they make mistakes along the way. It is fun reading her and Ana's bickering. Ramson's views on gray morality and defining choises rub on Ana as well, and she begins to try to think for herself a little more (

and while doing so, slowly sheds the naivety and impulsiveness a little, yay!

). This impact to Ana is also resiprocated, since Ana makes Ramson question his morality and motivations as well. That is what I enjoyed the most in the book. I always seem to enjoy seeing characters having an impact in each other's way of thinking and acting, especially when it offers both of them something that makes them more contented with themselves.

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grinchem's review

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book's strongest point was character interactions, they were done with a skill and believability that you don't often find. Sometimes that believability includes them being assholes to each other when they're upset. It was an easy read that kept me engaged all the way through. There were twists and turns, and the author did a great job of keeping the stakes high, and then throwing wrenches into the characters plans. The characters learned and grew from their experiences, without their development feeling forced. On the downside, a lot of the framework of the story, character concepts, and world were somewhat generic for the genre, but overall I found the execution of those ideas to be where this book truly stands on its own.

The main character starts out very naive, which can certainly grate on some readers. However, it's reasonable in context given the character's background, and she learns from her mistakes and grows. Neither of the leads were particularly likeable at the beginning, but they were unlikable in a way that's fun to watch, and if you're a person who prefers likable characters, they do grow into that as the story goes along (Ana more quickly than Ramson).

I heard there were concerns about how human trafficking was handled when the novel was first released, but the author pulled the book and made changes. I don't know what the original looked like, but I myself didn't notice any problems in this version. Human trafficking and indentured servitude is prominent in some sections of the story, the characters are appropriately horrified by it, and several characters that have themselves experienced this have their own agency and are not defined by it as characters or for their parts in the story. That said, this is simply my personal perspective, and others may see things that I failed to notice.

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thenovelmaura's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-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

2.5

I was expecting this book to be right up my alley, given that it's a magical retelling of Anastasia Nikolayevna's story (the last duchess of Russia) written by an Asian author. I was aware of the prior controversy surrounding this book and while I'm all for sensitivity readers and calling out racist representation when we see it, I didn't think the initial claims were substantiated. When Zhao pushed the release date out and reworked the draft, I was excited to read it (and here I am 4 years after the release).

Unfortunately, this book was a huge letdown simply because it was such a generic fantasy that I was hardly motivated to finish it. There wasn't anything specifically wrong with it, but I found the plot to be painfully predictable as someone who reads a lot of fantasy. The characters so perfectly fit into stereotypes that I knew who would live, who would die, how certain conflicts would be resolved, etc. From reading other reviews of this book, Zhao wanted to shed light upon the issue of human trafficking, but I didn't get any of that from a generic "magical people are enslaved and oppressed" storyline that is already rampant in fantasy stories. It's not bad, per se, but I have no desire to read the 2nd book. It's honestly kind of funny to me that this book was so mired in controversy when it's otherwise so entirely forgettable.

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singalana's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book has a great concept: a crown princess, accused of treason, has to work together with a crime lord to prove her innocence. The people in this world are divided into two categories: those who have no magic, and those who have magic - an affinity to a certain element. The main character - Ana - has no idea what life is like for those living with magic in her kingdom, and how her chosen companion, conman named Ransom Quicktongue plays into this status quo.

The main characters are exactly as you would expect them to be: a wilful princess and a silver-tongued criminal. As the story progresses, we get more and more glimpses into the past that shaped these characters into who they are today. Other than the two main characters, there’s a host of other characters, who all have a role to play in the story.

The story started strong with an interesting, action-packet setup. Unfortunately, I soon became tired of the structure of action packed chapters followed by slower chapters about the characters’ past. That was not the only thing I grew weary of, since these two can’t seem to stay out of trouble for two seconds. The author tried to pack so much action and so much emotion into every possible scene, especially towards the end, that it became tiresome.

I’m afraid that despite the interesting concept, the story tried to do way too much and piled on obstacle after obstacle. With better pacing and allowing the characters more time to breathe in the present timeline, this story could have been improved.

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macaroniapie's review

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adventurous challenging dark tense 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? N/A

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r1vana's review

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Demons were not the creatures to be feared the most.

Humans were.pg.435

I enjoyed this book, the beginning started off strong. It was really interesting. But then it got dragged a little. And since it’s a trilogy, I feel like it’s just gonna be longer.

We get to see a female lead that is strong but makes irrational actions due to her anger, stress, grief, et cetera. Sometimes, it is understandable but I wished she would think. Which makes her a very complex character.

Her story is pretty much like ‘Anastasia’. Being framed of murdering her father, she ran away due to her blood affinities. And being framed for it. I mean her name is Anastacya…From my PoV, Ana was a morally grey character that from a very young age, has been pushed away from her father, from her people due to her powers. Only her older brother was by her side and when she was framed for her father’s death, the only thing she could do is run away and one day come back to get the throne back:

“Perhaps monsters never meant to hurt others, either. Perhaps monsters didn't even know they were monsters.” Pg.25

Then there is Ramson. I wasn’t really into his character. He was flirting out of nowhere. I wished there were more pov of his because I lot of them where part of his past(childhood, trauma; bullying, abuse…). He wanted to betray her but in the next, he seems protective of her…: Something about him changed when he was with Ana. The darkness, the scheming, the cold calculation in him faded, repealing faint traces of what he'd once been. A boy in love with the ocean.

A boy who'd wanted to sail the seas forever, with the sun warming his back and the waves lapping at his hands. He’d forgotten about this boy, one who'd had big dreams and foolish hopes and had been good.

The boy who'd become the smallest sliver of hope. But what good was goodness itself, when the world was ruled by the cruel? Pg.215

He never expected to care for Ana who was once a pawn to him: “He'd known for some time now, felt the irrepressible tug on his chest toward her. With each smile, each frown, each word, she'd drawn him in, slowly, irrevocably. And that slow, smoldering flame had roared to life beneath a winter sky of snow, glowing brighter than anything else in his life. She was the bearing to his compass, the dawn that his ship had been chasing for so long over an empty horizon.

My heart is my compass. Pg.360.

the death of May and Luka really hit me. I really liked May and it saddens me that she was killed. I love how she was really skeptical of Ramson: The child grabbed the pail of snow and slipped into the wash closet. She turned and, glaring at Ramson, drew a finger across her neck before slamming the door shut. Pg.65 and Luka. He wasn’t as present as May but the fact that he loved his sister dearly and they both weren’t able to reunite…

“Life isn't going to be all happiness and wonder. We have to take what we are given, and fight like hell to make it better.”

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