A review by fishy27
The Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.0

Allow me to begin by saying that The Blood Trials is absolutely not a Young Adult story–the only reason to tag it as such would be because of the MC’s age, but I would not categorize this book as a appropriate for young readers. 

Second, and equally important: I support women’s wrongs. 

Onto the point. 

N.E. Davenport has crafted such an exciting world that crosses science fiction and fantasy at such a sweet spot for me. I loved how Daveport brought the two genres together and *chef’s kiss*ed her way into a really badass world that felt independent of both. 

I am not one to read summaries before picking up a book, so I absolutely thought that this would be a book about survival. To my surprise and delight, though, I was wrong–this is certainly a revenge story carried by a very angry young woman who will claw the Republic apart to exact overdue vengeance. 

Ikenna was a real badass, and I appreciated that Davenport wrote her as she did. Ikenna is angry, stubborn, and short-sighted in a way that can be really frustrating. Though I, as the reader, understand why she acts how she does, sometimes her actions were really annoying. 

I am kind of a “trials” hater, but Davenport executes on the established SFF construction so well. The Praetorian trials are brutal and wretched and so appropriate for the story. 

I was disappointed with Ikenna/the plot on one pretty major point:

There was not really one moment, from meeting Reed as co-leader at the trials, where I was truly convinced that he could have killed Verne. I also was deeply, DEEPLY unsurprised at finding out that Reed was part-Khanian. For all Ikenna’s strengths, she’s not the best at strategy, but she certainly isn’t stupid. I don’t know why she didn’t connect that earlier, and I don’t know why she suspected Reed as deeply and as mindlessly for as long as she did. I would’ve found the romance between them much more interesting if Ikenna didn’t think that she was really onto something about suspecting him.

Finally, I think Davenport was a bit heavy-handed with pointing out racism and misogyny. In my personal records, I labeled the audience for this book as New Adult as opposed to Adult because I just got the feeling that Davenport wasn’t fully sure who she was writing for. If this had been a YA book, I’d be more willing to let it slide, but writing for adults means that you have to trust your readers to understand how racism and misogyny are at play here. I know that Ikenna has suffered, I know she’s pissed about it, I don’t need it to be explained and pointed out over and over and over again. 

Overall very enjoyable read: a very fast-paced SFF novel where I get to follow a badass woman who’s rightfully pissed at the world.