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A review by rose_prickett
Fortress of Blood and Power by Rachel L. Schade

dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I had some issues with the morality of the main character later in the book. At one point, the love interest insists the MC is "good" but in his list of what makes her good mentions nothing that a bad person could not have (he says she's pure, couragous, and powerful). The villains of the book are also pure (in their hatred and their purpose), courageous (in their previous lives, I'd argue), and powerful. They are most definitely not good, though. And I don't think the MC is as good as we're supposed to believe. She stops feeling bad about killing an innocent victim pretty quickly and spares no thought for the other three who were killed by the love interest and later kills a guy when I suspect she could have simply injured him or stopped him with her powers another way. Her reason? He was about to attack the love interest for killing his brother in the past.

I was also bugged that throughout the book "quiet" and "kind" seemed to be viewed as synonymous, weak, and possible even wrong. I think it was a bad attempt to show the MC's growth and developing agency, by embracing her anger and becoming willing to hurt or kill if necessary, but I've seen this arc done much better without diminishing the value of kindness or implying that to be quiet is to be weak.
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