A review by tanya_tate
Blood Justice by Terry J. Benton-Walker

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-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

 Book Stats 
Stars: 4 Stars 
Start Date: 04/30/24 
Ending Date: 06/19/24 
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy 
Form: E-Arc/ Audiobook 
Page Count: 480 
Publishing Date: 04/23/24 
Point of View: Dual 1st Person, 3rd person 
Setting: New Orleans, La  

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Thank you Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for the E-Arc and ALC in exchange for an honest review. 
Blood Justice follows the Trudeau Twins Nine months after the events of Blood Debts. After they successfully cleared their grandmother's name and reclaim the Gen Council Throne.  A new murder mystery with the Twins Mom, Marie Traudeu ,who is the new Gen Queen and the main suspect. History is repeating itself as the Traudeu twins have to save their family yet again while trying to keep themselves together from falling apart. Old and new enemies come out as they form alliances to try and get the Gen Council Throne away from Trudeaus once again.
 
I loved this one but for some reason, I felt like the first one was still better. I guess it has the case of "Second Novel Syndrome" where certain things Terry did approve on but for some reason it felt longer than the first one. 

So lets play a game of What Worked and What needs to be approved on. 

What worked for me. 

  • Unapologetically Black- Just like the first one, this one is Blackity Black to the bone while it does tackle issues like racism and homophobia . It still feels like a love letter to the Black and LBGTQ communities.
  • Chris' Rage- She did what had to be done and it was justifiable to the people she did it too. You just get tired of our people being treated the way we have been treated for centuries and you just want to do something about it.
  • The Political Intrigue- It was better in this one with certain characters making allegiances with people. 
  • Getting more of Valentina and her mom bonding which we got more of her heritage.
  • Clem feels anger and hopelessness which he feels like he has to do on his own. Clem is still my favorite so the ending had me in pieces. BRING MY BABY BOY HOME TERRY! lol
  • The Moon King introduction, backstory, and the upcoming war. His whole introduction at the end felt like the ending of HP and The Goblet of Fire which was a total " Oh Shit" moment .
  • The fourth and fifth acts of the book which is the reason why I'm giving it a four and not lower. Those two acts was a total " What the fuck is going on!!" for me.
  • The Body Count- Terry said it is supposed to be the Black Game of Thrones and with the political scheming, the body's dropping ,and a potential war, it's getting there.
  • The Narration of the audiobook was still good as hell.

What could be approved on
 
  • Chris' Rage- It went from " Chris Girl Yes!" to" Chris Girl No!" towards the end when she almost made a terrible mistake. I'm glad her grandma saved her from herself which should give her a chance for development for the 3rd book.
  • Mama Trudeau barely being Queen of the Gen Council- The fact that she was out of commission again for the majority of the book with her being framed for murder thus being in jail. I can forgive the first book for her being sick because of the curse on her but barely seeing her in action again? Especially the fact we know thanks to the first one that she is powerful as hell and pretty much the rock of the family. She better get part of the action in the 3rd one.
  • The Trudeaus need Gen-Magic allied families-The fact the Trudeaus still feel like they really don't have allies while everyone else is scheming against them. There are maybe three people I would consider allies but they need whole families now.
  • Where the hell did Ursula go? - There was not enough Ursula in this book which is a shame because she was one of the strongest side characters in the first book. She is my favorite aunt and I love her relationship with Clem so it's sad we really didn't get a lot of her in this book like the first one. We also need more of the sisters as a whole.
  • Eveline Beaumont being a villain- For some reason I just can't get behind her being a villain like Lenora was. Even if she was pulling the strings behind Lenora with her being a puppet and Eveline being the main puppeteer. I do like her scheming with Val but something about her character is missing. I guess Lenora was the grandma who kept up the mess while Eveline did her shit behind the screens. She is supposed to feel like a bigger threat with her doing what she is trying to do with Gen-Magic but she honestly doesn't.
  • The whole Mystery this time felt like it was solved too quickly. Like do you really believe people are going to believe what happened? I know it's a magical and spiritual community but come on!
  • The Third act of the book was dragging which took me forever to finish.

 This is still one of my top reads of the year but first got the edge on it by a hair. Can't wait for the third one!!