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A review by thebooknerdscorner
Wildblood by Lauren Blackwood
3.0
A dark fantasy steeped in Jamaican folklore that explores healing from one's trauma and finding a place to call home on their own terms.
Victoria is a Wildblood. From the early age of six, a notorious tour company has been taking advantage of her and forcing her to bring foreigners into the jungle that she so desperately wants to call her own. Forced to use her magic to protect the tourists from the jungle's monsters, Victoria is ready to take things into her own hands. Unfortunately, her corrupt and abusive boss denies her the promotion that she so desperately needs in the favor of her backstabbing ex, Dean. Victoria is given one final chance to prove herself as an adept tour guide if she can get the latest client, Thorn, to sing Dean's praises. To her surprise, she finds that Thorn is a charming young man who treats her with more respect than anyone she's met before. As her feelings deepen, Victoria is forced to contemplate what she really wants in this life.
This book is quite an intense read. Victoria, Dean, Thorn, and the rest of the troop are trekking through a treacherous jungle filled with creatures from Jamaican folklore that could have walked straight out of Hell. I've read a few books with Jamaican monsters in them, and I must say, they are just as horrifying as I remember them. There are soul-eating owls with teeth, giant shadow creatures with the ability to kill with a single touch, and of course, the River Mumma, who loves to lure stragglers into her river to their deaths. Seeing all the creatures was interesting and I appreciate learning more about Jamaican folklore.
Victoria has been mistreated in pretty much every way possible during her time as a tour guide. Her boss is a corrupt leader who treats everyone like less than garbage, but Victoria has been hit extra hard due to her being a beautiful female. Abused mentally, sexually, physically, and financially, Victoria is running away from so much pain in this book. And this is without all the racially charge violence and abuse that she faces. These things certainly add to the intense vibes that this book has, but the author does a great job of showcasing how unhealthy and slow-going growth can be after years and years of continuous trauma.
I love how in tune with nature Victoria is. She is fiercely loyal to the few boys in her troop that she cares about, but her true allegiance lies with the River Mumma and the jungle. I think it's cool that she is still semi-religious despite how devoted to nature she is. The fact that she is willing to hold poisonous butterflies and spiders without batting an eye shows how comfortable she is with the fauna. Nature lovers as protags are always neat in my opinion. As a side note, I really appreciate how strong Victoria is, even though she deals with panic attacks and stuttering.
The romance element in this book wasn't the strongest for me, but I didn't hate Thorn either. I feel their relationship came on a bit fast, but I also get it. No one has ever treated Victoria with as much respect as Thorn has, so it makes sense she wanted to trust him so easily. The one steamy scene between them was questionable at best, but I also get wanting to use sex to forget about the heavy things that are weighing on one's mind. Luckily, Thorn is a considerate gentleman despite his skirt-chasing nature, and he treated Victoria with the respect she deserves.
I must admit, I didn't understand the Wildblood's magic system at all. Did it just give them extreme endurance, strength, stamina, etc? I dunno. I get that Victoria could use blood as a weapon, such as forming knives or draining her enemies of blood. I know that Wildbloods go into rages if they overuse their abilities. Is it similar to barbarians raging in D&D? I'm really not sure and I wish this all would have been a little clearer to me. Also, there is little discussion of where these powers come from or why Victoria's are the strongest, but that didn't bother me as much as the confusion of what the powers do did.
I'm going to quickly go over some of the reasons I wasn't completely attached to this narrative. I didn't care about most of the side characters, which made it hard to really care about their safety. Literally ninety-eight percent of the characters die in this one, and I didn't care one bit. There were also a few too many men vying for Victoria's attention for my liking; I didn't really see what Sampson had to offer to the plot. And Victoria and Dean's entire arc is icky, and rather confusing for much of this book. The pacing is a bit slow, and the writing style wasn't my favorite, but these didn't make the book painful, so I accept them.
Overall, "Wildblood" is a moody dark fantasy buried root deep in Jamaican folklore. The elements of choosing your own fate and overcoming one's traumas are really strong; this story is such a creative way to showcase these messages. Learning more about Jamaican mythical creatures was one of my favorite parts of this book (despite how creepy they all seem to be). This book has very few happy moments featured, but that doesn't mean that it's not a compelling read that is worth exploring. It definitely could have hooked me more, but I didn't dislike my time with this one. I would recommend this one for lovers of dark fantasy who are looking for more diverse fantasy worlds and discussions of real-life traumas many people face.
Victoria is a Wildblood. From the early age of six, a notorious tour company has been taking advantage of her and forcing her to bring foreigners into the jungle that she so desperately wants to call her own. Forced to use her magic to protect the tourists from the jungle's monsters, Victoria is ready to take things into her own hands. Unfortunately, her corrupt and abusive boss denies her the promotion that she so desperately needs in the favor of her backstabbing ex, Dean. Victoria is given one final chance to prove herself as an adept tour guide if she can get the latest client, Thorn, to sing Dean's praises. To her surprise, she finds that Thorn is a charming young man who treats her with more respect than anyone she's met before. As her feelings deepen, Victoria is forced to contemplate what she really wants in this life.
This book is quite an intense read. Victoria, Dean, Thorn, and the rest of the troop are trekking through a treacherous jungle filled with creatures from Jamaican folklore that could have walked straight out of Hell. I've read a few books with Jamaican monsters in them, and I must say, they are just as horrifying as I remember them. There are soul-eating owls with teeth, giant shadow creatures with the ability to kill with a single touch, and of course, the River Mumma, who loves to lure stragglers into her river to their deaths. Seeing all the creatures was interesting and I appreciate learning more about Jamaican folklore.
Victoria has been mistreated in pretty much every way possible during her time as a tour guide. Her boss is a corrupt leader who treats everyone like less than garbage, but Victoria has been hit extra hard due to her being a beautiful female. Abused mentally, sexually, physically, and financially, Victoria is running away from so much pain in this book. And this is without all the racially charge violence and abuse that she faces. These things certainly add to the intense vibes that this book has, but the author does a great job of showcasing how unhealthy and slow-going growth can be after years and years of continuous trauma.
I love how in tune with nature Victoria is. She is fiercely loyal to the few boys in her troop that she cares about, but her true allegiance lies with the River Mumma and the jungle. I think it's cool that she is still semi-religious despite how devoted to nature she is. The fact that she is willing to hold poisonous butterflies and spiders without batting an eye shows how comfortable she is with the fauna. Nature lovers as protags are always neat in my opinion. As a side note, I really appreciate how strong Victoria is, even though she deals with panic attacks and stuttering.
The romance element in this book wasn't the strongest for me, but I didn't hate Thorn either. I feel their relationship came on a bit fast, but I also get it. No one has ever treated Victoria with as much respect as Thorn has, so it makes sense she wanted to trust him so easily. The one steamy scene between them was questionable at best, but I also get wanting to use sex to forget about the heavy things that are weighing on one's mind. Luckily, Thorn is a considerate gentleman despite his skirt-chasing nature, and he treated Victoria with the respect she deserves.
I must admit, I didn't understand the Wildblood's magic system at all. Did it just give them extreme endurance, strength, stamina, etc? I dunno. I get that Victoria could use blood as a weapon, such as forming knives or draining her enemies of blood. I know that Wildbloods go into rages if they overuse their abilities. Is it similar to barbarians raging in D&D? I'm really not sure and I wish this all would have been a little clearer to me. Also, there is little discussion of where these powers come from or why Victoria's are the strongest, but that didn't bother me as much as the confusion of what the powers do did.
I'm going to quickly go over some of the reasons I wasn't completely attached to this narrative. I didn't care about most of the side characters, which made it hard to really care about their safety. Literally ninety-eight percent of the characters die in this one, and I didn't care one bit. There were also a few too many men vying for Victoria's attention for my liking; I didn't really see what Sampson had to offer to the plot. And Victoria and Dean's entire arc is icky, and rather confusing for much of this book. The pacing is a bit slow, and the writing style wasn't my favorite, but these didn't make the book painful, so I accept them.
Overall, "Wildblood" is a moody dark fantasy buried root deep in Jamaican folklore. The elements of choosing your own fate and overcoming one's traumas are really strong; this story is such a creative way to showcase these messages. Learning more about Jamaican mythical creatures was one of my favorite parts of this book (despite how creepy they all seem to be). This book has very few happy moments featured, but that doesn't mean that it's not a compelling read that is worth exploring. It definitely could have hooked me more, but I didn't dislike my time with this one. I would recommend this one for lovers of dark fantasy who are looking for more diverse fantasy worlds and discussions of real-life traumas many people face.