Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by aliciasrealm
Mistress of Lies by K.M. Enright
3.0
A unique premise involving Blood Workers, people with vampire-like abilities, with plenty of political intrigue, romance, and investigation of a string of murders. Unfortunately, this book ultimately missed the mark for me.
Mistress of Lies felt heavier on the political schemes than on the fantasy elements and I felt that the whole concept of blood magic wasn't explored enough. There are some bigger uses like extending a user's lifespan, healing, and even changing one's body, but not much about how people use this magic in their everyday life. Blood Workers are also not vampires in the traditional sense (they don't have issues with sunlight, for example, and they also don't seem to *need* blood to survive) so I'm not sure why they are referred to as vampires in the book description. They are basically just people who can use blood to do magic.
I am lukewarm on the romance, which involves a legitimate love triangle where there is attraction on all sides. The polyamorous situation didn't work for me because I didn't like the power inbalance between two of the characters, and with the third I didn't quite get his appeal. I did appreciate that this seems to be a queer normative society.
The novel explored racism, as Shan and Isaac navigate their Tagalan heritage (fantasy version of Filipino) in the kingdom of Aeravin where they are viewed as lesser. The novel also addresses class struggle as the unblooded are lower class citizens with no representation in government while the Blood Workers have all the power. This all weaves into the whole murder mystery plot, but that investigation fell by the wayside for the majority of the book. I'm not sure that I feel compelled to read further, assuming there will be sequels.
Mistress of Lies felt heavier on the political schemes than on the fantasy elements and I felt that the whole concept of blood magic wasn't explored enough. There are some bigger uses like extending a user's lifespan, healing, and even changing one's body, but not much about how people use this magic in their everyday life. Blood Workers are also not vampires in the traditional sense (they don't have issues with sunlight, for example, and they also don't seem to *need* blood to survive) so I'm not sure why they are referred to as vampires in the book description. They are basically just people who can use blood to do magic.
I am lukewarm on the romance, which involves a legitimate love triangle where there is attraction on all sides. The polyamorous situation didn't work for me because I didn't like the power inbalance between two of the characters, and with the third I didn't quite get his appeal. I did appreciate that this seems to be a queer normative society.
The novel explored racism, as Shan and Isaac navigate their Tagalan heritage (fantasy version of Filipino) in the kingdom of Aeravin where they are viewed as lesser. The novel also addresses class struggle as the unblooded are lower class citizens with no representation in government while the Blood Workers have all the power. This all weaves into the whole murder mystery plot, but that investigation fell by the wayside for the majority of the book. I'm not sure that I feel compelled to read further, assuming there will be sequels.