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A review by tiareleine
Blood Passage by Heather Demetrios
5.0
Blood Passage was worth the wait.
I don't know what else to say besides that it was amazing, mostly because everything I said in my review of Exquisite Captive holds true.
Nalie is a great heroine. She's strong, she's faced with difficult choices and difficult situations but she doesn't let anything break her.
The supporting cast is also fantastic. Raif (who I thought was a little bland in the first book got a huge personality booster), Zanari, and Phara, especially. Malek, of course, was still a massive asshole, but he's not painted as a viable love interesting or romantic because of his violence. A lot of YA books are guilty of having borderline abusive guys who are considered romantic. Malek crosses that borderline (which I think is something readers should be aware of) but Nalia and her friends all recognize his behavior for what it is and hate him for it.
The world continues to be extremely vivid. Heather Demetrios did a lot of research and it shows.
The series focuses a lot on a revolution. Normally, I don't like revolution plots in YA books. Normally, I find it completely beyond the suspension of disbelief that a couple of teenagers could stage a successful revolution, or even organize one. This series, however, has a couple of features that make me buy it. For one, Nalia and Raif are people who have been in positions of power for their entire lives. People (even people who are older than them) listen to them because they have authority. Nalia is the last of the Ghan Aisouri, the former ruling class of Arjinna (the jinni world); Raif is the son of the former leader of the revolution, and he was appointed leader after his father's death. These are two people who could actually incite a massive, well organized change. They're not just randoms who somehow because the face of the revolution. For two, they recognize that they need a massive army to have any chance of success. I won't say how they get that army, since that would be a spoiler, but I will say that it makes sense.
I'm also happy with this book because it felt completely necessary to the series. There wasn't a hint of second book syndrome, nor was there the classic "second book separation" where the MC and the love interest spend the whole book apart. There was a bit of relationship angst (some "I can't be with you because love is a weakness!" and a bit of a star-crossed lovers, former ruling class vs. revolutionary leader thing) but it didn't overtake the plot.
I am really looking forward to Freedom's Slave. I wish I could read it ASAP, but I will wait as long as it takes for it to be written. And, in the meantime, I'm going to read whatever else Heather Demetrios writes (whether it's fantasy or realistic fiction, since she can do both so well) and whatever of hers I haven't read yet to tide myself over. I highly recommend the Dark Caravan Cycle to fans of high fantasy, especially if you want a break from Euro-inspired medieval fantasy.
I don't know what else to say besides that it was amazing, mostly because everything I said in my review of Exquisite Captive holds true.
Nalie is a great heroine. She's strong, she's faced with difficult choices and difficult situations but she doesn't let anything break her.
The supporting cast is also fantastic. Raif (who I thought was a little bland in the first book got a huge personality booster), Zanari, and Phara, especially. Malek, of course, was still a massive asshole, but he's not painted as a viable love interesting or romantic because of his violence. A lot of YA books are guilty of having borderline abusive guys who are considered romantic. Malek crosses that borderline (which I think is something readers should be aware of) but Nalia and her friends all recognize his behavior for what it is and hate him for it.
The world continues to be extremely vivid. Heather Demetrios did a lot of research and it shows.
The series focuses a lot on a revolution. Normally, I don't like revolution plots in YA books. Normally, I find it completely beyond the suspension of disbelief that a couple of teenagers could stage a successful revolution, or even organize one. This series, however, has a couple of features that make me buy it. For one, Nalia and Raif are people who have been in positions of power for their entire lives. People (even people who are older than them) listen to them because they have authority. Nalia is the last of the Ghan Aisouri, the former ruling class of Arjinna (the jinni world); Raif is the son of the former leader of the revolution, and he was appointed leader after his father's death. These are two people who could actually incite a massive, well organized change. They're not just randoms who somehow because the face of the revolution. For two, they recognize that they need a massive army to have any chance of success. I won't say how they get that army, since that would be a spoiler, but I will say that it makes sense.
I'm also happy with this book because it felt completely necessary to the series. There wasn't a hint of second book syndrome, nor was there the classic "second book separation" where the MC and the love interest spend the whole book apart. There was a bit of relationship angst (some "I can't be with you because love is a weakness!" and a bit of a star-crossed lovers, former ruling class vs. revolutionary leader thing) but it didn't overtake the plot.
I am really looking forward to Freedom's Slave. I wish I could read it ASAP, but I will wait as long as it takes for it to be written. And, in the meantime, I'm going to read whatever else Heather Demetrios writes (whether it's fantasy or realistic fiction, since she can do both so well) and whatever of hers I haven't read yet to tide myself over. I highly recommend the Dark Caravan Cycle to fans of high fantasy, especially if you want a break from Euro-inspired medieval fantasy.