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cosmicwillow's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
4.25
what a delightful and dark sequel! i thoroughly enjoyed this, and only found myself frustrated or rolling my eyes at some of the purely teenage moments from the literally teenagers so that wasnt too bad. i will say, the alternate curse words did start to bug me more in this book, but it didnt take away from the story. on that note, i love how this depicts the complexities of family and community, especially with respect to black folks and their unique experiences in north america, especially as slave descendants. i also loved how dark this was for a ya, it was great and turned the stakes up quite high. and seeing voyas overall growth was really wonderful. i really enjoyed this series!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Slavery, Eating disorder, and Addiction
Minor: Transphobia, Police brutality, and Racism
twistykris's review against another edition
adventurous
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Murder, Addiction, and Eating disorder
Minor: Transphobia, Child abuse, Slavery, and Gun violence
lettuce_read's review
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Eating disorder and Addiction
Minor: Transphobia
melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition
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? Yes
4.75
Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for an arc of this book!
In this sequel to Blood Like Magic, Voya is the new matriarch of her family and no one seems to believe she can do it--especially not herself. On top of that, Keis is angry at her for her decisions in the previous book, Luc is no longer talking to her, and she can't figure out how her grandmother made the skin care products that were their families livelihood. But when Voya has a vision of the future that could be catastrophic for all witches, she attempts to get together the other matriarchs to try and keep that grim future from happening.
I loved this so much! The perfect end to this duology, and I'm so very happy I was able to read it. I was so so sad for most of the book because Luc was one of my favorite parts of Blood Like Magic and he and Voya are estranged for most of this book. He does play a role in it though, so never fear!
The best part of this book is definitely Voya's character arch. She grows so much over the course of the book and I love the different people involved in helping her do that. She goes on quite the emotional journey and I love that for her! I loved getting to know more about other members of her family, but I especially loved getting to know about the other witch families and their histories!
This is such a great duology and I recommend it with my whole heart!
In this sequel to Blood Like Magic, Voya is the new matriarch of her family and no one seems to believe she can do it--especially not herself. On top of that, Keis is angry at her for her decisions in the previous book, Luc is no longer talking to her, and she can't figure out how her grandmother made the skin care products that were their families livelihood. But when Voya has a vision of the future that could be catastrophic for all witches, she attempts to get together the other matriarchs to try and keep that grim future from happening.
I loved this so much! The perfect end to this duology, and I'm so very happy I was able to read it. I was so so sad for most of the book because Luc was one of my favorite parts of Blood Like Magic and he and Voya are estranged for most of this book. He does play a role in it though, so never fear!
The best part of this book is definitely Voya's character arch. She grows so much over the course of the book and I love the different people involved in helping her do that. She goes on quite the emotional journey and I love that for her! I loved getting to know more about other members of her family, but I especially loved getting to know about the other witch families and their histories!
This is such a great duology and I recommend it with my whole heart!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Racism and Transphobia
starrysteph's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.25
I adore a good duology - and in this case, I thought the sequel was stronger than the first.
This is not your typical chosen one story. Voya is human and makes mistakes; she’s constantly making tough choices and dealing with the messy consequences. Things never just “work out” for her. She’s human and struggling and always working to be a better person and leader for her family.
It was so wonderful to watch Voya’s character development continue here. She’s got new responsibilities and is learning how to handle her new status as the family’s Matriarch. She’s dealing with sacrifice and handling input from a huge family with a huge amount of differing opinions. Voya has a big sense of duty and honors the weight of that.
The writing started off slow (and I think a good 50 pages could have been shaved off here), but by the time things got going it was riveting.
Sambury puts a unique spin on her worldbuilding. I love love love the sci fi and speculative fiction elements woven into fantasy. The integration of tech and magic and how that impacts and divides the characters is fascinating to witness. The magic system is unique & creative as well.
One of the highlights of Blood Like Magic was the focus on family, and this thread continues throughout Blood Like Fate. There were so many thoughtfully developed relationships - between parents and cousins and family you choose and so on - that were realistically difficult yet still optimistic.
The side characters were very fleshed out; I had no trouble remembering names. As in the first book, there’s some great representation here: Ownvoices Black characters (including the main character and her family), a Mexican character, Chinese characters, two major trans characters, a demisexual lesbian supporting character, and probably more that I’m forgetting to add. The book also takes place in Canada!
I enjoyed the mystery element, but the foreshadowing was quite heavy-handed at times. I was surprised that Voya was so oblivious to some pretty bold red flags.
In my review of the first book, I voiced some frustrations around character arcs and consequences of Voya’s decision. I had some similar grievances here; I appreciated that we didn’t have an ending that was wrapped up in a bow, but the antagonist was let off WAY too easily (like, shockingly so) and the side character that bore the brunt of Voya’s decision at the end of Blood Like Magic deserved much better here. It bummed me out.
CW: murder, death, child death, grief, violence, gun violence, transphobia, eating disorder, addiction, domestic abuse, fire, sickness/infection, terminal illness
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Child death, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Gun violence, Death, Grief, Transphobia, Eating disorder, Addiction, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
bookwormbullet's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Violence, Death, and Grief
Minor: Transphobia
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