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chanlo1994's review
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Genocide, Slavery, and Toxic friendship
Assassination, death of pregnant woman, forced druggingcinnamon_rolls's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
reddeddy's review
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
the_castle_library's review
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Cursing, Alcohol, and War
sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Davenport, N. E.. The Blood Trials (The Blood Gift Duology Book 1) (p. 9). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: fantasy, sci-fi, romance, adult,
📚Page Count: 453
🎧Audiobook Length: 18h 20min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5
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The Blood Trials by N. E. Davenport is a sci fi/fantasy ADULT story about a Black woman
who lives in a racist and misogynistic society who finds out her grandfather was murdered when she previously thought he died of natural causes. Ikenna is spending her last night as a cadet with friends when she privately gets the news, she instantly decides that she wants revenge. Joining The Praetorian Trials means that Ikenna can get close to the people who might have had a hand in her grandfathers death, so that's what she decides to do. She's sure that she cans survive the challenges, because she was trained by the best (her grandfather) and she has a secret blood gift to help her. Will Ikenna be able to survive the challenges while also figuring out who killed her grandfather?
There were plenty of things I really liked about this book. I love how the main character made impulsive decisions, now these decisions weren't always the best ones but I felt as if the character's personality really shined through and it was consistent. I liked how Ikenna often remembered her grandfather and how she would think about what advice he might give her. The action scenes were really well described in this book. And although some of the twists in the story were predictable, the story was written well so it was still interesting when revealed.
There was only one thing that I didn't like. I couldn't understand why the challenges were so hard, there were characters dying left and right and it felt like the Praetorians reasoning for the challenges being so hard didn't make sense. If no one survives your challenge then who actually wins? Literally no one, because the Praetorians wouldn't gain any new soldiers. There were so many people dying that it no longer became a shock when someone died, and it was no longer impactful. It ruined the immersion for me. Thankfully the story was written well so I was able to re-immerse myself back into the story a few chapters later.
There was one spicy scene, it was written well but I'm uninterested in spicy scenes between young adults. I'm giving the spicy scene a one chili 🌶️ out of five chilies.
Overall, this book was really good. There was so much I enjoyed and very little I disliked. The theme of this book is "revenge" and it really reminds me of "Iron Widow" by Xiran Jay Zhao and I gave that book a 5. This book definitely deserves a 5 as well. I'm giving this 5 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5 Stars
I listened to this for free on the library app [HooplaDigital.com]
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
squids_can_read's review
Kenna's grandfather is dead. Died of a heart attack or so the corner says. Suddenly information comes to light that her grandfather's death might not have been an accident like everyone says it is. Now Kenna has to fight for her place among the ruthless Praetorians along with finding out what actually happened to her grandfather.
Doesn't that sound great? It would have been if the author had developed the world at all. This is a mix of science fiction and fantasy but neither of these aspects are explained at all. There is random technology that simply exists with no information of how long it's existed or if people are still trying to create new technology. Similar to the fantasy element. Gods are referenced but are not described whatsoever in their effect on the world except for giving some people powers. And these powers aren't explained either. It seems like people with powers are much stronger than everyone else but they get beat up by people without powers. It also doesn't explain all of what they can do. Do they have one power depending on the god or do they have all of them? I was just really confused.
I also didn't like how focused the world was on racism and bigotry. This was a big part of the point of the book and I didn't have a problem with using those ideas to make a commentary on our world. I had an issue with how much was shoved in the reader's face that absolutely everyone where Kenna lives is a terrible person except for her friends, one of whom is from there. It just didn't make a lot of sense to me, especially in terms of the timeline of when these ideas started and where they came from.
As for the characters, I thought that they were okay. All of the characters seemed kind of two-dimensional to me. It didn't feel like they were very complicated, including the main character. But the characters were not why I DNFed this book.
PSA- Despite the fact that this book cover looks YA, this is definitely a book for adults. There is heavy graphic violence that took me a little by surprise. I did get used to it but it was a lot in the beginning, just so you know.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
emerentina's review
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Medical content, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
cass_cgallegos's review
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Classism
amberswips's review
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, and War
erincrichter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and War