Reviews

Bloodmagic by Helen Harper

9chat9's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

dajoyofit's review against another edition

4.0

Awesome 👏

katyanaish's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed it, but ... unlike the last book, where I mostly liked the secondary characters... in this book the entire secondary cast seemed to slowly turn into assholes, and all the new characters were definitely assholes.

And it gets tiresome watching them bully Mack. That's her life, a constant chain of one person after the next bullying her. And the fact that the mages act so fucking sanctimonious when they LITERALLY CAUSED THIS ENTIRE SITUATION makes me loathe them, frankly.

It better turn around, or it will wreck the series for me.

alikatson's review against another edition

4.0

I really love Helen Harper's Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic and Highland Magic series so I decided to give this one a try. It is definitely entertaining but the main character drives me crazy with her recklessness. She fights first asks questions later. Despite this she has good intentions and is very loyal to her friends.

Overall the story was entertaining and kept me engaged throughout. I really do enjoy Harper's writing style - she creates an interesting world and has a lot of humor sprinkled throughout.

The audio was excellent - I really enjoy Saskia Maarleveld's narration which accounts for an extra star in the rating.

riazero's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

smuttea_matcha's review against another edition

3.0

I was expecting something more mature out of Bloodmagic, it came off as really YA even though I checked the shelves and it was listed anywhere but. Mack is incredibly short-tempered and gets worked up easily over nothing. She's an interesting and naive character. For example, believing she was human even though she could hear The Voice [the voice of the alpha in her head] and she is able to keep up with the best of the shapeshifters. I'm a little disappointed with the portrayal of the shapeshifters in this series. We just get the basics, there's an alpha and then a super alpha that rules over all packs. I wish it got into more detail on life with the shapeshifters like in the Mercy Thompson or Kate Daniels series. In this series, it feels like they're all playing dress up. They're just shapeshifters. That's it. No real system of hierarchy that we're given or how important body language and eye contact are in packs. It felt like Harper just used the term shapeshifter to get our attention and make her characters seem a bit more interesting, but that's it. She doesn't even scratch the surface or what her take is on how it works in the supernatural world. In Mercy Thompson's universe the Marrok is the ruler of all alphas of every pack, but each pack is allowed to work independently. In Kate Daniel's universe the different packs are segregated by region ruled by an alpha who basically conquers the lands he wants and rules over a variety of different weres that separate into their own packs based off type. So, it all gets pretty complicated and "political". In Mack's world, they're just weres. Blah. It sort of makes PNR very boring... Despite that, I was interested in where her life would go. I don't know how long the interest will last.

laura_devouring_books_crumpets's review against another edition

4.0

Yea was a good addition to the overall story, we get a look at what Mack's Draco heritage my include along with new allies and revelations as Mack persistently runs from Corrigan.

Its a quickie but still good.

tessisreading2's review against another edition

3.0

Continues to chug right along, although it does one of those more obnoxious lesser-urban-fantasy things where it spends a lot of time on mundane things the reader doesn't care about (breaking into and out of an Internet cafe, in excruciating detail) rather than the high-emotion or high-imagination parts, which the reader does.

life1sg00d's review against another edition

2.0

I really liked the first book, but this book is a constant rant of everything is my fault and everyone will die and the only word I know is "fuck". I REALLY hate books of egotistical people thinking they are responsible for everything and everyone. it's really very egotistical . I'll try the next one but you could definitely skip this book.

caseymac's review against another edition

2.0

Audiobook: very good narrator
CW: Lots of fatphobia, blood, murder, violence, pregnancy, stalking, probably more I’m forgetting

Series review:
The MC is entitled, rude, and daft. I think the author is reaching for tough and plain speaking, but honestly she’s awful and it makes no sense how loyal people are to her.

Also, I’m all for formulaic/predictable books, but each of these dropped so many hints it was really frustrating how long it took the characters to get there.

The books are fine— mostly cause I like the narration and they’re included with audible. I wouldn’t have finished if I was reading them.