5 stars ⭐️ — New Adult Fantasy (has a little spice)
-brutal & mysterious
-betrayals
-found family
-ruthless mc
Y’all, how did I read this book so quickly?! I checked out the audiobook for The Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport two days ago for this month’s pick for the Homies in Outer Space Book Club. So I started listening to it while doing my morning routine on July 27 and this story had me in a chokehold. I did not want to put it down!
Many of my fave Black Fantasy bookish friends said this book should be viral and they were 100% correct. If y’all read The Hunger Games and thought that Katniss was hardcore, this is a whole other level. I’d put Ikenna on the same level as Zetian from Iron Widow.
The first book in this duology kicks off with Ikenna drinking away her grief after her grandfather’s death. Verne Amari was her last living family member and now she’s on her own. He was also a head of government and national hero who had a lot of enemies thanks to his mixed heritage.
Ikenna isn’t interested in participating in the Praetorian Trials to become a warrior for the republic now that Verne is gone. That is, until his bestie shows up and unloads a bombshell, her grandfather was assassinated and he suspects one of the perpetrators will be a part of the Trials.
In the hopes of uncovering the truth and murdering the assassins, Ikenna decides to participate in this series of life-threatening trials alongside peers who can’t stand her.
I just wanna say, Ikenna is bloodthirsty and super impulsive which makes her inner monologues super entertaining sometimes 😂 she also curses like there’s no tomorrow! So if these lil quirks interest you? I’m thinking you’ll enjoy this book.
Can’t wait to talk about the details more with @whatupsisi and the folks at book club 🙌🏽