egurgens's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
5.0
A wonderful end to the duology. When I finished Ashlords, I NEEDED to read the sequel. I had to wait for it to ship, but it definitely did not disappoint. The war between the Longhands and the Ashlords is in full swing, with both Adrian and Pippa in charge. Imelda stays with the mountain rebels, fighting Ashlords and freeing Dividian slaves and prisoners. Quinn, Pippa's ghost from the first book, manages to pull Pippa and Aidan into the underworld with her, and together, they find the secrets the gods had been hiding from them. With a new purpose, the two generals join forces to fight their true enemy. Imelda ends up in the underworld after taking control of an Ashlord tower, where there is a special mix of phoenix's that can take her to the underworld. There, they chance across a dead god, and learn that the ruthless gods are vulnerable, as well as the power of her own blood.
Spoiler
All three meet up, and work together to beat their enemy and reform the empire as equals. No longer are the Dividians lesser than, or servants. No longer are the Ashlords rich overlords. Between the three of them, they work to make the formerly oppressive empire equal, for all citizens to have their own.Spoiler
Definitely loved it, the duology was a wonder I was not expecting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Violence, War, and Animal death
amandalynnnb's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
4.5
Blood Sworn is the sequel to Ashlord (which I reviewed here.) In this book, we follow the same three characters, Pippa, Adrian, and Imelda. The way the first book ended left me wanting to know more. I wanted to know so much more about this world, the gods, and where the story is going. I got everything that I wanted from this book. Once again, the story is told in first person for Imelda and Adrian, but Pippa’s story is told in second person. I think Pippa’s story being told in this way was such a creative choice and it really does something to the story.
Pippa’s chapters were absolutely my favorite parts of this book. She has the most growth and change in this series. She starts off so loyal to her people, the Ashlords, but slowly she realizes that everything isn’t as it seems. She finally learns the truth from one of the gods and that’s where this story gets really interesting. I think Pippa is so incredibly smart. I am awed by the plans that her brain manages to create. I think she’s an incredible character and I loved her. I also really enjoyed the way that Pippa’s relationship with Adrian changed over time.
Adrian was an interesting character as well. But I feel like he sort of just went along with Pippa’s plans. I know this isn’t the case, but we didn’t actually see Adrian and Pippa make their plans so, it’s not hard to assume that Pippa (the master strategist) is the one that came up with the majority of their plans. I liked that Adrian did his part to show the Longhands that things could be different if everyone worked together to make a change.
Finally, Imelda. I wanted more phoenix horse stuff, but we got enough that I wasn’t terribly upset about it. I like that Imelda is also super smart, but in different ways than what we see from Pippa. I think Imelda’s part of the story was interesting because the Dividian’s are the underrepresented group of the story, despite having a large population. I liked following Imelda because with Pippa and Adrian working together, their stories were similar, but Imelda’s path is so different from the others. She stumbles into something she doesn’t totally understand, but manages to find herself working toward the same goals as Pippa and Adrian.
Overall, I absolutely loved this book. I loved this duology. I will recommend this series forever. Phoenix horses, political drama, characters that are complex and loveable, and a fascinating world and interesting gods, there is everything you could possibly want in a fantasy story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Murder, Racism, and Slavery
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