A review by tinysierra
Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“There’s something about lounging in a bath of blood that makes me want to stay until my fingers shrivel enough to show the outlines of my bones.” pg 1

I expected to fall in love with Blood like Magic. The synopsis was interesting and the first sentence hooked me. It’s got black witches and queer representation. Speaking of, I swear I’ve seen this book on asexual rec lists, but asexual and aromantic are two different things. It has an explicit demiromantic (meaning that they’re on the aromantic spectrum) side character. There is another character that does not seem to enjoy physical touch or kissing, but the word asexual is not used. Moving on, another thing that influenced me to read the book was the fact that the plot reminded me of Raybearer, which I really loved. 

Maybe I set my expectations too high. I’m not sure. I originally decided to DNF this book because it was a bit repetitive and felt like nothing was really happening. After a few months, I picked it up again to see if it got better. I enjoyed the interactions we got to see between Luc and Voya. The way the plot was executed just didn’t do anything for me. I think the writing style was too… dense and long winded. The book felt too long. The pacing was not fast. 

I’m disappointed because I also really loved the cover of this one and the sequel. I won’t be reading the second book. 

Themes:
-Broken family
-importance of community
-importance of family ties
-connection to ancestors 
-cooking 
-sacrifice
-trust
-addiction
-poverty
-eating disorder briefly mentioned 
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