Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Blood & Honey

I have never read a book that has suffered from second book syndrome so much. I was looking forward to reading this sequel because Serpent and Dove really took me by surprise in how balanced between plot and character it was, how I really felt I got to know the characters and how time was dedicated to develop the relationship between Lou and Reid. I thought it ended on a good note - not a cliffhanger but intriguing enough for me to want to continue. I fear that Blood and Honey will be the last instalment I read in this series.

Firstly, so many pages and so little plot. Very little happens in the whole book, what little does happen is primarily told through speech, and we end up pretty much exactly where we started

Spoiler

a stand off with Morgane that ultimately results in them getting away but the promise of a bigger battle? How original.

. Pacing-wise it was incredibly confusing - sometimes it would move so slow and you would feel like nothing was happening and then suddenly something would happen and it would be over in the blink of the eye.

I also found it incredibly difficult to remain interested in the plights of Lou and Reid, because I was being told so much and not shown. I've never really understood this distinction before but boy do I understand it now. As some other people have mentioned in their reviews, their relationship completely 180s, which, given the circumstances (

Spoiler

Reid is dealing with murdering his father-figure after all, and Lou did have a near death experience, again

), is kind of understandable, but their complex emotions and thoughts were too often reduced to simple actions/dialogue and it makes no sense given the development in their relationship throughout the whole first book.

The wider cast of characters should have been interesting to read about but the time wasn't taken to introduce them fully - again, the telling rather than showing mentioned earlier - and integrate them into the narrative.

I regret not DNFing this, because it clearly wasn't doing it for me and I carried on anyway hoping it would get better and because I had spent more money on the ebook than I usually would so it felt like my financial investment should be honoured, and I needed to be reading something on my ereader before bed. Lesson learnt (again) on that one, back to ruthlessly DNFing no matter what!

Content Warnings

sealbrecht's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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erin_robbins19's review

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adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

A bit slower than the first in the series, it felt more like set up for the finale than its own story. That ENDING though, so good

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queer_bookwyrm's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

4 ⭐ CW: violence, descriptions of blood and gore, blood magic, ingesting of blood, cannablism, self harm, suicide mention, burning alive, descriptions of corpses, torture, sex

"What you are now is not what you've always been, nor is it what you'll always be. You are a snake. She'd your skin if it no longer serves you. Transform into something different. Something better."

Blood and Honey by Shelby Mahurin is the second book in the Serpent and Dove series. I liked this one just as much as Serpent and Dove. I thought there was a nice blend of character moments and plot, but a lot did happen.

We follow up with Lou, Tied, Ansel, Coco, and Madame LaBelle hiding after the Modraniht debacle. We find Lou struggling with the fact that she is losing a little bit if herself every time sacrifices something to magic. She's become reckless and heedless of anyone's concerns. Reid is wallowing in self hatred for most of the book, since he found out he was a witch.

Reid's struggle to accept the magic inside him almost reminds me of a lot closeted Christan gay men who went to conversion therapy. He believes he's not really a witch if he doesn't practice. Sound familiar? It does get a bet annoying how stubborn they both are in this, but they also have some really great moments.

We get to see enemies come together against a common enemy here. We get the Blood witches, (gay) werewolves, and some other supernatural people from a group of traveling players. Claud's character is my favorite in this! He's charming, funny, and weird as all get out. They try to stop Morgan's together, but Murphy's Law was at work (anything that can go wrong will go wrong).

That ending gutted me. I mean, I knew it was going to happen, but it still hurt. And that cliffhanger was just rude. Guess I'll have to get Gods and Monsters soon!

Content Warnings

folkofthebook's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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