Cover Image: Blood Debts

Blood Debts

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Member Reviews

What a whirlwind! So many ups and downs within magical families specifically the 16-year-old twins Clement and Cristina Trudeau. Both are still grieving their father's death and caring for their sick mother. They investigate the 30-year-old murder of Alexis Lancaster-the mayor's daughter at that time. Their grandmother Cristine was blamed, and they want to clear her name. Set in New Orleans, a world of Voodoo and generational magic while addressing such current issues as mental health, homophobia, racism, and bullying. There's plenty of story to tell with so many characters, but this had a satisfying ending of good vs evil.
"I received a complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

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

Wow this book was REALLY good. The magic system was something I haven’t read before, it was complex and beyond interesting. I love how the magic was linked with ancestors, and discussed how issues like slavery influenced the magic that the black characters had. The main story itself was easy enough to follow, and I found myself drawn into the story. While i guessed some of the plot twists it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story. I loved how complex the characters were in this, they were all a little morally grey and i felt myself sympathising with those considered the villains. I am definitely excited to see where this book series goes!
(*3.5)

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It is a good story if you are into complex rules of godhood, star-crossed lovers, and a great touch of revenge. The revenge part was among the best things I have read in years. I was expecting more from the ending. However, a sequel might be coming our way. I loved seeing Eshu in a different light; those who are santeria practitioners will find it interesting how he was depicted in the story. I highly recommend it.

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A really great read with an interesting magic system and multiple POV. The history was interesting and the twists and turns were surprising.

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I think maybe I am just not the right audience for this book. I truly thought I would love it. an urban fantasy set in New Orleans along with magic and mystery, murder and mayhem with black representation seemed perfect. But I just could not get into the YA story. The characters were too immature for me and I found myself frustrated with the pacing and point of views. the premise was really great and I really truly think this could be a great fantasy series for the right crowd.

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Unfortunately, the premise of this book was great but I found its implementation a little lacking.
The idea of the story was great, but the moment I started to immerse myself in it, the point of view changed. Regrettably, I had to stop reading as I couldn't fully engage myself in what I sincerely believe is a great story for young adults.
Maybe I am too old for this book, and I fiercely believe adolescent readers could love it, but the execution did not allow me to get carried away in its very promising premise.

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My thoughts are overwhelmed after reading this robust and suspenseful debut.

I love that your mood while reading this goes from light and playful to all in your face/whiplash. The characters actions are unpredictable and can become really intense. The amount of "wtf" moments are innumerable, that I incorporated working out on while reading to help me regain focus.

Though Blood Debts is told from many perspectives, I found it fairly easy to follow along who each character is, their relationship to the BD cast and the role they play (most often sketchy lol).

I found myself constantly daydreaming of this title, replaying scenes in my head throughout the day and unconsciously reaching for my kindle to continue reading on. Many nights I have gone to sleep in the early hours of the morning breaking my promise that "I will go to sleep after this chapter".

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When I found this book on NetGalley, I was super intrigued and thought that the synopsis sounded like a fun read! I mean... magical families? Generational curses? Twins who have to save the family? LGBT themes? what more could I ask for from a book?

Well, apparently, I needed to have asked for good prose and writing that draws me into the story. Right from the get-go, the writing was sloppy. I could tell the author was trying to incorporate modern slang/terms into the teenage dialogue, but it just wasn't working. Getting myself through the first 5 chapters was a slog, and I could not force myself to get through the rest.

Additionally, while I typically love books that tackle difficult topics such as race relations, capitalism/consumerism, and politics, Blood Debts felt like it was trying to shove an ideology down my throat rather than allow me to read the story to glean what commentary the author was making. I was incredibly frustrated by this and didn't think I could enjoy a story with such aggressively in-your-face social commentary that overshadowed the characters and plot.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me, and I don't foresee myself picking it up again in the future.

*** While I received a free ARC of this from NetGalley, all thoughts and opinions given in this review are 100% honest. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC***

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I'm a little conflicted about this book. There were things that I liked a lot about it and things that just didn't work for me. I felt bogged down about a third of the way through and took a break before coming back to it. I like the worldbuilding and the characters and the idea of the present generation having to deal with something that happened three decades earlier.

But some of the tone seemed to be a bit inconsistent, and one of the events in the end seemed way more, uh, graphic than I was expecting. We also mostly get the story from the first person POV of the siblings, Clem and Cris. But then there are some third person POV chapters, one from a minor character that doesn't seem very important except for an action he takes (why did we need to see parts of his story? They weren't relevant for anything else going on), a few chapters from a more important character yet those chapters really didn't add much, and one chapter from a character who was important to the story but again didn't add much from that POV. So I think leaving out those random third person POV chapters would have made the book stronger.

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Really enjoyed this, good world building and really fascinating magic system. The mystery plot was compelling and I like how it was a family story. The two areas where the book shines is characters and themes. The characters are well defined and feel really real. Their personalities and problems feel relatable and they grow in ways which make sense throughout the book. Themes were powerful and I liked exploring this city and the dynamics between people living there. I would say the writing was good but the moved from 1st person present tense to 3rd person (maybe past tense but don't remember) were a bit jarring.

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The overall concept of this book was nice and I liked the writing. I enjoyed the mystery aspect of the story and was interested in it.

Unfortunately it all just fell flat for me after a while. I didn’t love any of the characters, to be honest they annoyed me for much of the book. Things like who the culprits behind the mystery became very predictable early on so I began to lose interest pretty quickly.

There was a random character introduced in the book and I can understand his role in the next book it felt unnecessary and random in this one. I wish that it was omitted altogether or maybe his pov was more towards the end to act as another cliffhanger.

While this story may have not been for me I do believe maybe teens will be able to relate to the characters, the way they handled grief and began learning about themselves.

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- The world of BLOOD DEBTS is fantastic. A New Orleans with several branches of magical families, warring for power on multiple levels. The imagined world here is so rich it feels like it could be real.
- I loved Clement and Cristina, both prickly and headstrong in their own ways, and deeply loving of their big, loud, fractured family (the aunts! I loved them all!) Also, it has multiple queer characters, which I haven't seen mentioned much in the marketing.
- However, for me, this book was a lot of telling rather than showing. It was mainly the kids running from adult to adult and prying pieces of secrets out of them, then rehashing everything they know in the next scene, repeat. I think this might have worked better as an adult fantasy instead of YA/New Adult, with POVs from the many adults and their grudges rather than the teens, who are the only ones out of the loop.

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Oo Okay so I was drawn to this book by the blurb and I'm so happy I gave it a chance. I dont know anything about the author so this was the first time reading a book by them. And I actually really liked this book. I couldn't put it down at all and it kept me pulled into it. Cover fits into what this book. 5 star book and i already told a few friends that they need to read this book when they get a chance to because it gave off the feeling of Bonnie and Clyde (I'm sorry if I misspelled their names, I cant always remember how to spell them) but any ways it gave off vibes of them and I really liked that about this book. I might have to reread this book later on in the year because its one book I abostly loved reading. I highly recommend this book. I'm not 100% sure if this will be turned into a series but I abostly feel like it should because id read them over and over and over. I sincerely couldn't put this book down at all.

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I thought this was good, but not great. I think there were too many minor characters, and everything was connected in a kind of convoluted way that had me confused for a lot of the book. Like I said, I thought it was good, and I'll probably pick up the sequel, but I don't think it'll leave a lasting impression on me.

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DNF at 77%, 2.5 stars rounded up.

The premise of BLOOD DEBTS absolutely sounded like something I would adore—generational magic, Black witches, a modern-day New Orleans setting? I was ready to add this to my favorites shelf right off the bat, but unfortunately, the writing style, plot, and characterization fell extremely short for me. The plot and characters felt all over the place; there is a core mystery here with a compelling through line, but that thread kept getting dropped in favor of other things. There are so many unnecessary side characters and POVs that are difficult to keep straight, and none of them are particularly compelling enough to warrant their presence in the narrative. If the story had simply been tightened down to the twins and their arc, I think this book would have been much more coherent and compelling.

But honestly, I've read messier books. What really made me DNF was the writing style, which was a little too simplistic for my personal tastes to begin with, but also made some really awkward attempts to appeal to the Gen Z/TikTok crowd. Modern slang in books never seems to work for me, I'm sorry. The trends move on too quickly, and you can tell this book's already a little bit behind on the times—seriously, I haven't heard anyone say 'the GOAT' in at least two years.

I really hoped for the best with this one, and I do think there is an audience for it—but this was not for me.

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The intriguing title and that stunning cover first caught my attention. I was completely sold with an atmospheric New Orleans setting.

Speaking of that stunning cover – from its design I expected a historical fantasy. That’s not the case. The setting is modern day New Orleans thirty years after a magical massacre. With the anniversary of that massacre coming up, tensions are on the rise again between the magical and non-magical communities, with the latter group calling for regulations.

Clem and Cris are the twin heir grandchildren of the deceased queen whose throne was stolen. Rightfully, it should still belong to their family, and they believe their grandmother was falsely accused of murder and intend to set things right. Their numerous family members – their mother, her four sisters, and numerous cousins – are hiding secrets and holding onto grudges. Although warned to stay out of it and leave the adults to handle things, the twins nose around (we’re talking serious invasions of privacy) until they get discover the truth.

The ups and downs of family dynamics are on display here – old grievances, secrets, misunderstandings, misplaced guilt. They may dislike each other, but the love is there. You just have to dig deep for it sometimes. The guilty party behind all this isn’t really a mystery. The plot is more of the reader watching the characters find the proof that’s been there all those years. With a family this large, the character roster is extensive, and several different POVs are included.

The concept of generational magic is intriguing, and the cast of characters diverse. Some plot points are wrapped up by the end, but a few threads remain to carry into the sequel. If you’re a fan of urban fantasy, magic and hexes, and dysfunctional (but loving in their own way) family dynamics, this may be the novel for you.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Firstly, this book gave me Legendborn (a 5 star read for me) vibes in the BEST way.

The magic system was intricate and well thought out. The spells were interesting and well explained. I love that it was tied to their families and how that connected to their grandparents murders.

I know there are a lot of people that say that fantasy shouldn't have real world aspects, like racism or discrimination. That fantasy should be just that, fantasy or an escape from reality. However, I don't agree. No world, whether imagined or real, is going to be without issues. I think putting these aspects, especially the way that TJBW did, is so important for YA readers to see that these things are real and they aren't alone. It was so well-written, but that does make it a really heavy sort of read, so be prepared for that.

I was given an advanced review copy with the expectation of an unbiased review, which I am giving voluntarily.

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Overall, I really enjoyed the plot of the novel but I had some minor issues with the narrative style of the book. Firstly, I find this book to have been mismarketed. Maybe it's my fault, but I really expected this to be a historical set fantasy and it was only once I started reading the novel that I realized this was set in a more modern day, which already left me a bit disappointed. However, as mentioned, I think the plot was really interesting and I loved reading about generational magic and how the author is relating his message of it to generational trauma and racism (both systemic and amongst individuals). There is also some discussions on magic malpractice which correlates to the current political debate on gun violence in the US and Benton-Walker included some queer rep which I appreciated. The world building behind the generational magic was also really interesting! Unfortunately, I think this novel suffered mostly from its pacing. There was a lot of complex elements that affected the plot that I felt made it feel so quick - but then there would be moments that felt so slow. Particularly, the moments that were included to show Clem and Chris's relationship always felt petty and didn't really add much to the novel as the plot of it could have continued without these moments of fighting. In the end, I definitely see the potential in Benton-Walker's writing and I think it was still an overall enjoyable story. Looking forward to what he puts out next!

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This is one of those stories where you fly through it because it is fast paced and extremely interesting but it holds on for a while when you are done. I wasn't necessarily waffling on my rating for this book but ruminating on the themes explored here: grief, guilt, power, agency, and family. This was a powerful debut by Terry J. Benton-Walker and I am SO intrigued to see where this series will go. The magic system is powerful and I LIVE for witch councils that experience a dramatic coup. I almost wish I was able to read this on a sprawling porch in New Orleans during a rain storm. I don't really know how to summarize this book in a distinct way - I'd say if the blurb appeals to you then RUN and snag a copy of Blood Debts because it is so good. I'd say fans of Tracy Deonn and even Kalynn Bayron will enjoy this title!

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a;aksdjf. urban AND fantasy (voodoo!) AND dealing with the effects of past and current racist events? sure sign me up. this was a fun and quick read. it was ALSO a pretty heavy read. however we love queer representation.

thank you to netgalley and tor publishing for the eGalley!

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