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A review by childoftheninth
The Black Veins by Ashia Monet
4.0
A solid 3.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book, it's a super fun found family adventure that'll make you laugh and even tear up a few times if you're a sap like me. It's queer (I think?) and black own voices and just. so. beautiful. and so raw and real despite being fantasy. I want to squish these kids.
*potential spoilers warning*
I think I started to fall in love with the characters around page 152:
Blythe stammers, "Wh....wait a minute."
Cordelia blurts, "What the hell?"
Daniel screams. No word. Just raw power.
For some reason this was hilarious to me, and after that the charm of Blythe, Cordelia, Daniel, Antonio, Storm, Caspian and Jay was impossible to ignore. They're all such individual characters with their own motivations, fears, quirks and faults. The character building/growth which I thought this book lacked at first actually had in spades.
I loved that there was no romance but still an abundance of love between the characters, and some great flirting. The dialogue was real and great and I really can't say enough good things about this book. But I almost didn't get to the enjoying it part because I couldn't get past the first 1/4 of the book. The writing style is I think geared towards younger readers and it was hard for me to get into the story. I felt like the characters were flat in the beginning and there were a few too many nods to BTVS (a mean girl named Cordelia, mention of someone named Willow, an evil gang named Angelus?) and so many typos. But the rest of the book was so worth it and I'm glad I kept reading.
Also, this book was written in 2019 and Ashia Monet may be prophetic because:
Like dude, can you imagine if like, the apocalypse happened, and you had to make your entire life revolve inside your house because there's nowhere to be except your house?"
*potential spoilers warning*
I think I started to fall in love with the characters around page 152:
Blythe stammers, "Wh....wait a minute."
Cordelia blurts, "What the hell?"
Daniel screams. No word. Just raw power.
For some reason this was hilarious to me, and after that the charm of Blythe, Cordelia, Daniel, Antonio, Storm, Caspian and Jay was impossible to ignore. They're all such individual characters with their own motivations, fears, quirks and faults. The character building/growth which I thought this book lacked at first actually had in spades.
I loved that there was no romance but still an abundance of love between the characters, and some great flirting. The dialogue was real and great and I really can't say enough good things about this book. But I almost didn't get to the enjoying it part because I couldn't get past the first 1/4 of the book. The writing style is I think geared towards younger readers and it was hard for me to get into the story. I felt like the characters were flat in the beginning and there were a few too many nods to BTVS (a mean girl named Cordelia, mention of someone named Willow, an evil gang named Angelus?) and so many typos. But the rest of the book was so worth it and I'm glad I kept reading.
Also, this book was written in 2019 and Ashia Monet may be prophetic because:
Like dude, can you imagine if like, the apocalypse happened, and you had to make your entire life revolve inside your house because there's nowhere to be except your house?"