3.5 stars

"I am Verne Amari's granddaughter. I won't break."

You really have to hit the ground running to keep up with this story. It's got magic, gods, wars, scifi, fantasy mish mashed all into a New Adult tone. You only get a sense of the world through the characters mentioning things, no solid grounding explanation to the structure of this world.

It's all told from a first person pov from Ikenna, a nineteen year old who's grandfather just died. Racism and sexism are prevalent in this world and therefore mentioned, acknowledged, and raged against. Ikenna's that her grandfather, who was born of Mareen (dominantly white country) and Khanaian (dominantly Black country) parents and was a Tribunal because of how he won the war for Mareen, didn't just die of a heartattack but was assassinated. This motivates her to go through the Trials, a Hunger Game-ish, SEAL Hell Week like war games that weed out/kill the weak for the strong so they can go on to become Praetorian Guards. Ikenna wants to become a Praetorian so she can get closer to the people in charge and find out who gave the orders for her grandfather to be killed.

The bulk of the story is the Trials and Ikenna trying to fight through her act first think later rage and discern friend from foe. The first 70% read super fast as you're just trying to keep up with Ikenna and hope for her survival. The last bit ends the trials and then more of the world politics comes into play and it really slowed the story down for me as I still wasn't fully immersed into the world and the moving bits now coming into play.

Ikenna's also dealing with Blood Magic, it's apparently a power bestowed upon people by the Gods, but the Blood Emperor is who Mareen fought the war against (Ikenna's grandfather won the war for them but his daughter, Ikenna's mother was killed by the emperor). So, Ikenna is trying to hide this part of herself to not be killed as assumed a traitor.

There's, obviously, a lot of moving parts and elements, but having most of the story centered around Ikenna helped, it was when the outside world that hadn't been flushed out too clearly came in, that I struggled.

This ends on a cliffhanger and I'm going to dive right into the second because I'm very curious to see how it all ends up. If you can handle some worldbuilding pushed to the side, want some scifi and fantasy elements, a step above YA, and want to see a lead character not hold back their anger/rage (it did get frustrating at times as I wanted Ikenna to stop, take a breathe, and think), then this would be a hold onto your butts one to pick up. ( )

3.5


This def felt older than YA - a lot of violence, sex and drinking.
I did enjoy this book except for one thing which brought down the rating and that was that the trials to become. Praetorian meant that most ppl were killed - are you seriously telling me that when you are on the brink of war that it’s smarter to literally slaughter HUNDREDS of smart qualified applicants rather than say just failing them and moving them to your regular army?!! Recruits shouldn’t be killed violently just because they failed to do 400 burpees - just flunk them and demote them. I just couldn’t get past this senseless waste of not only life but their own soldiers. ( )

This def felt older than YA - a lot of violence, sex and drinking.
I did enjoy this book except for one thing which brought down the rating and that was that the trials to become. Praetorian meant that most ppl were killed - are you seriously telling me that when you are on the brink of war that it’s smarter to literally slaughter HUNDREDS of smart qualified applicants rather than say just failing them and moving them to your regular army?!! Recruits shouldn’t be killed violently just because they failed to do 400 burpees - just flunk them and demote them. I just couldn’t get past this senseless waste of not only life but their own soldiers. ( )

This is exactly why I don't like reading book 1 when book 2 doesn't exist yet! 2023 is a long way off.

I will be honest and say that at several points during the first half I contemplated quitting but I am thrilled that I held on. I found the author to be a bit heavy handed in establishing this world as having nasty levels of racial hatred and misogyny. The actions were clear enough without having it then pointed out to us that those people were just being racist or sexist. It is a super long audiobook. Eighteen hours! It was incredibly well read which helped the time fly by. Interestingly, it had a lot of peaks throughout. You'd be all caught up in the tense action and it would feel worthy of a book ending climax only to find that there are still 15 hours of the book left. Rinse and repeat. There was a lot going on in this book in terms of the different factions, peoples and the world itself and I need a few things clarified. The second half of the novel was gripping with an ending that was satisfying but definitely left me excited for book 2. Thoroughly enjoyable.

CW: Lots of violence, blood and death, sexual content, racism, misogyny, loss of loved ones. ( )

The Blood Trials was a great story set up, and I enjoyed it. There was the right amount of action and just enough character and background to set everything up for a great book two—honestly, a great debut.

Why four stars instead of five? The Blood Gift Duology should be a trilogy. There were clear signposts for an ending after the Praetorian trials, but the book continued for another 150 pages. The next book comes out next year (and I will be reading it!), and I assume there's a similar point that will feel like a transition should have happened. There was a three-act feel to it, and the last third of the book felt disjointed.

That is honestly my only complaint! Otherwise, I liked the lore and the twists (so many twists!), and I eagerly anticipate the bloody, grimy story the next book is sure to tell. ( )