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A review by accidentalmuse
Blood Upon The Sand by Bradley P. Beaulieu
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
(Note, this was a reread for me)
Book 2 was just as engaging as the 1st, more so really. We get to see a lot more internal conflict with Ceda - between her old life and new; her goals and the extremes her 'allies' are willing to go to get there; her getting to see what the violence looks like from the other side. It was all incredibly interesting stuff, and makes you sympathise with characters on all sides. It's amazing when I come to understand or even empathise with the 'bad' character too - it makes the stakes feel all the higher for it.
There were some aspects of Ceda I found frustrating, name her struggle with the Asirim. Ceda is an incredibly astute and capable character, yet she kept falling for the same mistakes when it came her bond with the Asirim. She's a character who may be impulsive, but does have good emotional control, so it felt annoying to see her not learn from past experience.
The other thing about Ceda which irked me, is I wish she showed more resistence to the moonless host. It was something interesting about her character in book 1, and gave guidance to her moral compass - she and the moonless host may share goals, but she was firmly against the violence and fanatacism they recruited to get there. Yet in this book she seemed far happier to work with those she previously wouldn't - and there wasn't any internal monologue to suggest it bothered her. As such, I really don't understand where her bond with Emre is going. In book 1 they felt like they were clearly on diverging paths, which could lead to incredibly interesting writing in the remainder of the series, but now I'm not sure where the destination is.
Book 2 was just as engaging as the 1st, more so really. We get to see a lot more internal conflict with Ceda - between her old life and new; her goals and the extremes her 'allies' are willing to go to get there; her getting to see what the violence looks like from the other side. It was all incredibly interesting stuff, and makes you sympathise with characters on all sides. It's amazing when I come to understand or even empathise with the 'bad' character too - it makes the stakes feel all the higher for it.
There were some aspects of Ceda I found frustrating, name her struggle with the Asirim. Ceda is an incredibly astute and capable character, yet she kept falling for the same mistakes when it came her bond with the Asirim. She's a character who may be impulsive, but does have good emotional control, so it felt annoying to see her not learn from past experience.
The other thing about Ceda which irked me, is I wish she showed more resistence to the moonless host. It was something interesting about her character in book 1, and gave guidance to her moral compass - she and the moonless host may share goals, but she was firmly against the violence and fanatacism they recruited to get there. Yet in this book she seemed far happier to work with those she previously wouldn't - and there wasn't any internal monologue to suggest it bothered her. As such, I really don't understand where her bond with Emre is going. In book 1 they felt like they were clearly on diverging paths, which could lead to incredibly interesting writing in the remainder of the series, but now I'm not sure where the destination is.