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A review by nooralshanti
Blood of Heirs by Alicia Wanstall-Burke
3.0
I picked up Blood of Heirs when it was on promo because it's an SPFBO5 finalist. My first attempt to read it was unsuccessful as I found myself bored with the character Lidan. I then tried again a few weeks later and it took me a while to get invested, but the story eventually picked up and moved at a fast pace, especially when the second character Ran showed up! There's a lot to like about this book including interesting hints of magic and a building threat of some creepy monsters. There were also a few things that really didn't work for me that are more personal taste than anything, including the length and pacing which, it seemed to me, were artificially drawn out so that one story could become a trilogy.
This is pretty much the expectation now, but it bothers me personally because I grow tired of stories that force me to wait before reaching a conclusion, but of course there are others who prefer ten-book sagas and I think they would enjoy this.
Overall, while it was light on plot this book did a good job of building the threat of the monstrous creatures that haunted the lands of both the main characters. Their development, from unexplained random accidents at first to the creepy hints and attacks later on to the realizations of what these creatures might be was very well-done.
On the other hand there are a few things that bothered me:
- Lidan did not seem like a 12 year old and her story got nowhere at all for the first 3/4 of the book
- Lidan's mother was unnecessarily psychotic and -while reasons and backstory were hinted at- her treatment of her daughter, especially before we knew them at all, seriously strained my immersion in the whole story
- Random f-words every other paragraph
- The coding in this book, while subtle and probably completely unintentional, also bugged me. There's a lot of it and it permeates the world-building. It also makes the world hard to separate from some kind of version (or vision) of our world. When you compare the tech levels and appearances and lifestyles of the people who live in the North compared to those who live in the South it's all very reminiscent of stereotypical representations of peoples and cultures on Earth. The biggest one that jumped out at me was the representations of how the different societies treat their women. All I'm going to say is that if you're going to try to make your fantasy have feminist themes then don't go the lazy and extremely tired and tiring route of setting up a society that's based on a culture different from yours in order to criticize how you think their gender roles are set up. Like I said, it's lazy and so overused.
- Finally, while the monster set-up was really, really well-done I felt the epilogue at the end to try and reveal enough about them before the second installment was really a weak way to end it. The story itself was very creepy and everything, just the way it was revealed felt rushed.
You may have noticed my "issues" are mostly nitpicks. The book is good overall and, for those who like series it's sure to be a great pick. I probably would have given this book a 4 or maybe even a 5 if it had been a complete story rather than the start to a trilogy. As it was I felt it didn't need to be that long.
This is pretty much the expectation now, but it bothers me personally because I grow tired of stories that force me to wait before reaching a conclusion, but of course there are others who prefer ten-book sagas and I think they would enjoy this.
Overall, while it was light on plot this book did a good job of building the threat of the monstrous creatures that haunted the lands of both the main characters. Their development, from unexplained random accidents at first to the creepy hints and attacks later on to the realizations of what these creatures might be was very well-done.
On the other hand there are a few things that bothered me:
- Lidan did not seem like a 12 year old and her story got nowhere at all for the first 3/4 of the book
- Lidan's mother was unnecessarily psychotic and -while reasons and backstory were hinted at- her treatment of her daughter, especially before we knew them at all, seriously strained my immersion in the whole story
- Random f-words every other paragraph
- The coding in this book, while subtle and probably completely unintentional, also bugged me. There's a lot of it and it permeates the world-building. It also makes the world hard to separate from some kind of version (or vision) of our world. When you compare the tech levels and appearances and lifestyles of the people who live in the North compared to those who live in the South it's all very reminiscent of stereotypical representations of peoples and cultures on Earth. The biggest one that jumped out at me was the representations of how the different societies treat their women. All I'm going to say is that if you're going to try to make your fantasy have feminist themes then don't go the lazy and extremely tired and tiring route of setting up a society that's based on a culture different from yours in order to criticize how you think their gender roles are set up. Like I said, it's lazy and so overused.
- Finally, while the monster set-up was really, really well-done I felt the epilogue at the end to try and reveal enough about them before the second installment was really a weak way to end it. The story itself was very creepy and everything, just the way it was revealed felt rushed.
You may have noticed my "issues" are mostly nitpicks. The book is good overall and, for those who like series it's sure to be a great pick. I probably would have given this book a 4 or maybe even a 5 if it had been a complete story rather than the start to a trilogy. As it was I felt it didn't need to be that long.