Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Blood Gift by N.E. Davenport

6 reviews

mj1588's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

4.5

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lesliehirgelt's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

I felt that the writing wasn't quite as strong in this book as it was in the first one, and it arguably ends on a cliffhanger, or at the very least has an ending that heavily implies there is more story to tell for these characters. It seemed like an odd choice for what is supposed to be the conclusion of a duology. 
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tattooedbibliophile's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense 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? No

5.0

👏👏👏 This book gets an extra star, the plot is so damn good. I will admit that it may should have been 2 books instead of one, rounding out the series into a trilogy instead of a duology, but that’s really an editing complaint and not a plot point pain. There was one specific part where I started literally clapping and yelling “FINALLY, FINALLY!!!” I will say also that this plot didn’t go how I thought it would. It twisted and turned in a completely unexpected way. If you like books like Fourth Wing you’ll love this. It’s a very NA book with some serious violence, with a few added spicy scenes that were an unexpected bonus. To me it left an opening for another book series (similar to a “years later” deal like the second Red Rising series) that I would immediately preorder if announced.
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rbz39's review against another edition

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

2.0

Sadly, I found the second book of the duology underwhelming and a frustrating anticlimax after being wowed by the first book. Everything zips along to an unsatisfying end and the characters all behave like cardboard cutouts. Ikenna is childish and homicidal and constantly sporting a “savage smile” while she gets proven wrong until the universe decides that she should win. The villains are mustache twirling and flat. The ending left me wanting so much more. The first big letdown of the year for me!!
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shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

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

4.25

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ebook_em's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

3.5

 
The Blood Gift picks up where The Blood Trials left off and I was so excited to read more of Ikenna’s adventures. 
 
Ikenna is such a compelling protagonist to begin with and I thought her character development was even better in this book than in The Blood Trials. Her anger and arrogance took on new, fascinating dimensions as she became more strategic and learned how to harness her gift. I was skeptical of the romance subplot in the first book but I came around to it in The Blood Gift. I also loved the found family elements within Ikenna’s squad and thought her encounters with the gods were really interesting. Similar to the Blood Trials, this book offers great commentary on colonialism, racism, sexism, patriotism, militarism, tyranny, and so much more. 
 
Despite how much there was to love about this book, a few things frustrated me and ultimately lowered my rating. Without the trials in book one, the plot of the Blood Gift was variously driven by political intrigue, character relationships, and supernatural elements — but none felt fully developed. The world building usually happened through info dumps in dialogue, making it a bit clunky and hard to follow. A petty gripe is that the word “suffused” appeared so often that I was taken out of the story every time it appeared (all authors have overused words, so the fact that this particular one grated on me might just be a “me” problem). Finally, though this isn’t a complaint about the series itself, I wish I had known ahead of time that the books read like young adult novels; I have no problem with YA-ish writing but I was thrown off by incorrect expectations. 
 
My favorite part of The Blood Gift was the last 20% or so — if more of the book had resembled the last quarter, I might have rated it 5 stars. Overall, this was a satisfying end to the duology and even though it didn’t meet all my hopes and dreams for the sequel, it was an enjoyable read. 
 
My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for an ARC of this book. 
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