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leahjanespeare's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Violence and Colonisation
Moderate: Death and Sexual assault
sbri009's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Colonisation, and War
kelly_e's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Author: Deborah Falaye
MSeries: Blood Scion, #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: March 8, 2022
T H R E E • W O R D S
Emotionally Charged • Complex • Unforgiving
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Fifteen-year-old Sloane can incinerate an enemy at will—she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods.
Under the Lucis’ brutal rule, her identity means her death if her powers are discovered. But when she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army on her fifteenth birthday, Sloane sees a new opportunity: to overcome the bloody challenges of Lucis training, and destroy them from within.
Sloane rises through the ranks and gains strength but, in doing so, risks something greater: losing herself entirely, and becoming the very monster that she abhors.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Blood Scion first came onto my radar when it was longlisted for Canada Read 2023 back in January. Unfortunately, it didn't make it onto the shortlist, but being a completionist, I wanted to continue to pick up the longlist titles throughout the year. Of all of the books on the list, I'd have to say this was the one more outside my comfort zone, yet I was pleasantly surprised enjoying more than I'd originally anticipated.
Inspired by Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, this novel is marketed as YA fantasy, however, for me it read more like the type of YA primarily written for adults. Books based in mythology will never be my cup to tea, but I definitely don't mind getting my toes wet from time to time, and this book took me places I didn't know it could. It is fierce. It is raw. It is brutal. And it's hard to believe it is a debut.
Equal parts compelling and heartbreaking, Blood Scion offers a fictionalized account of the real-life horrors endured by child soldiers. The intensity of the violence is hard to digest, yet showcases the lived experiences of so many of these child soldiers. There is quite a large cast of characters, but the one that truly matters is Sloane. She's one of those unforgettable heroines and everything about her character development was fantastic.
Tackling themes of slavery, oppression injustice, revenge and power tinged with a little bit of magic, Blood Scion took me by surprise. And while this genre will never be something I rush to pick up, I can definitely see myself continuing on with this series. I have no doubts that Deborah Falaye has a bright future ahead.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• mature readers
• fantasy fans
• readers looking for a strong debut
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Treat something like a monster and it will certainly learn to become a monster."
Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Self harm, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
hollyk's review against another edition
- 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
This book is dark, like, really dark. But it's about child soldiers conscripted into an army, so that tracks. I feel like a lot of fantasy series have a similar aspect of teenagers in military, but Sloane actively pushes back against that, where a lot of other protagonists are relatively complacent. I also see some similarities to The Blood Trials in this one, but Blood Scion focuses more on the ancestry and oppression of Yorubas and Scions, whereas The Blood Trials is more sci-fi and political. Sloane is young, and it shows at times, but that's understandable--she's a child forced into conscription. She's not going to be the most successful recruit, and that makes her easy to root for. She's tough, smart, and keeps ahold of her humanity when the military leaders try to break her. There are so many twists and turns, and I didn't see the ending coming. The only questionable thing is (MASSIVE SPOILER)
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Vomit, and Death of parent
hapennybooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail
kirstenf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Chronic illness, Confinement, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Kidnapping
erebus53's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Raised as a child with Orisha blood, Sloane has been suppressed all her life. She has the power to make flames with her body and when it first got loose she caused a village fire that killed people, and that was very hard on her as she was only 4. She has been raised personally oppressed, and also culturally has been on a cusp, with her mother both attempting to hide who she is to avoid the colonists' genocide of their people, and also to raise her with pride and self-worth. This should have had me hooked as it is a very real and relatable struggle.
With my personal Neurodiversity perspective, I couldn't help but feel that the medicine that Sloane takes to suppress her àṣẹ (ashe) feels a bit like an analogy for Ritalin/Adderall, especially the way that she describes how it makes the background noise in her head go away. One of my dear friends has described her first experiences of having A.D.D. medicated in almost the exact same terms. My personal opinion on this (at this stage in my understandings of neurological difference) is that people who have difficulty regulating their own power, or mind, in ways that interfere with their ability to function can gain much from having the access to <b>many different tools</B> for externally regulating the problematic influences of their difference. Sloane learns to let her powers loose in ways that she wants to use them rather than just continually trying to repress her urges, along with other methods of tamping herself down with medication and ritual.
I was a little frustrated by the way that the main characters seemed to miss what was going on a lot of the time - there was a lot of misdirection caused by the main players jumping to conclusions. As a reader I could see where the plot was angling, which probably added to my frustration because it took AAAges for the characters to cotton on. The way that love was dealt with was a little stifled by the brutal indignities of the military regimen. Tropes abound, as the children drafted into war are trained in HungerGames-esque Kill or Be Killed style. How many times do you need to traumatise a person to get them to comply with brainwashing? And does it even work? I remain unconvinced.
As a self-confessed sucker for prophesy, I did enjoy the seer glimpses into the future provided by the Orisha early in the story. Only one part of the prophecy was really clear, but a couple of clues that were in it left me unshocked by revelations at the end of the book. There were some fun twists that I didn't really see coming, but I think due to the obvious mortality of the characters introduced and killed off earlier in the story, I had perhaps not invested enough in any of them to feel like it was really resonant? Perhaps that was the main problem for me. When the going is really hard, I just switch off and refuse to empathise with the characters, because they might be dead in a minute.
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Classism
bookhookedheather's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
All these are in the context of colonizationtentwentyfourty's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Self harm and Vomit
shadesofdivine's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War