Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I typically take notes when I read eARCS to point out any really juicy moments, or bits where I simply couldn't stop reading. I only have one note for Blood Scion and that's because the entire novel drew me in from the very beginning and I couldn't put it down, not even to write out a note. This may be my new favorite YA series to date and I cannot wait for the teens at my library to get their hands on this.

Sloane is hiding a deadly secret from the people around her—she is a Scion, a descendant of the Orisha gods, and can call on the fire buried within her to defend herself. Her powers would mean death to Sloan and everyone she loves if the tyrannical colonizers, the Lucis, realize who she is. The Lucis have taken everything from Sloane: her parents, her childhood, and her chance at living a happy, free life. When Sloane receives a mandatory draft notice on her fifteenth birthday, she realizes she can use the opportunity to destroy the Lucis from within. But the things the Lucis ask of her are terrible and hard, and the longer she stays in the military, the more she realizes she is losing herself to the very people she swore to destroy.

This is a stunning first entry in a series I am excited to continue to follow. This book is mesmerizing and engrossing, at turns horrifying and gratifying. I was never quite sure where Sloane's story would go next. The horrors Sloane faces at the hands of the Lucis and the trauma she endures are realistically dealt with, something that similarly-themed YA tend to skim over. Trauma is, of course, traumatic (especially the trauma Sloane endures in this book), and characters and readers alike deserve a chance to sit with that trauma for a bit. Sloane reckons with the horrible things she has been forced to do by the Lucis and asks, "Does this make me a monster? Am I monstrous because of what I have done, because of who I am?" Her answers to these questions change at different points throughout the book as Sloane is forced to perform more and greater horrors in order to achieve her mission. The ending was satisfying and then shocking, leaving us on a delicious cliffhanger for the next book.

Sloane herself is my favorite type of protagonist: headstrong, determined, and incredibly impassioned. Sloane is angry, and rightfully so. Her anger fuels many of her decisions throughout the course of the novel, to both understandable and shocking ends. I love that she gets a chance to simmer in that righteous anger until it boils over in a physical manifestation with her fire-y Scion powers. Not many women—especially black women—are allowed to be angry, even if their anger is deserved. To see Sloane's anger represented so thoughtfully and empathetically is a relief. I rooted for Sloane from start to finish, and I cannot wait to see what else Deborah Falaye has in store for her next.

Also: I love a good Enemies to Lovers to... "There and Back Again" is what I'll call it, to avoid getting too spoilery. It is possibly my favorite trope right after Found Family and Righteous Female Protag, and I was so pleased to see it handled with such skill and aplomb in this title. The twists and turns the main relationship takes are intense and gut-wrenching, and again—I cannot wait to see where Falaye goes with this. I'm waiting on the edge of my seat.

Incidentally, this book DOES also have Found Family in it! It takes a bit of a backseat to Sloane's personal mission, but the Found Family angle IS there and I loved Falaye's take on it. It makes Sloane's mission and the things she has to do in order to achieve it all the more heartbreaking.

Ultimately, this novel is gripping and intense, a satisfying thrill from start to finish. Give this to your righteous teens who want to see girls like them represented in a fantasy series, and give this to your passionate teens who want to burn down a cruel world alongside Sloane, impassioned by her every step of the way.

I mulled over this book for an entire day and the more I thought about it, the more it just didn't sit right.

Let's start with the good points.
1. The COVER. It is beautiful. This is something I would buy just to make my shelf appealing. 10 stars.
2. The overall story line sounds fantastic. A fierce, strong young woman rising through the ranks of forced military training and freeing her people? Yes, please!

But unfortunately it really just fell flat for me.

I had two main issues with the book. The first issue was inconsistency.

At the beginning, we are told that people in this village are forced to become child soldiers. So I'm thinking...8 to 12 years old. But then we find out that you can't be chosen to be a soldier until you're a minimum of 15. That's not a child. We call books for teenagers "young adult" for a reason. Even in the book, these 15-18 year olds kept calling each other "children." But then they'd act like they were 30+ years old but with the attitude of a 5 year old. It bothered my brain the entire times because I could not compute what age these people were supposed to be acting like. I thought maybe it was just me, so without giving a reason, I asked several friends what ages they think of when they hear "child soldier." Absolutely no one said older than 14.

I also don't think the story did justice to what they actually endured. I mean, the circumstances in this story are messed up to the nth degree. This is Criminal Minds meets Hitler. These "children" are forced to murder their loved ones. Forced to murder each other. Beaten. Starved. Kidnapped. Sexually assaulted. And we're told that they go through a lot but it isn't really portrayed by the way they think or act. Sloane (a "child" by the author's definition) is forced to murder someone she's in love with. Four weeks later, she's making out with the dude that had her squad mates beat her half to death. I just don't even have words for that.

Lastly, I felt like most of this book was completely unoriginal. I'm here reading and thinking, "hmm. People forced to keep powers hidden so they aren't hunted. Sounds kind of like Six of Crows. Oh..it's called Orisha. That is awfully close to Grisha." And I turn the page and here comes Faas Bakker and I seriously read it as "Kaz Brekker" and had to do a double take. It even tops it off for us with a heist of sorts in which they steal guard uniforms in order to sneak into the middle of the base.

Then we have what is basically a reaping and a retelling of the Hunger Games. And then they're whisked away in the middle of the night to be thrown in a forest, Sloane is hunted by both her enemy and forest spirit demons and somehow beats everyone even when she shouldn't. That's the exact story I just read in ACOSF.

But my favorite...They begin talking about fighting for "the Force." Over and over. And we get to a page where Sloane has a truth revealed about her mortal enemy. And we get this beautiful line... "My Dear, I am your father."

I almost threw my Kindle across the room.

I say all that...but I somehow feel like this is going to end up being a book that people rave about and I will be the odd one out. It has all the basic markings of a YA book with extra violence and weird love triangles despite being abused and tortured. People love that. Just not me.

Sloane has a secret. She is a Scion, a magical person who must hide from the ruthless Lucis. When she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army at age fifteen, she decides that if she is forced to live by their rules, then she will do all she can to attempt to destroy them from the inside. As she starts her month of training, Sloane starts to become the type of solider the Lucis want at the cost of her humanity. She does find, however, a few friends in training, but even they cannot stop what is happening; they are becoming the monsters they all desperately want to avoid. I really wanted to love this book. I did enjoy it, but it wasn't what I hoped. Imagine if the Harry Potter series was blended with Hunger Games and Divergent, with a hint of Nigerian tales and you will have Blood Scion.

I decided to give this book a try and I am so glad that I did. It was very entertaining and was able to keep my attention. The main characters were very interesting and I really enjoyed there journey. Awesome book!