A review by thenovelmaura
A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy

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

3.0

I was prepared to love this North-African inspired fantasy, but it ultimately wasn't all that compelling to me. All the different races were cool, and I enjoyed Joy's take on the dynamics between humans, bloodkin, fey, and khimaer, and how they evolved over centuries of war and conquest. Eva and Isa had unique powers (although the whole "wise mentor shows up just in time to teach the MC how to harness their power" trope is pretty overdone at this point) and so does Eva's sweetheart of a love interest.

On the other hand, this book has a Three Dark Crowns-like premise, where only one sister can hold the throne and they must fight to the death to decide who is worthy. While this is supposedly the central conflict of the book, Eva and Isa rarely talk and their relationship is conveyed in a few childhood flashbacks. Also, Eva's power is leagues more deadly than Isa's, so there's not much tension to be had in terms of who will win the final showdown. Top that off with a predictable ending (
Eva can't bring herself to kill Isa even though Iva had been bullying her for years and really didn't seem to care about her at all
) and I'm on the fence about whether I should read the sequel. Maybe I'll check out reviews and decide based on that.
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