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shector1's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Blood, Racism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Cursing, Classism, Violence, Colonisation, and Torture
Minor: Sexual content
kbairbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Wow! Between this and Queen of Nothing I’ve been reading some of the most vicious, blood thirsty, and VIOLENT books I’ve ever read. It makes for a really intense experience. The backstabbing, betrayal, who can be trusted, political agenda absolute beast this book is took me by storm. I couldn’t put it down! I was gripped and at the end I was staring into space experiencing this book. Incredible storytelling, incredible challenges, incredible strength and resilience in times of adversary. Wow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Racism, Torture, Violence, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Outing, Sexism, and War
shaipanda's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Ok this book is bat shit insaneeee - I absolutely loved it but definitely did not expect exactly how dark it is so keep that I mind if you read this. However despite that, I really loved Kenna and this was a superrr engaging book. Despite it being darker than I tend to prefer I’ll almost definitely read the sequel when it comes out cause omg so well doneee :)
However I will say I personally didn’t give it a 5 star because of how unlikeable pretty much every character is at various parts of the story (including Kenna occasionally lol) and I tend to prefer to at least somewhat like the characters I’m reading about
Oh also reallyyyy look at the trigger warnings fr cause this book is insanely dark and has no issues killing off characters
However I will say I personally didn’t give it a 5 star because of how unlikeable pretty much every character is at various parts of the story (including Kenna occasionally lol) and I tend to prefer to at least somewhat like the characters I’m reading about
Oh also reallyyyy look at the trigger warnings fr cause this book is insanely dark and has no issues killing off characters
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Gore, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Grief, Murder, Death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Sexism
Moderate: Cannibalism, Sexual content, War, and Vomit
Minor: Toxic friendship
foreverinastory's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Thank you to B2 Weird Bookclub and Harper Voyager for an arc in exchange for an honest review and promotion. All opinions are my own.
4.5/5 Y’all this book took me on a ride.
This was so bloody, but I loved it all! The Blood Trials is an immersive, bloody military fantasy that follows Ikenna Amari. She has just graduated her training and is planning to take time off to grieve the loss of her beloved Grandfather. When she learns he was murdered, she decides to pledge to the Praetorians to find out who killed him. But she’ll only find out if she survives the fatal trial process.
There is so much action in this story, and a shit ton of graphic and violent content. I loved going on this journey with Ikenna. She was a character I enjoyed getting to know. She doesn’t have everything figured out, but she has a goal in mind and nothing will stop her from getting there.
The magic and world building was really well done. There are so many cool parts to the societies to explore and I cannot wait to learn more about them all in the sequel! I really hope we get to see more of the other countries besides Mareen, because I am so curious about them all. Especially Ikenna's friendship with the Crown Prince. I need more details Ikenna!
Overall, I highly recommend this book.
Rep: Biracial Black cishet female MC, white cishet female side character, biracial cishet male side character, various Black male side characters.
CWs: Racism, racial slurs, xenophobia, violence, gore, blood, injury/injury detail, cursing, death, cannibalism, misogyny, sexual content (on page and discussions), classism, sexism, grief, war, bullying/hazing, torture, murder, death of grandparent/parent, gun violence, medical content. Moderate: vomit, alcohol, alcoholism, confinement, gaslighting, colonisation, genocide, abandonment.
4.5/5 Y’all this book took me on a ride.
This was so bloody, but I loved it all! The Blood Trials is an immersive, bloody military fantasy that follows Ikenna Amari. She has just graduated her training and is planning to take time off to grieve the loss of her beloved Grandfather. When she learns he was murdered, she decides to pledge to the Praetorians to find out who killed him. But she’ll only find out if she survives the fatal trial process.
There is so much action in this story, and a shit ton of graphic and violent content. I loved going on this journey with Ikenna. She was a character I enjoyed getting to know. She doesn’t have everything figured out, but she has a goal in mind and nothing will stop her from getting there.
The magic and world building was really well done. There are so many cool parts to the societies to explore and I cannot wait to learn more about them all in the sequel! I really hope we get to see more of the other countries besides Mareen, because I am so curious about them all. Especially Ikenna's friendship with the Crown Prince. I need more details Ikenna!
Overall, I highly recommend this book.
Rep: Biracial Black cishet female MC, white cishet female side character, biracial cishet male side character, various Black male side characters.
CWs: Racism, racial slurs, xenophobia, violence, gore, blood, injury/injury detail, cursing, death, cannibalism, misogyny, sexual content (on page and discussions), classism, sexism, grief, war, bullying/hazing, torture, murder, death of grandparent/parent, gun violence, medical content. Moderate: vomit, alcohol, alcoholism, confinement, gaslighting, colonisation, genocide, abandonment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Death, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gun violence, Grief, Racism, Bullying, Torture, Racial slurs, Blood, Cursing, Cannibalism, Classism, Sexism, Death of parent, Violence, Gore, Sexual content, War, and Murder
Moderate: Gaslighting, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Confinement, Genocide, Abandonment, Vomit, and Alcohol
locpressedbooks_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.5
This book was an absolute thrill ride straight from page one! We join our MC Ikenna on the eve of her graduation and she’s got a lot of emotions going on right now after just losing her grandfather, Vern Amari, the legendary Legatus of the Republic of Mareen. She learns that he was murdered from a close friend of his and Ikenna has to gather the strength to not give up on herself as well as her grandfather’s love and legacy. She decides to join the Praetorians to get close to those who might have had a hand in his death. Not only does she have to face these gruesome trails where life and limb hang in the balance, Ikenna has to battle the suffocating fools that love to use misogyny and racism to try and discredit and deem her by any means necessary.
She’s fighting for her life trying to survive these trials, investigating her grandfathers death and on top of all that she carries a secret that could not only get her kicked out of the trails but killed for simply being who she is! This is a military science fiction/ fantasy story set in a dystopian society. It’s action pack, full of fight, and some seriously creepy creatures of the night. High tech battle gear and magic mix in this young adult debut novel. I’m so happy that it lived up to this amazing cover.
I got the audiobook (I listened at 1.4x speed) and I really loved it, Jeanette Illidge is the narrator and she’s done some of my other favorites such as The Good Luck Girls and A Blade So Black. She really brought these characters and the story to life for me I never wanted to miss a word. Inflections in the voice, mannerisms, I never got confused on who was speaking. I thought she did a great job and I will definitely be picking up the sequel, The Blood Gift, next year. Thank you again @nia.davenport, @harpervoyagerus and @b2weird for this opportunity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Classism, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Cannibalism
Moderate: War, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexism, Vomit, and Sexual content
micaela_ru's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Lots of potential and lots of disappointment with this debut. Sub-par writing drags down an otherwise compelling story.
Story: 3 stars. Engaging and entertaining most of the time, though chapter one is a struggle to get through after the initial scene in the bar. It is long, but it does do a good job in setting up the rest of the story. Unfortunately, this story felt like a slog up until the 40% mark where I feel like the story really started to get its footing. The trials themselves were disappointing, which the exception of one, I felt like they weren’t creative or interesting to read, and no amount of action scenes or gore made it better. It overall, this book felt both overstuffed but also underdeveloped. It is a bit predictable at times too, but there is one scene near the end that I didn’t expect and I would give a whole star just for that reveal alone.
Worldbuilding: 4 stars for the ideas. 2 stars for the execution. The blood magic was very cool. Fantastic ideas but the execution of those ideas felt flat and rushed. The blood magic was definitely cool and I liked how the moons played a part in that, but so much of the worldbuilding is filtered through walls of text including large swaths of awkward dialogue that was obviously meant to provide exposition and not much else. Everything about the Pantheon gods was interesting but the way it was delivered wasn’t interesting and made me want to skim. We really don’t get to experience the world they live in because they’re always indoors most of the time. The most refreshing scenes were when they were outdoors in the wilds, especially during that one crazy trial (seriously, best section of the book, I wish the entire book had been like that section). There are moments where the worldbuilding shines, but they’re so far and few in between because of the way the author chose to deliver the information. Speaking of worldbuilding, Ikenna dealing with racism is a huge point for this book but I felt it was too simplistic and detracted from the worldbuilding because -isms (any kind of oppression) has to have context, and there is no context for why people with dark brown skin are discriminated against and what info the book does provide isn’t enough. And while it is obvious that this story is using these fantasy races as stand-ins for real-world races (particularly white and Black), I feel like the story needed its own basis for why racism existed without relying on the real world. I felt like that was a missed opportunity with the worldbuilding that took away some texture and made the race stuff fill forced and over-the-top. Not to mention, the various names for the different ethnic groups/races/countries(?) was a bit confusing and hard to follow and remember the distinctions. Also, the reasoning behind why the trials exist didn’t make much sense. Even a character in the story points this out and it is brushed away.
Writing: 1.5 stars. My biggest issue with this book was the writing style, the pacing, the walls of text, the way that the writing bogged down everything, even managing to turn sex and fights into something tedious. The writing is the primary reason this book has 3 stars instead of the 4-5 I would’ve given it otherwise. It feels like unpolished YA. First-person present tense aside, which I’m not a fan of in SFF for practical reasons, this book’s writing created a very uneven reading experience to the point of distraction. Characters’ dialogue felt out of character sometimes and overly formal. Nobody had a distinct voice. They would switch from speaking in a normal, casual, realistic way to sounding robotic and using words that felt unnatural. Word choice, sentence structure in the prose was sometimes hard to get through because it felt so uneven and choppy. Since this story is first person, it should’ve felt like Ikenna was doing the talking in her own narration, but there was always a distance there and I think that it was because of the choppy writing. This book needed better editing. There was also cringey phrases that became repetitive or seemed out of place. Bottom line: the writing voice in this book is why I couldn’t give it more stars. The writing is also so heavy-handed and bloated at times that reading felt like a slog. There was so much repetition and too much time spent in Ikenna’s head when she was doing her sleuth thing. Also description was lacking for most of the book (though the description of the outside settings like mountains, moons, etc. was pretty solid). Impossible to know what the characters looked like, which created even more distance between the reader and the characters. The writing overall had a choppy, unpolished, and muddled quality to it. As stated earlier, the commentary on race and sex felt very surface-level. Using fantasy settings to explore bigotry isn’t new, and this story didn’t dig deep enough to make that exploration feel fresh or meaningful. We also didn’t need to be constantly told that something was racist or sexist. Let readers figure it out on their own.
Character: 2.5 stars. While I liked Ikenna’s bad-assery, she felt one-note after a while and there was something lacking about her character development. Also, her bad-assery and lack of emotional response to things made her feel like she wasn’t a fully fleshed out character at times. Even though this story was first person present, I always felt distanced from this character despite being in her head all the time. Also, because the MC is basically immune to damage, I never felt afraid for her, so it affected my ability to care about what happened to her or the people around her. She also seems to never be afraid either, so if the MC doesn’t care about what’s going on around her, why should I? The rest of the cast were forgettable, and I didn’t care about what happened to them. They were interchangeable names with bland personalities.
Romance and relationships: The supposed “enemies-to-lovers” trope also felt bland because Ikenna and the love interest barely have scenes together, and there’s one thing that comes out of nowhere (avoiding spoilers) that, while nice and spicy to read, felt random given the fact that their prior interactions lacked sexual tension or much of anything at all. Ikenna’s relationships with most of the other characters also felt one-note and when people were killed off, I didn’t care because there was no connection to them even when the author tried to force a connection right before a character would die.
One last thing: I was hoping this book would buck the trend of Black characters being tokens in their own space. I understand some of the necessity of that given the worldbuilding but there were ways to do that and not have her being a token. Between that and the way other Black characters are dealt with and how white characters are redeemed when they don’t deserve it, it definitely put a sour taste in my mouth a little bit.
Overall, despite my issues with this debut, I am going to read book 2 because book 1 ended with the promise of something more though I am disappointed in some of the choices made (especially with certain racist characters being conveniently redeemed). I found this reading experience to be uneven, sometimes a chore, and a bit disappointing after having such high hopes for this title. I feel like the weakest part of this series (other than the writing) is the actual trials that they participated in, which is sad to say, especially when they take up so much of the story. Everything going on outside of the trials (like the murder mystery and impending war) felt more compelling and interesting than anything going on within the trial scenario. Since it is a debut, I know that the sky is the limit for this author to evolve and I’m looking forward to seeing more.
Story: 3 stars. Engaging and entertaining most of the time, though chapter one is a struggle to get through after the initial scene in the bar. It is long, but it does do a good job in setting up the rest of the story. Unfortunately, this story felt like a slog up until the 40% mark where I feel like the story really started to get its footing. The trials themselves were disappointing, which the exception of one, I felt like they weren’t creative or interesting to read, and no amount of action scenes or gore made it better. It overall, this book felt both overstuffed but also underdeveloped. It is a bit predictable at times too, but there is one scene near the end that I didn’t expect and I would give a whole star just for that reveal alone.
Worldbuilding: 4 stars for the ideas. 2 stars for the execution. The blood magic was very cool. Fantastic ideas but the execution of those ideas felt flat and rushed. The blood magic was definitely cool and I liked how the moons played a part in that, but so much of the worldbuilding is filtered through walls of text including large swaths of awkward dialogue that was obviously meant to provide exposition and not much else. Everything about the Pantheon gods was interesting but the way it was delivered wasn’t interesting and made me want to skim. We really don’t get to experience the world they live in because they’re always indoors most of the time. The most refreshing scenes were when they were outdoors in the wilds, especially during that one crazy trial (seriously, best section of the book, I wish the entire book had been like that section). There are moments where the worldbuilding shines, but they’re so far and few in between because of the way the author chose to deliver the information. Speaking of worldbuilding, Ikenna dealing with racism is a huge point for this book but I felt it was too simplistic and detracted from the worldbuilding because -isms (any kind of oppression) has to have context, and there is no context for why people with dark brown skin are discriminated against and what info the book does provide isn’t enough. And while it is obvious that this story is using these fantasy races as stand-ins for real-world races (particularly white and Black), I feel like the story needed its own basis for why racism existed without relying on the real world. I felt like that was a missed opportunity with the worldbuilding that took away some texture and made the race stuff fill forced and over-the-top. Not to mention, the various names for the different ethnic groups/races/countries(?) was a bit confusing and hard to follow and remember the distinctions. Also, the reasoning behind why the trials exist didn’t make much sense. Even a character in the story points this out and it is brushed away.
Writing: 1.5 stars. My biggest issue with this book was the writing style, the pacing, the walls of text, the way that the writing bogged down everything, even managing to turn sex and fights into something tedious. The writing is the primary reason this book has 3 stars instead of the 4-5 I would’ve given it otherwise. It feels like unpolished YA. First-person present tense aside, which I’m not a fan of in SFF for practical reasons, this book’s writing created a very uneven reading experience to the point of distraction. Characters’ dialogue felt out of character sometimes and overly formal. Nobody had a distinct voice. They would switch from speaking in a normal, casual, realistic way to sounding robotic and using words that felt unnatural. Word choice, sentence structure in the prose was sometimes hard to get through because it felt so uneven and choppy. Since this story is first person, it should’ve felt like Ikenna was doing the talking in her own narration, but there was always a distance there and I think that it was because of the choppy writing. This book needed better editing. There was also cringey phrases that became repetitive or seemed out of place. Bottom line: the writing voice in this book is why I couldn’t give it more stars. The writing is also so heavy-handed and bloated at times that reading felt like a slog. There was so much repetition and too much time spent in Ikenna’s head when she was doing her sleuth thing. Also description was lacking for most of the book (though the description of the outside settings like mountains, moons, etc. was pretty solid). Impossible to know what the characters looked like, which created even more distance between the reader and the characters. The writing overall had a choppy, unpolished, and muddled quality to it. As stated earlier, the commentary on race and sex felt very surface-level. Using fantasy settings to explore bigotry isn’t new, and this story didn’t dig deep enough to make that exploration feel fresh or meaningful. We also didn’t need to be constantly told that something was racist or sexist. Let readers figure it out on their own.
Character: 2.5 stars. While I liked Ikenna’s bad-assery, she felt one-note after a while and there was something lacking about her character development. Also, her bad-assery and lack of emotional response to things made her feel like she wasn’t a fully fleshed out character at times. Even though this story was first person present, I always felt distanced from this character despite being in her head all the time. Also, because the MC is basically immune to damage, I never felt afraid for her, so it affected my ability to care about what happened to her or the people around her. She also seems to never be afraid either, so if the MC doesn’t care about what’s going on around her, why should I? The rest of the cast were forgettable, and I didn’t care about what happened to them. They were interchangeable names with bland personalities.
Romance and relationships: The supposed “enemies-to-lovers” trope also felt bland because Ikenna and the love interest barely have scenes together, and there’s one thing that comes out of nowhere (avoiding spoilers) that, while nice and spicy to read, felt random given the fact that their prior interactions lacked sexual tension or much of anything at all. Ikenna’s relationships with most of the other characters also felt one-note and when people were killed off, I didn’t care because there was no connection to them even when the author tried to force a connection right before a character would die.
One last thing: I was hoping this book would buck the trend of Black characters being tokens in their own space. I understand some of the necessity of that given the worldbuilding but there were ways to do that and not have her being a token. Between that and the way other Black characters are dealt with and how white characters are redeemed when they don’t deserve it, it definitely put a sour taste in my mouth a little bit.
Overall, despite my issues with this debut, I am going to read book 2 because book 1 ended with the promise of something more though I am disappointed in some of the choices made (especially with certain racist characters being conveniently redeemed). I found this reading experience to be uneven, sometimes a chore, and a bit disappointing after having such high hopes for this title. I feel like the weakest part of this series (other than the writing) is the actual trials that they participated in, which is sad to say, especially when they take up so much of the story. Everything going on outside of the trials (like the murder mystery and impending war) felt more compelling and interesting than anything going on within the trial scenario. Since it is a debut, I know that the sky is the limit for this author to evolve and I’m looking forward to seeing more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual content, Gun violence, Sexism, Cursing, Religious bigotry, and Violence
amivireads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Thank you Harper Voyager and NetGalley for an arc, here is my honest review.
Give me book 2 now!!
The blood trails put me through so much stress and I loved every second of it. This was an anticipated release of mine and is the first adult black fantasy book I’ve read and I was disappointed. Everything about this book is bloody and violent. The author doesn’t hold back about details on violence or racism/sexism.
Ikenna is one of the best female characters I’ve read in a while. She never holds back and at times makes rash and selfish choices that she deals with throughout the book. None of the female characters hold back and instead push toward even with all the sexism thrown their way.
There is also a small romance plot line that doesn’t take away from the main focus of the story.
If you’re looking for a fantasy/sci-fi book that’s like blood scion but adult, then The Blood Trials is the perfect book.
Give me book 2 now!!
The blood trails put me through so much stress and I loved every second of it. This was an anticipated release of mine and is the first adult black fantasy book I’ve read and I was disappointed. Everything about this book is bloody and violent. The author doesn’t hold back about details on violence or racism/sexism.
Ikenna is one of the best female characters I’ve read in a while. She never holds back and at times makes rash and selfish choices that she deals with throughout the book. None of the female characters hold back and instead push toward even with all the sexism thrown their way.
There is also a small romance plot line that doesn’t take away from the main focus of the story.
If you’re looking for a fantasy/sci-fi book that’s like blood scion but adult, then The Blood Trials is the perfect book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Violence, Torture, Sexism, Racism, Blood, Cursing, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Vomit
internationalreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Abandonment, Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation, Grief, Bullying, Sexism, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Torture, War, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, and Misogyny
xalrynne's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
I had been very excited to read The Blood Trials for quite some time, ever since I first saw the amazing cover a few months ago, and I was very lucky and ecstatic to receive an early copy of it, which I immediately jumped into. Unfortunately, however, this book had so much language and violence in it that I almost DNFed it in chapter 3 for that reason alone. I persevered, though, because I really wanted to read this book and enjoy it, but the vulgarity and violence only got worse.
The story here is surrounding Ikenna, a strong female protagonist who is hot-headed and quick to start a fight, in the aftermath of her grandfather’s murder. Her grandfather was the former Legatus Commander, a high-ranking official who trained her to keep her Blood gift a secret. Determined to discover who killed her grandfather and avenge his death, Ikenna pledges in the Praetorian Trials, a grueling set of physical tests that mean death for most who try. But Ikenna has an advantage with her Blood gift, a power that no one knows she has and that the government of Mareen tried to wipe out years ago. If she is found out, she will be killed. If she fails the trials, she will be killed. She might just be killed anyway because of her mixed heritage and dark skin color. But she will die fighting if that’s what it takes.
One of the very first things I noticed about this book, which continued throughout the whole story, is that the writing is very choppy. There are lots of short sentences right after each other instead of being combined with commas and contractions. Stopping at so many periods so frequently was jarring and made for a reading experience that wasn’t too enjoyable for me. There also was not a lot of worldbuilding at all—just a little bit about the government of Mareen and the Pantheon of gods they may or may not believe in, but not much else. The writing style really makes this book feel like a debut novel to me. I kept being pulled out of the story because of how something was explained or the word choices made, and it made it clear that this story has a really cool concept but with poor execution.
The trials started with over a thousand people, then there were 600, then 300 people left, yet the same five people are the only ones who ever get mentioned. It feels like no one important dies and no one else is even present because the lack of talk about them. Why do the training officers pick on the same handful of people in every chapter when literally hundreds of more options are out there? I know Ikenna isn’t going to interact with every single person in the trials with her, but how few people were actually mentioned made it feel rather unrealistic and like there was only a small group of people present the whole time.
I could not connect to or care about any of the characters besides Ikenna. A lot of minor characters I got mixed up because they would be referenced once or twice in the beginning and then not at all in the middle and then again at the end, or there would be a ton of side characters introduced at once with no distinguishing traits between them and I was expected to remember them all. Just not very good character work in this book, in my opinion.
This definitely feels like just a dystopian with a little bit of futuristic technology, instead of the science-fiction / fantasy crossover that I thought this was and that the cover and synopsis alluded to. I absolutely love the cover for this book, but I think it’s the wrong cover for the story within. The appearance of multiple planets and spired buildings are not indicative of the type of story this is; the vibrant colors on the cover make it seem more lighthearted, action-packed but fun, instead of the dark aggressive story focused on murder, racism, and bigotry that it is.
The Blood Trials is very dark and gritty and violent, most of the book focusing on what Ikenna has to go through to survive the brutal trials. This honestly looks like a young adult book cover, but this is very much an adult book with adult content, and that’s to this book’s disadvantage because it is likely that the type of audience that will be drawn to the cover is not the type to be prepared for the directions the story takes (like me).
I wanted to love this book, but I spent most of the story just waiting for it to end because I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I wanted to. I think this will be an amazing book for the right audience, and I thought that was me before I started it, but now after having read it, I know I’m not the right audience anymore.
Because Ikenna is Black and suffers unnecessary racism in her world because of her mixed heritage, I think Black women looking for a strong female protagonist that they can see come out on top of all the suppressors would really enjoy this story. The author is Black and the main character is Black, and this just feels like a story written for the strong Black women out there who feel like they don’t belong but are powerful, determined fighters. This is a book for them, and that’s great because we need more books like that. But that’s not me.
Even though this is a book I would describe as “good,” I didn’t particularly enjoy it. Ikenna faces so much hatred and injustices that it constantly made me just so mad. I read books to feel happy, so I didn’t want to keep returning to this story that I knew was going to keep making me angry with every passing page.
I quit reading at 84% and skimmed to the end, reading dialogue here and there and then reading the last page. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I had been suffering through this book for over two weeks, reading during every spare second I had, and it still would not end. I brought the book on vacation with me and read and read and read it, and I still was not done. From about 50% onward is when I switched from being engaged in the story to just wanting it to be done simply because I was not enjoying it anymore, but I pushed forward until I eventually decided to stop at 84%. The trials end at the 70% mark and the last 30% is just politics that set up the story that will take place during the sequel, which I already know I won’t be reading. Plus, even though I normally like political intrigue, I did not care about a single thing the characters were talking about or doing. I didn’t know who they were talking about or what the nations and alliances were, and I certainly didn’t care about the future of any one character or country.
Overall, I am very disappointed with The Blood Trials. I wanted both more fantastical elements and more science-fiction elements, and I wanted less graphic on-page violence and less vulgarity. I also wanted more character development and world-building. I expected this book to be a new favorite, but I struggled to push myself through it and found myself not caring what happened in the end. Even though this book didn’t work out for me, I think this will be a great book for the right audience, so I encourage you to check if out if you’re interested. Just know ahead of time the content gets very dark.
The story here is surrounding Ikenna, a strong female protagonist who is hot-headed and quick to start a fight, in the aftermath of her grandfather’s murder. Her grandfather was the former Legatus Commander, a high-ranking official who trained her to keep her Blood gift a secret. Determined to discover who killed her grandfather and avenge his death, Ikenna pledges in the Praetorian Trials, a grueling set of physical tests that mean death for most who try. But Ikenna has an advantage with her Blood gift, a power that no one knows she has and that the government of Mareen tried to wipe out years ago. If she is found out, she will be killed. If she fails the trials, she will be killed. She might just be killed anyway because of her mixed heritage and dark skin color. But she will die fighting if that’s what it takes.
One of the very first things I noticed about this book, which continued throughout the whole story, is that the writing is very choppy. There are lots of short sentences right after each other instead of being combined with commas and contractions. Stopping at so many periods so frequently was jarring and made for a reading experience that wasn’t too enjoyable for me. There also was not a lot of worldbuilding at all—just a little bit about the government of Mareen and the Pantheon of gods they may or may not believe in, but not much else. The writing style really makes this book feel like a debut novel to me. I kept being pulled out of the story because of how something was explained or the word choices made, and it made it clear that this story has a really cool concept but with poor execution.
The trials started with over a thousand people, then there were 600, then 300 people left, yet the same five people are the only ones who ever get mentioned. It feels like no one important dies and no one else is even present because the lack of talk about them. Why do the training officers pick on the same handful of people in every chapter when literally hundreds of more options are out there? I know Ikenna isn’t going to interact with every single person in the trials with her, but how few people were actually mentioned made it feel rather unrealistic and like there was only a small group of people present the whole time.
I could not connect to or care about any of the characters besides Ikenna. A lot of minor characters I got mixed up because they would be referenced once or twice in the beginning and then not at all in the middle and then again at the end, or there would be a ton of side characters introduced at once with no distinguishing traits between them and I was expected to remember them all. Just not very good character work in this book, in my opinion.
This definitely feels like just a dystopian with a little bit of futuristic technology, instead of the science-fiction / fantasy crossover that I thought this was and that the cover and synopsis alluded to. I absolutely love the cover for this book, but I think it’s the wrong cover for the story within. The appearance of multiple planets and spired buildings are not indicative of the type of story this is; the vibrant colors on the cover make it seem more lighthearted, action-packed but fun, instead of the dark aggressive story focused on murder, racism, and bigotry that it is.
The Blood Trials is very dark and gritty and violent, most of the book focusing on what Ikenna has to go through to survive the brutal trials. This honestly looks like a young adult book cover, but this is very much an adult book with adult content, and that’s to this book’s disadvantage because it is likely that the type of audience that will be drawn to the cover is not the type to be prepared for the directions the story takes (like me).
I wanted to love this book, but I spent most of the story just waiting for it to end because I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I wanted to. I think this will be an amazing book for the right audience, and I thought that was me before I started it, but now after having read it, I know I’m not the right audience anymore.
Because Ikenna is Black and suffers unnecessary racism in her world because of her mixed heritage, I think Black women looking for a strong female protagonist that they can see come out on top of all the suppressors would really enjoy this story. The author is Black and the main character is Black, and this just feels like a story written for the strong Black women out there who feel like they don’t belong but are powerful, determined fighters. This is a book for them, and that’s great because we need more books like that. But that’s not me.
Even though this is a book I would describe as “good,” I didn’t particularly enjoy it. Ikenna faces so much hatred and injustices that it constantly made me just so mad. I read books to feel happy, so I didn’t want to keep returning to this story that I knew was going to keep making me angry with every passing page.
I quit reading at 84% and skimmed to the end, reading dialogue here and there and then reading the last page. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I had been suffering through this book for over two weeks, reading during every spare second I had, and it still would not end. I brought the book on vacation with me and read and read and read it, and I still was not done. From about 50% onward is when I switched from being engaged in the story to just wanting it to be done simply because I was not enjoying it anymore, but I pushed forward until I eventually decided to stop at 84%. The trials end at the 70% mark and the last 30% is just politics that set up the story that will take place during the sequel, which I already know I won’t be reading. Plus, even though I normally like political intrigue, I did not care about a single thing the characters were talking about or doing. I didn’t know who they were talking about or what the nations and alliances were, and I certainly didn’t care about the future of any one character or country.
Overall, I am very disappointed with The Blood Trials. I wanted both more fantastical elements and more science-fiction elements, and I wanted less graphic on-page violence and less vulgarity. I also wanted more character development and world-building. I expected this book to be a new favorite, but I struggled to push myself through it and found myself not caring what happened in the end. Even though this book didn’t work out for me, I think this will be a great book for the right audience, so I encourage you to check if out if you’re interested. Just know ahead of time the content gets very dark.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Classism, War, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail
mikayreadsandwrites's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexism, Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Moderate: Classism, Gaslighting, Racism, Sexism, and Medical trauma