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A review by mweir710
Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker
4.0
I quite enjoyed this book and the narrators set the scene for me as they put the perfect amounts of emotion into their vocal inflections and didn't overdo the voices of the multitudes of characters throughout Benton-Walker's book. I will say that I found this book to be a little uncomfortable in areas - part of that could be me dealing with my own white fragility and not wanting to even partially align myself with the white characters in this book (they're all pretty terrible people).
Overall, though, I really enjoyed the mystery of the story that came together piece by piece. Even if it was a little predictable at times, I never quite felt like I had all the facts needed to say whodunit and why. A couple of things I didn't love about this book: (1) There were too many POVs to switch between (although I did like that there were multiple narrators to separate some of these POVs). I enjoyed the switch between Cristina and Clem, and even Valentina, but there was a random chapter from the POV of the kid who torments Clem in school, which didn't seem super relevant to the story itself. (2) There was ANGER woven throughout this book, which is to be expected when looking at the experiences with racism and the corrosion from absolute power. However, the anger experienced through the injustices that our characters have to endure quickly turns to pettiness, which takes away from the depth of the characters. I also didn't love Cristina's blood-thirsty "attitude," for lack of a better word, as this book progressed as I felt like "an eye for an eye" wasn't a good look for Cristina when used for every encounter she had with the people who have crossed her.
3.5/4 - I would definitely read the next in the series as the cliffhanger seemed intriguing to me!
Thank you to Terry J. Benton Walker, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to this book and give my honest review!
Overall, though, I really enjoyed the mystery of the story that came together piece by piece. Even if it was a little predictable at times, I never quite felt like I had all the facts needed to say whodunit and why. A couple of things I didn't love about this book: (1) There were too many POVs to switch between (although I did like that there were multiple narrators to separate some of these POVs). I enjoyed the switch between Cristina and Clem, and even Valentina, but there was a random chapter from the POV of the kid who torments Clem in school, which didn't seem super relevant to the story itself. (2) There was ANGER woven throughout this book, which is to be expected when looking at the experiences with racism and the corrosion from absolute power. However, the anger experienced through the injustices that our characters have to endure quickly turns to pettiness, which takes away from the depth of the characters. I also didn't love Cristina's blood-thirsty "attitude," for lack of a better word, as this book progressed as I felt like "an eye for an eye" wasn't a good look for Cristina when used for every encounter she had with the people who have crossed her.
3.5/4 - I would definitely read the next in the series as the cliffhanger seemed intriguing to me!
Thank you to Terry J. Benton Walker, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to this book and give my honest review!