If you've just started Blood Like Magic, keep on going.

It took until about 25% for Blood Like Magic to become an enjoyable book; I thought I was going to dnf at 15%. It took until the end to become the book I was promised, but eventually Blood Like Magic did become the book I was pitched.

I'm not entirely sure I read the back of the book before requesting it on NetGalley; Sambury attended the launch of A Dark and Hollow Star and pitched it there. I loved the idea of this girl who had been told she was going to have to kill her first love, while she wasn't in love all. Sambury pitched a twist, and with the book's purple cover, my heart was really hoping for some ace representation. There is some demiromantic representation with a supporting character, but Blood Like Magic did not take the twist I was hoping for. (To be entirely fair, when I want something specific for the love interest, it does not happen very often.)

I actually knew I was in trouble as soon as I read the back of the book when putting it on my eReader for the ARC. I was looking for a story about Voya and mentioning Luc on the back cover scared me. Girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, girl forgets everything she's ever known for boy is not my storyline. Girl falling in love with boy who acts like an asshole is not okay, girls need to be respected and set clear boundaries. I was really scared at 15% that I had simply picked up the wrong book for me. The moment when we meet Luc at the NuGene headquarters really had me scared. I've read that story and it's not something I enjoy.

Fortunately, by 25%, Voya's attempts to meet and get to know Luc are working. She has to get to know him in hopes that she will fall in love with him before she can kill him, after all. She is mentally responsible and never once excuses his behaviour for being a jerk. As Voya starts to get to know Luc out of his public persona, I laughed at their jokes. Luc's backstory doesn't give him a free pass for being a jerk; he consciously admits that this is something he does on purpose in public due to his position and privilege. I may not have been able to jump on their ship, but I did admire the healthy relationship they were developing for over half of the book.

The other thing that made this difficult to get into in the beginning was the world building. The novel takes place in 2049, so assuming Sambury drafted in 2019, 30 years into the future. Acknowledging that Sambury did not have a pandemic crystal ball and setting aside the weirdness of reading about a future that does not deal with your present, the world building was still very clunky. The disadvantage with selecting a date 30 years in the future is that it has to be possible with technological advancements to get from present day to there. Yes, there are some timelines which are sped up due to spoilers, but I can't see us getting from today to Samsbury's future, which made the world building difficult to believe.

Sambsbury has one genius, Tremblay, have a breakthrough on how to manipulate genetics in humans in 2038. However, during this time frame there has also been the advent of microchips in everyone which connect to literally everything (social networking feed, money, DNA, optical text messages, AI assistants, you get the picture). There seems to be some suggestions that Tremblay also powered this revolution regarding invasive technology, but the people who would build the robots and the AIs all collectively hate biology and therefore would not be geneticists? It takes time to get degress and become an expert in a field? I can picture Samsbury's world one day, but not 30 years from now.

There were even little continuity errors with Granny saying she grew up Googling, but she would have been born in 1983 according to my math and 18 when Google was first invented, which is not "growing up Googling". I think Blood Like Magic really would have been strengthened if it focused a lot more on the genetics in the world building and punted this out a little more into the future. Trying to digest both aspects of the world building at the beginning of the novel really hampered it.

Sambury's worldbuilding regarding class issues and poverty in this new world she has dreamed up is fantastic. Caribana (a Black heritage festival in Toronto) can only occur safely with magical protection. Who does, and doesn't, have access to gene treatments is heavily influenced by money. One trans character with resources is able to have a hormone suppression gene therapy, while the other is on the hormones for the rest of her foreseeable future. The cost of higher education has sky-rocketed such that everyone's side hustles are now their main jobs. I just wish she had punted her world a little bit more into the future.

Without getting into spoilers territory, Blood Like Magic does eventually get into a discussion of the importance (or lack thereof) of someone's first sexual/romantic love. I was hoping for an entire book which explored this topic, not just the last 20%, but I'm glad that we did eventually get there. There is also a continued discussion of what a health relationship looks like as it navigates the various trials in the book, which is something I really liked.

Also, there's a lot of discussion of food in this book. Have something to eat nearby.

~ 3.5 stars ~

💜~ Thank you to the publisher at Simon & Schuster Canada via NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review ~💜

This book was an amazing whirlwind of a ride. Voya's story hooked me and I couldn't put the story down once I got into it. The beginning was a little bit slow, but things really picked up around the 40-50% mark. The diversity of ethnicities and the lgbtq+ representation was very well done. At the very beginning, I found Voya to be a bit annoying and indecisive, but as the story goes on, you get to see how she becomes more sure of herself, so I forgive the beginning of her arc because of how well it was fleshed out. It was also really nice to see a book set in Toronto, Canada, as so many books are set in the US. Finally, the ending was spectacular, and while it didn't exactly end on a cliff hanger, it wrapped it up just enough to be considered open ended and set up for the next book. I can't wait for the next one to be released!

**Disclaimer** This is all personal opinion and is in no way intended to harass or offend anyone. If I do, I sincerely apologize (also let me know so I can fix the offensive content, thank you).

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy to review

Honestly, wasn't my style. What pulled me into read was very much the cover and description. I was very excited to start reading it.

If I wasn't reading an advanced copy for the purpose of an honest review of the book and not just the first chapter, this book would be on my dnf list (did not finish). Alas, I continued reading.

It was truly a well written book and good world building but it just wasn't for me. I would still recommend for others to read it.

With the main character being a witch, I expected a much more fantasy/magic based book but little of that happens. The book is much more of a sci-fi dystopian novel than its fantasy category. Many parts of the book seemed quite predictable and on multiple occasions I felt that the scene I was reading really dragged on and wasn't important to the plot, character development, or world-building.

The scene right at the beginning with main character Voya sitting in a bathtub of her own blood disturbed me a bit. Also the explanation of the men's bleeding too, not just women. I understand this was part of the world building to understand the witches culture but it really just wasn't for me.

Aside from it just not being my cup of tea, I would still recommend this book to others. Its writing and characters are done well. The book has very diverse characters with different race backgrounds and lgbtq+ representation.

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury is a strong debut into the writing world of fantasy and sci-fi. Although I may not have loved this book specifically, I look forward to her future books.

3.5 stars

Honestly I was a bit squicked out in the beginning with the bathtub full of menstrual blood and the clotting and the description of the men bleeding out of their eyes and their penises.

The story is set in the future. There are automated vehicles, identity chips, genetic modifications, etc. It's a bit of a sci-fi/urban fantasy mashup, but the magic isn't really an integral part of the story so much as its existence is an integral part of the story; not a lot of magic actually ends up happening.

A good portion of this book was highly predictable. Just the way that the task is worded led me to believe that Voya wasn't going to have to do things in the way she had catastrophized. This book is very much the first in a series and serves to set the groundwork for books to come. Unfortunately, there isn't really a satisfying ending. That said, once I got past the halfway mark I started enjoying it more, and I would definitely consider reading the next one, though I won't be chomping at the bit.

I absolutely love this book! The mix of modern day witches with future technology in Toronto is such a unique concept that had me excited just from reading the synopsis. Voya’s character is someone that I actually related to a lot while reading this book with her trouble to make decisions. Following her journey to find herself and what she really wants is so inspiring and the futuristic witches with a bit of enemies to lovers thrown in there makes this an awesome read. This is not your typical enemies to lovers though and I have to admit that I never saw the ending coming and I could not put this book down during the last 100 pages! Although I didn’t expect it, I found the ending very fitting and that it wrapped things up well for Voya’s story. I highly recommend this book to fans of witches or people who enjoy urban fantasies!

Maybe its just me but I was not the biggest fan of this story. it was good but I didn't get super wrapped up into the world like a lot of other readers have. however if fantasy is your go to then I'm sure you'd love this book

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for providing me an E-ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I even begin? Blood Like Magic is a masterpiece. From the concept to the characters, everything about this debut is incredibly unique. I'm impressed with the level of detail Sambury gave to every aspect. Let's talk about our main character, Voya. Voya is imperfect, like so many of us are, but that doesn't stop her from trying her best. I love her for that. Blood Like Magic takes place in 2049 Toronto and the jump in technology from current day was fun to read.

My one critique is about one of the main plot points, Voya's ability to make decisions. I wish we saw more of her actually thinking about said decisions, instead of the same inner dialogue about her indecisiveness. That way, her actions would have made a bit more sense.

But overall, this was a great read, it even pulled me out of my fantasy slump!

I really enjoyed the world-building aspects of Blood Like Magic. The magical fantasy elements were intriguing and the near-future sci-fi was creepy and prescient and very, very detailed. I enjoyed Voya as the protagonist and really connected with, at times, her frustration with her family and her underlying love for them; her difficulty making decisions and fear of screwing up. The development of Voya and Luc's relationship was sweet and soft. I enjoyed following their "enemies-to-lovers" type arc and thought that the romance was believable and cute.

What made the book harder for me to engage with was the exposition throughout, especially in the first half of the book. There was a lot of 'telling' of characters' personalities, shared histories, abilities, etc. There's an excessive use of filtering words -- saw, remembered, realized, thought, wondered, etc. -- and weakening qualifiers and phrases like "still", "always," "obviously", "almost", "once again", "as usual", "not to mention", "believe it or not", etc. There are also many instances of things 'not' happening, which pulled me out of the present action of the book.

In all, Blood Like Magic was an uneven read for me. It had a lot of potential but I would have enjoyed it more if Voya's emotional connections to other characters, and her agency, had been emphasized more over the lore of the Thomas family, the pure and impure witch lineages, and the function of near-future technology in the story's world.

There is so much to love in this debut! The characters are multifaceted, imperfect, charming, lovable and very diverse. Voya is a relatable and realistic main character - her struggle with indecision to a point where it hinders her ability to live is so relatable to me.

The world building was my favourite part. Futuristic Toronto blends technological advances, Canadian and international cultures, and is just so smart. The world this story takes place in is in the future, but it does not escape the effects of racism, colonialism, and slavery. The world is better, but not perfect. Struggles continue to exist and affect the lives of the characters. The modernity is believable, the societal struggles are based in our current reality, and the unique magic system fits right in.

The plot is high stakes and intriguing. While I found the writing repetitive at times, and it took me a while to get into it, I really enjoyed Voya’s story and her struggle with her identity and future. Her lack of vision for her own future is something I think so many young adults can relate to, making it a great YA read. Additionally, Voya’s grappling with her identity within her own family - and how families can be more cracked and divided than we realize under the surface - was very well done.

I didn’t find the romance particularly compelling, but I would be eager to see how it progresses in future instalments! While I didn't love how Luc and Voya's relationship was built up in this one, the story left off in a place that will make further developments in future novels really interesting.

An additional highlight for me was definitely the FOOOOD. Every time Voya described food my mouth was watering.

Overall, a great debut! I would definitely recommend to lovers of YA, YA fantasy, and black girl magic (literally!). This is a dark fantasy novel that is bound to inspire young readers.

Favourite quote:
(I chose this because it is SO RELATABLE to me as someone who lacks direction in life)
“What must it be like to know exactly what you want? Whenever I try to imagine my future, I come up against a block. There’s always something in the way, and no matter what route I take, the end is a mystery. I keep thinking that my gift will change everything. but what if it doesn’t? What if I don’t have that lightbulb moment that helps me decide what it is that I want to do with my life?”

A DNF for me. The writing felt very middle grade for a YA novel. I love love love the idea here though.

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury follows sixteen-year-old Voya. She has received her Calling, which is a trial all witches must pass to gain their powers. She is given the impossible task of sacrificing her first love. If she doesn’t succeed, her family loses the use of magic. The problem is that Voya has never been in love, so she joins a new genetic matchmaking program. Voya begins to struggle with the morality of her task and her wish to preserve her family’s magical legacy. She’s desperate to find another way to pass the Calling.

This book is so magical and futuristic. Voya’s loyalty to her family is strong and relatable. I liked how contemporary this story felt, while also being futuristic.

both the cover and description of the book had me intrigued and i had been hearin/seeing it around so i was curious about it! im glad i requested/read it. i enjoyed the world/magic/characters! i like that it takes place in canada and they mentioned where i live. i also like that its in the future and seeing all the techonology that this world has but also the fact that magic exists in it! i liked knowing each characters gifts and what their callings were (both very interesting things to know) some characters u dont know their gifts tho. i liked voya as the narrator most of the time (sometimes when she was indecisive or she kept thinking about her task and if shes able to do it or not and being negative was kinda of annoying/frustating to read bc could get repetitive and also bc i believed in her but i can also relate to her indecisiveness) i also liked voyas family specially keis and i liked her relationship with her family they are all so close and spend so much time together and there was funny moments between boya and her family! and its funny to think that her grandma wouldve been probably a teenager in our current time. SOME SPOILERS AFTER THIS: there were some not so fun scenes like when voya gets her task and see mama jova and her past :C when shes given her task and the days go by i didnt see how she could get out of it and not kill luc or destroy him by destroyin his career but eventually she realises that luc isnt her first love but that her family/ keis is which i loved but at same time hated bc that meant destroyin her best friend/cousin. and i liked both luc and keis. luc and voyas interations were always soo funny/cute/sarcastic. i also kept my fingers crossed that lauren was gonna show up eventually and be ok.. also eden is soo adorable! when voya decides to be at the ritual with johan and he told her not to mess up/enter the circle and then she has a messed up vision and enters the circle im like "u know u have messed up vision that arent real so why would u go into the circle.." it was a bit frustating that sometimes she didnt know what was real or not,acted upon those visions and then something bad would happen. or moments of miscomunication like when in the end her mom tells her not to leave for caribanna without them and voya doesnt tell her family that she knows what shes gonna choose and that she has a plan that involves not killing luc etc,and her mom not telling her what they were gonna go do (i feel like if voya had told them her plan etc or her mom would tell voya their plan certain things wouldve been different or wouldnt have needed to happen: like liking their magic to the house etc and or voya need to link keis to the house etc) i feel bad that keis got that ending and i hope they can reverse it some how. also didnt want a certain character to die but i understand that she needed to die so that voya could ger her wish (which was a good idea what she wished for ,it was clever of her and also the plan she did for keis was clever but it still sucked) i also like voyas gift in the end and her plan involving justin, and the scenes when she sees aunt elaine. i also liked that voya was into cooking and alex was a designer and into clothes etc. theres also 2 trans characters in this book which i really liked reading about and keishas love life too. im curious to see what will happen in the sequel so ill definitly read it, we already know bad things will happen,more suffering and challenges bc mama jova tells voya in the end and i wanna see how voya uses her past and future gift..also to see what happened to lauren and what will happen to keis.

Literal Black girl magic! Blood Like Magic is the first book in the Blood Like Magic series and debut YA fantasy novel by Liselle Sambury. It follows Voya Thomas, a teen in a family of witches who is approaching her Calling, the trial she must pass in order to become receive her powers as a witch. She is given the task to destroy her first love and for the first time in their family history, the stakes are higher than ever. If Voya doesn’t pass, she will not only lose her one chance to get her powers, her entire family will lose their magic too. Voya has one month to fall in love with someone, complete her task and save her family’s magic. Things become complicated when she might have really fallen in love with the boy she’s supposed to destroy...what decisions will Voya make for herself and for her family?

The book is set in the year 2049 in a future Toronto. While it was nice to see familiar names like the TTC, Pacific Mall and Union Station, I felt like it took me out of the story a little bit. As someone who grew up in the Toronto area, seeing the names and descriptors of these places distracted me and blurred the lines between what is real and what is fiction, preventing me temporarily from being immersed in the story. This may not apply to other readers such as those who may not be as familiar with the city. After reading the acknowledgements at the end, I learned the descriptions of the city were a kind of love letter to Toronto from the author who also grew up here. While the story behind this is lovely, as a reader I felt a little disconnected at times due to it.

What I did love about this future Toronto though was the acceptance of diversity and that fact that people tried to use each other's pronouns correctly which gives me some hope for a more inclusive future. But while it's better in some ways, racism against Black and brown bodies still exists and discrimination against trans folks which the novel addresses as well. For a book set in about 25 years into the future, I think she painted a realistic future in terms of progress that wasn't too optimistic but also seemingly better than now.

It started off pretty predictable and even though the end is still somewhat predictable, the events that lead to it were unexpected. There were twists that kept the story engaging and the ending makes you curious about what will happen in this new era of the Thomas family. A great debut novel and beginning to what is sure to be a thrilling series! Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A solid three star debut. Slow to start, a lot of the same themes/inner dialogue are repeated and things don't start moving until the halfway point but once it does start going it moves fast. The prose flows well, the characters are all well imagined and I loved the attention to diversity, culture and representation. I wasn't really buying the romance, the love interest is frankly unappealing but that is completely subjective. My biggest reservations are the length; this could have been cut by 20% and still be the exact same book only tighter. The author repeats the same thoughts and ideas, something an editor should have cut. Regardless the book is imaginative and I will be recommending to my teen library patrons. Looking forward to seeing more from this author.

This book is pure magic! As someone who lives in the suburbs around Toronto, I absolutely loved reading about my city with sci-fi/fantasy undertones and as a place where magic lives right under our noses. Also, these characters are so well developed and so diverse! The amount of casual queer representation in this book made my heart swell. Blood Like Magic tackles so many highly relevant issues and kept me fully engaged the entire time. Even places were it might have seemed a bit slow, I was hooked on the conversations between characters, setting up their relationships and the world-building. It's specifically because of the set up that I found the ending so well done. While I'd guessed the twist with the "first love", I didn't see the payoff coming and it was devastating on several levels. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough, and I can't wait for the sequel!

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for the e-ARC for review!

“From the start of this, Mama Jova has wanted me to take control of my future and my choices. And this whole time I believed that I would make the wrong choice. Thats how it’s been with everything in my life. Ever decision was another chance to mess up.
I don’t know if this is the right one either. But it doesn’t matter.
It’s my choice, and I have to make it.
So I do."

When Voya Thomas, a young witch, fails her Calling, she begs her talker for another chance. And to her entire family’s surprise, she gets it. But the task seems impossible: to get her gift, Voya must destroy her first love, or else her entire family will lose their magic.

A strong 3.5 stars.

Fantasy and sci-fi are wonderfully blended in Liselle Sambury’s “Blood Like Magic”. Reading the blurb, I was initially worried this would be too similar to the Bone Grace series, but the novel was one of the most original and impressive fantasies I’ve read in a long time. I wasn’t expecting such an immersive, black mirror-esque component to the world building; Sambury’s sci-fi ideas were mildly uncanny, and I don’t doubt they’ll be part of our reality soon.

There was a diverse familial cast of characters, wherein everyone felt distinct and purposeful. Voya was an imperfect protagonist, riddled with self doubt, and tasked with an impossible calling that kept me guessing. And most excitedly, the book showcased a vast variety of cultures and backgrounds, and Toronto was the perfect setting for it all. I loved learning about Voya’s Trinidadian background, especially through her cooking, as well as the other witch families and their own histories. I also appreciated that, despite being set in the future, Sambury still addressed issues of race and bigotry that, like Voya mentioned, likely will take centuries more to dismantle. Similarly, I loved that social issues we are currently working through were near old news.

There were a few story-telling issues that brought me out of the book. Comprehensive world-building is so important, especially for such a unique story, but the novel was a bit slow to start. I’m also a bit torn on how I feel about Voya’s task, about Justin’s ideology, about the pure vs. impure magic concept. I won’t post any spoilers, but some reasoning felt a bit weak, and I couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to let it slide.

That said, this is a strong debut and great for young adult fantasy and sci-fi lovers everywhere.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

As a Canadian and a lover of YA fantasy this book seemed right up my alley. This story is truly unlike anything I've ever read. I thought the magic system and the sci-fi elements were very interesting and well done. Voya is enjoyable as the main character and I felt like she was pretty relatable. All of the other characters in the book felt well developed and were really interesting and entertaining to read about. I really enjoyed the family aspect of the story and all of the intricacies of each relationship. The plot itself is interesting, the conflicts are high stakes and I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. The book also had a lot of representation and touched on many issues. I thought that the author handled these topics well. I am definitely interested in reading, and would recommend looking for, some OwnVoices reviews to see what they thought of the representation in the book. I loved how the author incorporated Trinidadian culture into the story through things like food and traditions. Overall, this was story I hadn't seen before and was an enjoyable read!

The story line was be of this book had promise. I just found it hard to follow and I found it hard to relate to the characters

I received an e-arc of Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury in exchange for an honest review. My first impressions from the synopsis of the book were 'this feels kinda like Bone Crier's Moon' with the witchy elements and the main character needing to kill her true love. But this book is doing a lot more than that, first, it's set in Toronto (love the Canadian setting and I've visited there!), the year is 2049 (so there are some science fiction elements), and there is a DNA software called NuGene that has a big part of the story.
Though I've really liked what I've read so far in Blood Like Magic, I don't think I'll be able to finish reading the e-arc before release, so I'm putting this title down for now and I intend to pick up the audiobook when it's available/ request it for purchase at my local library. I will update my review to reflect my final thoughts.

*ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Voya Thomas is a sixteen year-old Black witch from a long line of witches, on the cusp of getting her powers through her Calling, a coming-of-age challenge that every magic user is given from one of their valued ancestors, and must pass in order to be gifted their powers and become a witch. There is a lot of pressure put on this challenge and families and/or the children who fail their callings are often shunned, and it hasn't happened in Voya's family in generations. When Voya is given her task from Mama Jova, she is told she has one month to destroy her first love, or her family will lose their magic forever.

Voya is a person who has always had trouble making decisions, and she is also someone who has never been in love, so this task proves difficult from the beginning. The Thomas's have been a family of "pure" magic users for quite some time, meaning they don't kill, even with pure intent, like some other witch families. But a lot hangs in the balance for Voya. Her only lead is a genetic matching program she is a part of at a futuristic tech company called NuGene, where an intern named Luc is her highest match. She sets out to fall in love with Luc, all while grappling with the idea that she will eventually have to kill him.

This book was absolutely incredible. I do not give five stars lightly. It was an incredible blend of fantasy and sci-fi, with absolutely amazing worldbuilding that made me long for the sequel immediately upon finishing this book. Voya's world in future Toronto is very casually queer, with two main characters who are trans (including Voya's love interest, Luc), a gender-neutral term for their ancestors, and many queer characters in the main and surrounding cast of characters, in all different positions of power.

Sambury even goes into the benefits that gene-modding (gene modification) has for trans folks in this futuristic world, an expensive gene-mod replacing what today would require surgery, but people needing money and status to get up the list, meaning not everyone has access. I loved these little bits of information about Sambury's ideal future almost as much as the sheer CANADIAN-NESS of the whole story (everyone constantly saying 'sorry', even to automated machines, the not-so-subtle Tim's mention).

I loved the little bits of internal monologue where Voya discusses how racism has become in the future, the part it plays in sponsorships like Luc's and how microaggressions still exist in a world many would consider progressive. I enjoyed the added information about required low-income housing, and how richer people get around it by hiding money in secret bank accounts and taking housing from the poor.

This book paints an incredibly detailed picture of Voya's world and community through her life experience and it's a story with high stakes, a unique magic system, and lots of Black Girl Magic that will have you looking up the release date of the sequel the moment you put it down.