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A review by fulltimefiction
Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews
4.0
PLEASE DON’T EVEN THINK OF READING THIS BOOK IF YOU HAVEN’T READ ALL OF THE KATE DANIELS BOOKS. THANKS.
This review contains spoilers for the Kate Daniels series (HUGE SPOILERS, ENDING KIND OF SPOILERS) so please don’t read it if you haven’t finished reading the 10 books. If you haven’t yet started KD and enjoy Urban Fantasy with a smart kickass female lead, you NEED these books in your life. You don’t need to read Kate Daniels to read this one but you’ll be missing out a lot.
I haven’t followed this series for very long. I started reading Kate Daniels in 2017 but I was immediately captivated by the world and characters. It’s now one of my favorite series and Kate is my favorite female character of all time. Like most, I was very disappointed and angry at Julie after Magic Triumphs. I also tend to criticize authors who needlessly add more books to a beloved series of theirs. Although Magic Stars (novella about Julie) hinted at a strong possibility of a spin-off (which I wanted at the time), I hoped maybe we’re going to have a new series set in a new world (or maybe in the old but not about any of our characters). I mean we’re already having Hugh’s spin-off (which I enjoyed immensely).
Usually, extra books ruin the series (and uhm I didn’t particularly love the ending of Magic Triumphs). But still, I love this world. I love Kate, Curran, Julie, Derek, and everyone. I was very excited about this book (didn’t follow it on the blog) even if wary. I didn’t need to worry. The Andrews delivered a solid story with their usual wit and addicting writing. So this book was a lot better than I expected.
Also, to answer a question you might be wondering about: yes, this book will have a sequel. I don’t know if it’s official but the story (even if it doesn’t end with a cliffhanger) is definitely not wrapped up.
update: Ilona Andrews announced that there will be two more books in this series.
This book picks up 8 years after Magic Triumphs. Julie now has a completely new identity:
- Different name: Aurelia Ryder
- Different appearance: taller, more beautiful, and regal looking
She loves Kate and no, doesn’t hold grudges against what she did. But she needed to deal with what she discovered and to work on herself. Erra and Roland were her teachers, she’s now a princess of Shinar. But she can’t see Kate. Four years ago, Sienna (one of the oracles) had a vision. An ancient god, Molech who loves burning children sacrifices, awakened and established himself for years now. But he’s not stopping there. Sierra foresaw that he is going to kill Kate if they ever met. If Aurelia (or Julie? Seriously no idea what to call her, she’ll always be Julie for me) sees her, Kate dies. Julie is now back in Atlanta taking over the investigation of a pastor’s murder. Molech wants this holy man’s killer, so Julie needs to find them first. She’s unavoidably going to meet old acquaintances (yey) all while trying to keep her real identity hidden.
Taught by two of the most magic experts in the world, Aurelia is now stronger and more capable than ever. She was also busy with her grandmother establishing a new kingdom (in the US too). She’s surely grown as a character. She’s tougher now, sharper, and not to be underestimated. I would definitely like to see more of this in the next books!
While I still like her, she’s not Kate. But no one is like Kate so it’s alright. Due to the circumstances mentioned above, Kate was absent in this book. A very smart (if sad) decision. She would’ve stolen the spotlight. Aurelia now needs to establish herself in the eye of the reader and prove that she is an interesting character to read about too. And she is.
This book follows your usual IA formula first book in a series, a mystery to uncover, slow-burn romance, awesome characters, and of course, witty comebacks and sarcasm + the right amount of drama and action scenes. I desperately need more of their books in my life. I have read all of their novels now (except for one I’m not sure yet if I want to read).
I did have a few minor issues with this book. This is common in all of their books I guess, I didn’t mind it at first but now it’s kinda tiring. I don’t like the exaggerations or the characters being sometimes overdramatic. Making the situation sounds a lot worse than it actually is/the outcome will be. I’m not talking about the grand scheme of things but day to day interactions. I also found Marten’s character a bit unrealistic? I’m not sure how old she is (I thought I read 6 yo but now searching in the ebook, I couldn’t find her age.), Aurelia/Julie definitely made her look like she’s 6 or 7 but how was she able to escape and find her house? And Julie’s house was built to look inconspicuous yet everyone is easily finding it, even the little girl?
I have to say that Julie’s story kind of reminded me of Catalina’s, all that character development is mostly done off-screen and across several years. Which isn’t bad but just similar. I like Catalina better, however. Another thing Julie reminded me of (with her spending 4 years in a coma in a magic world but 9 months irl) is Dani O’Malley from the Fever series who also grew up if mentally and physically in a different world where time was different than in the real one.. But thankfully, those coma years weren’t counted as a difference in her age nor as time away (only the real world time was counted)
Other than that, the book was very entertaining and fun to read. I want more of those characters now, I didn’t get my fill of Derek. There are so many questions left unanswered and our new girl still has a lot of work to do. I’m looking forward now to read the next book of Hugh’s spin-off which hopefully will come out this year.
This review contains spoilers for the Kate Daniels series (HUGE SPOILERS, ENDING KIND OF SPOILERS) so please don’t read it if you haven’t finished reading the 10 books. If you haven’t yet started KD and enjoy Urban Fantasy with a smart kickass female lead, you NEED these books in your life. You don’t need to read Kate Daniels to read this one but you’ll be missing out a lot.
I haven’t followed this series for very long. I started reading Kate Daniels in 2017 but I was immediately captivated by the world and characters. It’s now one of my favorite series and Kate is my favorite female character of all time. Like most, I was very disappointed and angry at Julie after Magic Triumphs. I also tend to criticize authors who needlessly add more books to a beloved series of theirs. Although Magic Stars (novella about Julie) hinted at a strong possibility of a spin-off (which I wanted at the time), I hoped maybe we’re going to have a new series set in a new world (or maybe in the old but not about any of our characters). I mean we’re already having Hugh’s spin-off (which I enjoyed immensely).
Usually, extra books ruin the series (and uhm I didn’t particularly love the ending of Magic Triumphs). But still, I love this world. I love Kate, Curran, Julie, Derek, and everyone. I was very excited about this book (didn’t follow it on the blog) even if wary. I didn’t need to worry. The Andrews delivered a solid story with their usual wit and addicting writing. So this book was a lot better than I expected.
Also, to answer a question you might be wondering about: yes, this book will have a sequel. I don’t know if it’s official but the story (even if it doesn’t end with a cliffhanger) is definitely not wrapped up.
update: Ilona Andrews announced that there will be two more books in this series.
This book picks up 8 years after Magic Triumphs. Julie now has a completely new identity:
- Different name: Aurelia Ryder
- Different appearance: taller, more beautiful, and regal looking
She loves Kate and no, doesn’t hold grudges against what she did. But she needed to deal with what she discovered and to work on herself. Erra and Roland were her teachers, she’s now a princess of Shinar. But she can’t see Kate. Four years ago, Sienna (one of the oracles) had a vision. An ancient god, Molech who loves burning children sacrifices, awakened and established himself for years now. But he’s not stopping there. Sierra foresaw that he is going to kill Kate if they ever met. If Aurelia (or Julie? Seriously no idea what to call her, she’ll always be Julie for me) sees her, Kate dies. Julie is now back in Atlanta taking over the investigation of a pastor’s murder. Molech wants this holy man’s killer, so Julie needs to find them first. She’s unavoidably going to meet old acquaintances (yey) all while trying to keep her real identity hidden.
Taught by two of the most magic experts in the world, Aurelia is now stronger and more capable than ever. She was also busy with her grandmother establishing a new kingdom (in the US too). She’s surely grown as a character. She’s tougher now, sharper, and not to be underestimated. I would definitely like to see more of this in the next books!
While I still like her, she’s not Kate. But no one is like Kate so it’s alright. Due to the circumstances mentioned above, Kate was absent in this book. A very smart (if sad) decision. She would’ve stolen the spotlight. Aurelia now needs to establish herself in the eye of the reader and prove that she is an interesting character to read about too. And she is.
This book follows your usual IA formula first book in a series, a mystery to uncover, slow-burn romance, awesome characters, and of course, witty comebacks and sarcasm + the right amount of drama and action scenes. I desperately need more of their books in my life. I have read all of their novels now (except for one I’m not sure yet if I want to read).
I did have a few minor issues with this book. This is common in all of their books I guess, I didn’t mind it at first but now it’s kinda tiring. I don’t like the exaggerations or the characters being sometimes overdramatic. Making the situation sounds a lot worse than it actually is/the outcome will be. I’m not talking about the grand scheme of things but day to day interactions. I also found Marten’s character a bit unrealistic? I’m not sure how old she is (I thought I read 6 yo but now searching in the ebook, I couldn’t find her age.), Aurelia/Julie definitely made her look like she’s 6 or 7 but how was she able to escape and find her house? And Julie’s house was built to look inconspicuous yet everyone is easily finding it, even the little girl?
I have to say that Julie’s story kind of reminded me of Catalina’s, all that character development is mostly done off-screen and across several years. Which isn’t bad but just similar. I like Catalina better, however. Another thing Julie reminded me of (with her spending 4 years in a coma in a magic world but 9 months irl) is Dani O’Malley from the Fever series who also grew up if mentally and physically in a different world where time was different than in the real one.. But thankfully, those coma years weren’t counted as a difference in her age nor as time away (only the real world time was counted)
Other than that, the book was very entertaining and fun to read. I want more of those characters now, I didn’t get my fill of Derek. There are so many questions left unanswered and our new girl still has a lot of work to do. I’m looking forward now to read the next book of Hugh’s spin-off which hopefully will come out this year.