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Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport

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Jess’ Review

Blood Trials is a Sci-Fi series that follow Kenna Amari–a nineteen-year-old military graduate embarking on a brutal trial to join the Pratorieans, an elite military branch. Kenna has ulterior motives for undergoing the trials–her true mission is to find out who among the Pratoerins killed her grandfather.

Initially, I was all in for this plot, it reminded me a lot of Legend by Marie Lu (spoiler alert this also meant I clocked the reveal of the murderer). I was up for learning how this world worked and the trials. But the so-called Blood Trails turned into The Squid Games real quick and then this whole book fell apart for me.

Right out the gate we learn that the trials they undergo are intentionally fatal and I”m like….WHY WOULD THAT BE A THING? Tasks include surviving cannibals, cage-match beatdowns, and surviving extreme cold. WHAT DOES THIS TEACH YOU ABOUT BEING A SOLDIER?

Kenna is ethnically different from her fellow recruits and endures a lot of racism from their leader Chance and several other recruits. One of these brutally racist recruits seems to get redeemed at the end and is shown grace by Kenna ?

Kenna also gets tangled up with Reed. A praetorian who was close to her grandfather. We learn that Reed is ‘white’ passing. The book kind of treats this like a twist reveal but it’s not seen like that by the characters. It makes no sense. If Reed wasn’t actually passing why did he not tell Kenna so she could know she wasn’t alone? Why didn’t her Grandfather or anyone else mention it?

I feel like this duology should have been a trilogy because of the pacing felt. The last 20% felt like a different book. It’s such a jarring shift in narrative. By the time we get to the final chapters, it’s like I’m supposed to believe everyone is one big happy quippy found family. I see the vibe Davenport was going for but we (the readers) needed time to catch up.

My biggest gripe with this book is the way Kenna was written as a Strong Female Character–there was zero nuance. Kenna is a strong female character because she can outsmart, outfight and out-drink the boys. Her strength comes from her ability to be better than all the men around her.  This is a way to write a strong female character but, to me, it’s the least interesting route.

This book does have some spice for the girlies. Davenport writes spice like a seasoned romance writer. Unfortunately, this scene added very little to the story. The scene happens out of nowhere and adds nothing to the plot. It just felt like a weak attempt at sexual tension.

Jeanette Illidge does an admirable job as a narrator but I don’t think her narration style was ideal for a book with so many characters. Because she doesn’t do a ton of voices– I got very confused toward the end and couldn’t tell who was talking.

Kat’s Review

Overall, I found this book intensely uninteresting.

Books about Black people existing in overtly white supremacist societies are not my jam but I am really over books about (typically) Black women risking life and limb to be accepted into a white supremacist group. Especially when there is a community of Black people two steps to the left. 

I am just not the reader for it. 

Jess and I had this idea of doing a Black SFF book club with our brother who only reads SFF and, if not for that, I would have DNF’d this book.

And, yes, it’s mostly on me for not reading past the first paragraph of the description.

I told myself I wouldn’t rant but my biggest problem with this book is that I never bought why Ikenna put up with the trials and virulent racism. She could have run to the Black kingdom in the first chapter and the stakes would have been the same since having blood magic is taboo there too. The titular Blood Trials didn’t make any sense to me. Not only do they add nothing to the plot but you’re telling me these people spend all this money and effort to make the best soldiers and then kill almost all of them?  The trials added nothing to the story or world. 

SPOILER: I went into this book knowing Reid was white-passing and I expected the reveal of his race to have more heft or be a turning point and it was just…nothing? 

Shoutout to audiobook narrator Jeanette Illidge. I enjoyed her in a contemporary middle grade I listened to and her performance here solidified her as an auto-buy.

That said, I am interested in reading Davenport’s romance book, I think that could be a good move for her.

Kat Reads More Taylor Jenkins Reid

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Taylor Jenkins Reid is a very popular author and I can see why. She truly has a knack for crafting evocative fictional memoirs of fictional famous people that feel so real. Last year I read Malibu Rising and this year I finally got around to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six.

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Jess Reviews The Broken Earth Series by N.K. Jemisin

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The people of The Stillness live at the will of the Seasons–world-ending tectonic disasters that occur without warning.The Stillness has not always been this way and this current season might just be the last.

I bought the box set of this series in 2018 and have just gotten around to reading it. This immersive series is a dynamic blend of science-fiction and fantasy that is must listen on audio. Narrator Robin Miles did her thing with these audiobooks. She has amazing range and her multifaceted performance highlights the epicness of this earth-bending series. 

A fantasy series is a successful read for me when I CANNOT figure out how the author came up with the story, world or concept. To that end, this series is a smashing success. The characters and the struggles they encounter felt real and lived in. There are actual worlds in Jemisin’s head. That is the only explanation. 

The Fifth Season

Life in the Stillness, a vast dystopic landscape, revolves around Seasons– apocalyptic natural disasters that occur without warning.  The earth has it out for humanity and the only ones who can control it are Orogenes, those born with the ability to control kinetic and seismic energy. To be an  Orogene is to be feared, enslaved, and abused.

The first book follows Essun, a 40-year-old Orogene in hiding, as she attempts to outrun the current apocalypse to exact revenge on her son’s murderer. Unfortunately, this is not an ordinary Season and Essun is soon pulled into a large conspiracy that will change everything.

I don’t know what I can say about Jemisin’s award-winning series that hasn’t already been said. It is an immersive and well-imagined tale. Her storytelling is unique (it’s in the second person) and she masterfully weaves multiple POVS in an unexpected way. I will say it took me a  few chapters to get into, but once you get into the flow it’s hard to put down.

A majority of the characters are Black. Ir is delightful reading a fantasy book where caucasian features aren’t the automatic default. There is also a healthy intersection of LGBTQ characters and representation.

My only critique is that I had a hard time picturing exactly what the setting looked like. They mention gaslights and horses so at first, I imagined a dystopian early 20th century–but something about the clothes and the way medical devices are described felt a little more 90’s ? IDK. Maybe it’s supposed to be like Mad Max vibes ?

The Obelisk Gate

Jemisin’s storytelling ability is still going full force in the second book. Essun and her motley crew of travelers have been volun-told into joining a utopian underground community. In between dealing with community politics, Essun learns the whole truth about this very unusual season.  This is a stationery book and I was sad to see we don’t get to watch the characters travel.

Essun’s ten-year-old daughter Nassun has a POV and look, I’m not the biggest fan of children’s POV in brutal adult books but I think this one worked well. Nassun has to grow up fast as she learns about her potential as an Orogene and what it means to sacrifice.  One of the characters, Chaffa, is a Guardian whose job is to control Orogenes in a harsh but gentle manner.  I’m not really understanding what Jeminisn is doing with this character or what they add to the story. This character’s origins, motivation and purpose just never made sense to me.

The Stone Sky

The world’s fate is now in the hands of a mother and daughter on two sides of a millennia-long war.

My favorite part of this book is the flashbacks that finally reveal the origin of The Stillness and what the mysterious Stone Eater creatures are. Reveals like this are why I enjoy speculative/dystopian stories. This book languidly moves towards the finale, which honestly wasn’t as massive and action-packed as I thought it would be. I thought the ending was fitting but I can’t say I truly understood parts of it or that it gave me the emotional punch I was hoping for.

In conclusion

I’m sold on Jemisin as a writer and am up for checking out her other series.  These last few years I’ve been diving into fantasy by POC writers and it never disappoints. I think there is freedom to storytelling when you break away from the stereotypical fantasy setting 

 Pastoral England where?

Anyway… I’ll wait here until someone casts Danai Gurira in the movie adaptation.

Virginia is for (Book) Lovers feat. Burn The Page and Razorblade Tears

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I inadvertently read two local-to-me authors last month a while ago. I didn’t plan to review these books together but I found that one informed how I thought about the other. Both explore what it means to exist outside of the cis-heteronormative identity in the South. 

Though they are coming from VASTLY different perspectives. 

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On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi

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On Rotation is as close as I’ll ever come to medical school.

This novel follows twenty-something Angie Apia as she tackles her third year of medical school, demanding residents and her parents’ high expectations. To top it all off she can’t stop pining over a charming sensitive artist… who has a girlfriend. Talk about a quarter-life crisis.

This was a fun slice-of-life with an angsty emotional romance subplot that will appeal to Kennedy Ryan fans. Medical school is not glamorized at all and I felt like I was being let into a world I will probably never experience. I wasn’t at all surprised to learn that Shirlene Obuobi is a physician. Obuobi is also a cartoonist and I believe she designed the book cover.

Angie is supported by her group of wild and successful friends. A large part of this book is about how those friendships can change and grow. The pace of the book was a tad slow for me and we probably could have dropped a few side characters.

My only other critique is that the first few pages of this book had a much different tone than the rest of the book. The book starts with Angie confidently monologuing about her body and curves…then it never comes up again. I mean the cover has ‘peach’ earrings on it so I sort of thought her relationship with her body would play more into the book. Instead, her biggest hurdle is overcoming her imposter syndrome.

Single Black Female by Tracy Brown

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Urban fiction is a genre I’ve always wanted to explore. Going in, I was expecting this book to be about hustling and doing what it takes to make it big on the streets– but this book takes a slightly different perspective. It focuses on three women searching for stability and success decades after their lives intersected with the high-powered Brooklyn drug game.

Ivy has spent 16 years supporting her incarcerated husband Mikey and raising their sons, but she’s ready to start over in Staten Island along with Deja, who became a suburban mom instead of holding down her wrongfully convicted boyfriend. Ivy’s sister-in-law, Coco, is a top executive whose education and success are owed to Mikey but she is ready to strike out on her own.

The book is compulsively readable and you get sucked into the melodrama. The character’s backgrounds feel real and complicated. I don’t know if this is a function of the genre, but I found the book does reiterate plot points and character relationships quite often. It was a little jarring

You also never have to worry about trying to figure out what a character is thinking because this book seamlessly shifts POVs in the middle of scenes in a way I don’t think I’ve read before. 

My favorite character was Deja’s sister Nikki–an Instagram model and professional party girl. She brings a lot of humor and provides plenty of unfiltered advice to the characters. She doesn’t have a storyline but is played up as a main character in the marketing for some reason ? I’m curious if she will get her own book.

The last  20% of this book focuses on police brutality and the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. The shift was sudden but I think the plot line was well done.

I can’t wait to read more urban fiction and maybe dive into Tracy Brown’s backlist.

Brown was getting her feeling out about 2016 in this book.  Tr*mp supporters get dragged (one literally) left and right in this book.

This book is also not the Lifetime movie of the same name. I’m sure the publishers must have been annoyed by that.