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

4.0

i'm so in between with this rating. somehow this novel is both 3 and 4 stars for me. there's a lot of high tension, fast action scenes that i enjoyed. there was enough characterization and interesting plot to keep me going to the end; at the very least i was intrigued enough to find out what happened to her grandfather and how these villains play a part in it. though, some of this felt very predictable (i figured out very early on) and the tone of the story felt extremely YA even though this is an adult novel.

i also think some of the characters felt... weak? very one dimensional. just there to be there instead of feeling like actual full-fleshed out people. i had these moments, especially when i first started this novel, where i would go "what's the point of me reading this when i can reading the poppy war or red rising again." which wasn't great but, you know what? this was still very, very enjoyable despite the criticisms!