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Book: Blood Heir by Amelie Wen Zhao
Read From: 10th January - 15th January 2022
Rating: 3/5 stars
Summary: Ana, the Crown Princess of Cyrilia, is one of the Affinites: people reviled for their magical gifts, which allow them to control the world around them. After her father’s brutal murder, all evidence points to Ana. If she’s to have any hope of clearing her name she’ll need help from the infamous Ramson Quicktongue. Known for his reputation as a cunning, smooth-talking crime lord, Ramson has his own sinister plans - though he might have met his match in Ana. Because in this story, the Princess may be the most dangerous player of them all.
Thank you so much Harper Voyager for my gifted copy of this book! I thoroughly enjoyed this story - in summary, it was (mostly) fast-paced, the magic system was interesting and unique, there were extremely loveable characters and plenty of plot twists and betrayal to keep you on your toes. This is also a loose Anastasia retelling and whilst I can’t comment on how well it shapes up as a reimagining (I’ve never seen it!), many other reviews have recommended it to Anastasia fans, although these judgements would be subjective I think it’s fair to assume that it’s done well!
This book throws you straight into the action, building up tension from the very first page. There is no unnecessary info dumping - a lot of the world building and explanation of the magic system is drawn out throughout the book which helps in keeping the fast-paced flow. I’d say the first and latter thirds of the book are a lot more gripping than the middle third, which is definitely more character focused, but as someone who was starting to really enjoy following Ramson and Ana on their journey I didn’t mind this at all.
In addition to our main characters, the side characters in this book are also incredible - particularly May and Linn. Both have the most heart-breaking backstories, through which Zhao cleverly weaves critiques of human trafficking into the story, basing these characters on real life tragedies. I thought this was amazing to see in a YA novel, it gave it so much more depth.
I would definitely recommend this book, in fact at the time of writing this review I’m currently reading the second book, Red Tigress, and LOVING it (so would recommend Blood Heir all the more)! If you’re looking for an adventure fantasy story with loveable anti-heroes and plenty of shock-factor then this is the book for you.