A review by kitvaria_sarene
A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy
4.0
I read this with my YA hat on, and then I really enjoyed it.
As an adult book it had a bit too much "read that already" to fully grab me. However, I would have devoured it at age 14!
I loved the different cultural background, and especially the mix of humans, Fae and a sort of chimera.
Different magic types and styles to discover, and plenty of female main characters rounded this more than some other YA I read recently.
It has a love angle, but it's not the centre of the book, which I also found refreshing. And having the male love interest not being a super strong "alpha douche" was amazing. He's a good fighter and confident, but he's also very attuned to emotions, and I loved that he took those seriously.
The rivalry between the sisters fell a bit flat for me, though I think it could get expanded in the second book. So far it's a bit of a mystery left open when and how they went from loving each other to despising the other. Yes, now they are rivals and only one can live, but they were close as little kids and in the flashbacks we didn't get to the point of loosing touch.
The relationships with her mother and father felt much better depicted and real, and I found it fascinating.
All in all a really good read that blends some of the food old tropes, but also does some things differently.
As an adult book it had a bit too much "read that already" to fully grab me. However, I would have devoured it at age 14!
I loved the different cultural background, and especially the mix of humans, Fae and a sort of chimera.
Different magic types and styles to discover, and plenty of female main characters rounded this more than some other YA I read recently.
It has a love angle, but it's not the centre of the book, which I also found refreshing. And having the male love interest not being a super strong "alpha douche" was amazing. He's a good fighter and confident, but he's also very attuned to emotions, and I loved that he took those seriously.
The rivalry between the sisters fell a bit flat for me, though I think it could get expanded in the second book. So far it's a bit of a mystery left open when and how they went from loving each other to despising the other. Yes, now they are rivals and only one can live, but they were close as little kids and in the flashbacks we didn't get to the point of loosing touch.
The relationships with her mother and father felt much better depicted and real, and I found it fascinating.
All in all a really good read that blends some of the food old tropes, but also does some things differently.