A review by reka111
Blood Heir, by Amélie Wen Zhao

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

But perhaps all monsters were heroes in their own eyes.

The review contains spoilers!!!


It's unbelievable that just a few days have passed since the New Year, and with two sufferings and three books later, I had my first 5-star (now 4.75) read of the year. Maybe it's just because I didn't like the previous two or because yesterday I was nicer than usual, but this book earned the perfect word from me now.

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Ana was a very lovable Morally grey protagonist (she reminded me a bit of Adelina Amouteru from The Young Elites). Maybe I'm the only one and the first one who deeply sympathizes with her (because monsters are just wounded gods and they need love too) and I don't blame her at all for her actions. She was so young, so damn young to handle her power and no one helped her when she silently begged for it, she was simply left in the dark. She lost everything and everyone she loved, so it's no wonder that the only thing she knew for a long time was fear. In fact, there is nothing good or bad about her, she is more complex than that, because she jumps between the two sides and stands where she needs to depending on the moment.
Of course she had mistakes (for example, too naive and impulsive) and of course she made bad decisions, but that's exactly what makes her character so real!

Ramson didn't impress me that much at first, but I loved him in the end. Basically, he left me in doubt more than the other characters, because I never really knew when he was being serious and when he wasn't, regardless, I loved his jokes, he made me laugh even when everything seemed so dark. His past is so tragic just like Ana's, he never deserved what happened to him. I loved that he was so mysterious and that he gradually questioned his belief in goodness as we got further into the story. He was so diverse that he simply could not be classified anywhere. And he named his snowhawk after Fisher and this was the moment when I fell in love with him, when I gave him my soul (and this was also the moment when I started to cry, but that's just icing on the cake).

The other characters: 
  • Linn grew very close to my heart during this short time and I like her very much, and her past is something terribly interesting, I can't wait to get to know her better. I hope she survived (and I'm already sure she did) and I hope she gets back to that guarding, because I smell enemies to lovers in the air between them. 
  • A part of my soul died with Luka, I believed so much that he could survive, so-so much!  I hope he found the peace he deserved. 
  •  I haven't gotten to know Yuri enough to decide if I like him or not, but I'm definitely with him.  
  • May, my little May, was so young and so innocent, she still had her life ahead of her!

I wouldn't really say it was love story, but there was very few of it.  Ana and Ramson's relationship is mostly exhausted by teasing, tender moments and mistrust, but they have potential and I'm sure that in the next books they will understand each other and accept each other as they are. They really tried and are trying to care for each other.

I really liked the place itself; a snowy kingdom full of magic and magical creatures based on Russia? I'm here for it! This book was characterized by a superbly constructed magic system and politics, everything was in the right amount. I would very much like to get to know the remote areas as well, because they can certainly be very interesting.

This book was full of twists and hidden messages for the next books. I just loved it, nobody and nothing was what it seemed.

The plot was easy to follow (although there was a bit of flashbacks) and the writing was wonderful.  I liked that each character is different and driven by different goals, that they have flaws and that they are so lifelike. If you want a dark, exciting, magical story with a touch of romance, I recommend you to visit this world!
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