I thought it was an interesting read, but too clandestine for me personally. Needs a bit of editing about halfway through for pacing.

**Review will be posted on my blog on 2/16/20**

Thank you to Bloomsbury YA and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

We are Blood and Thunder follows two main female characters, Lena, who has a mark on her face, no family and was raised as a cryptling in Duke’s Forest. She was assistant to the city mortician. Then there is Constance, a mage who comes back home to Duke’s Forest to help get rid of the toxic storm cloud that has been circling above Duke’s Forest for years.

Nothing is what it seems with either women. We follow their journeys and find out if the storm cloud can be defeated at all.

What I Liked:

*The world building is fascinating with different mage factions. We only get a glimpse of a few of them but I think there is so much potential to learn more about this fantasy world. The people in Duke’s Forest don’t use magic, they worship their Ancestors – the dead that are buried below their city in crypts. Their way of life is to serve them. Outside of Duke’s Forest is where magic thrives.

*Lena interested me more than Constance. Lena is an orphan raised as a cryptling, assisting the city’s mortician. She is without family, raised basically with dead bodies but then things start happening to her, she has power. More power than she ever had in her life.

*Emris, a huntsman mage, is Lena’s introduction into life outside of Duke’s Forest. He teaches her about her magic and power. Theirs is a friendship that grows and I was glad Lena had someone.

*This story was gory and dark at times! There was dark magic, necromancy and dead bodies coming to life. I thought that was fun, haha, morbid yes but I liked that it went there.

Things That Made Me Go Hmm:

*I needed MORE from this story – I felt like there was so much potential with the world building and I didn’t get enough. Also I felt like the characters, or maybe mostly Constance, was superficial. Even her supposed romance with Xander was so quick and strange, I was like…??…am I supposed to feel something about these two? Because I feel…nothing.

*I didn’t vibe with Constance but by the end, my feeling about her was right. So maybe there was a reason why something about felt off! There were some parts of this book that felt a bit melodramatic and it was mostly to do with Constance. 🤨

*The story did drag a bit, especially with this problem of this toxic storm cloud hovering over Duke’s Forest. Like…what is it? Why is it there? Why Duke’s Forest? It ties in all at the end, but it took awhile to get there – to the point I didn’t know why Constance’s story mattered. It matters…but in the beginning I wanted to skip her parts to read about Lena.

*The twist at the end was surprising but, Constance again, to me…ruined it. I just did not like her!

*Triggers: death, being around dead bodies

Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed the world building, Lena and the necromancy in this book but I really needed more. Overall, this book fell short for me in so many areas, but it did keep my interest enough to want to know what was the whole deal with the toxic storm cloud! It was just an okay read for me.

Mystery, intrigue, a magical cloud trapping a kingdom...all these things appeal to the hope of a good book. Alas, this book fell flat though. The world building, the lands, the characters were flat for me. They were weak characters with not a lot of dimension to them. The relationships didn't hold well, and overall got boring throughout. It was disappointing and had hoped this would be a stronger book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!!

This book was actually really good! I did not have high hopes for this book but I really enjoyed it. It had all the things I like in a book especially action. I think this book could appeal to a lot of people and my library patrons would enjoy it.