A review by happilyruined
The Blood Keeper by Tessa Gratton
3.0
I credit Christopher Pike with beginning my love of gory novels. Admittedly, "Bury Me Deep" likely isn't as gory as I remember it being when I was twelve. But nonetheless, I like to think that my adoration of "The Blood Keeper"'s particularly gruesome passages has to do with Pike.
Gore is what Tessa Gratton does best. She treats bloody eyes and gouged flesh with the same tenderness that some writers devote to kissing scenes. All of this was on full display in her debut, "Blood Magic", and its companion novel doesn't let up. (That said, nothing will ever duplicate the near gag-factor of "Blood Magic"'s memorable reanimation scene.)
"The Blood Keeper" ditches "Blood Magic"'s likable heroes Silla and Nick, and I've got to say that this may have been a mistake. Mab in particular never really grabs me like Silla did. She's distant, and I get that--as a figure in a fully-embraced magical world, she shouldn't be a normal girl. Yet I feel that she was almost too distant, too cool for the reader to connect with. That said, her counterpart, Will, is plenty likable for the both of them. Gratton does an excellent job of portraying a military family in conflict. It's a good spoonful of reality coloring an urban fantasy novel that I have to tip my hat to.
Will was so interesting on his own that I wish we'd seen more of him. However, the novel's third perspective--a throwback POV, much like Josephine's was in "Blood Magic"--is so deliciously creepy that I found myself looking forward to those little snippets when following the present-day storyline.
Of course, as with most YA urban fantasy, there's a romance. But it's much less of A Thing than Nick and Silla's; and I don't know if that was an intentional choice on Gratton's part, or a lack of attention paid to Mab and Nick's relationship. Either way, it leads to the otherwise likable novel's main problem: even once the book was over, I felt as if it was leading up to something that really never happened. There was no tension, no big event. I wanted to feel more dread, a greater sense of urgency. It never happened.
While "The Blood Keeper" is certainly good and worth picking up, I can't say that it's a must-read. Definitely give it a shot if you enjoyed its predecessor. Otherwise, it's good for a rainy day.
Gore is what Tessa Gratton does best. She treats bloody eyes and gouged flesh with the same tenderness that some writers devote to kissing scenes. All of this was on full display in her debut, "Blood Magic", and its companion novel doesn't let up. (That said, nothing will ever duplicate the near gag-factor of "Blood Magic"'s memorable reanimation scene.)
"The Blood Keeper" ditches "Blood Magic"'s likable heroes Silla and Nick, and I've got to say that this may have been a mistake. Mab in particular never really grabs me like Silla did. She's distant, and I get that--as a figure in a fully-embraced magical world, she shouldn't be a normal girl. Yet I feel that she was almost too distant, too cool for the reader to connect with. That said, her counterpart, Will, is plenty likable for the both of them. Gratton does an excellent job of portraying a military family in conflict. It's a good spoonful of reality coloring an urban fantasy novel that I have to tip my hat to.
Will was so interesting on his own that I wish we'd seen more of him. However, the novel's third perspective--a throwback POV, much like Josephine's was in "Blood Magic"--is so deliciously creepy that I found myself looking forward to those little snippets when following the present-day storyline.
Of course, as with most YA urban fantasy, there's a romance. But it's much less of A Thing than Nick and Silla's; and I don't know if that was an intentional choice on Gratton's part, or a lack of attention paid to Mab and Nick's relationship. Either way, it leads to the otherwise likable novel's main problem: even once the book was over, I felt as if it was leading up to something that really never happened. There was no tension, no big event. I wanted to feel more dread, a greater sense of urgency. It never happened.
While "The Blood Keeper" is certainly good and worth picking up, I can't say that it's a must-read. Definitely give it a shot if you enjoyed its predecessor. Otherwise, it's good for a rainy day.