A review by emzhay
Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I really really wanted to love this book. At the mid-point it was looking like 4 stars, then 3.5 but the ending really ruined things for me.

The characters were the highlight of the book for me from the beginning. I cared about literally everyone and wanted to know more about them. I liked how messy their relationships
were too. The plot, however, was way too drawn out. It could have been edited down. There was too much telling and not enough showing. There was so much repetition that could have been excluded, and so many details that were over explained at least 3 times sometimes in the same chapter. It made listening to the book such a chore especially toward the end.

I know this is a duology, but the ending is incredibly unsatisfying.

We’re told (many times) that Voya struggles with choices, but we never see her struggle with a choice that isn’t somehow related to the task which literally anyone would struggle with. Her major character flaw is that she’s never thinking about the right things. She only looks at the surface of a problem. So much of the book could’ve been avoided if she (or anyone in her family) had thought about things beyond like two steps. I know they’re dysfunctional, and I liked that about them, but eventually it made for a difficult reading experience
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