Quite an interesting sequel with complex relationship dynamics and gritty fantasy action. I admire how different this series is compared to many other fantasy series and I'd definitely read more.

4.25/5 stars! This is the second book in the Combat Codes Saga. I appreciate the fighting system for this book. It's a unique take that I don't know if I've ever seen highlighted in a fantasy series before. The closest comparison I could think of was some of the training rings in Will of the Many. This is a very dark and intense fantasy tale and not for the faint of heart. The fight scenes were amazing to experience but I did feel like outside of the fighting, there were points where the pacing dragged. Overall, an interesting read and I'll be watching for the finale.

Review copy provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second entry in "The Combat Codes Saga", which was initially self-published and is now being released by Orbit.

Instead of continuing to focus on just our main characters from book 1 (Murray and Cego), the second entry in this series focuses on more of the characters in the universe and expands its worldbuilding. Special mention is warranted for the manner in which the author describes fighting, which is the most realistic I've ever read in a fantasy novel. It feels like you are right there watching the action.

5/5 highly recommend.

Cego starts his second year at the martial arts school, while Murray tries to find Sam, and Solara heads off on a solo mission following her father's death. When Cego is framed for fighting with Daimyo tech, a violation of the Codes, he faces the combat justice system his schooling was supposed to prepare him for. But not everyone follows the Codes, and even the best fighter can't punch away decades of corruption.

This book follows several storylines. Sol, grieving her father's death, and attempting to retrieve his body. Cego, trying to find his way himself while fearing the dark monster he can become in the heat of battle. Murray, disillusioned with the world, looking for Sam, Cego's little brother. Silas, Cego's older brother, fighting for the Codes and the true Griever way. As in the first book, there's a lot of fighting. The fights are action-packed scenes with lots of moves that fly over my ignorant head, but also contain enough detail to keep it interesting for me without becoming repetitive fight scenes.

These books have a great plot, and I like how each character is richly developed with their own subplots and moments of growth. I look forward to finishing this series.

I actually think I enjoyed this one more than the first book in the series. Grievar's Blood appears to be more political and works towards more character work and world building, which was really interesting and fun to see. I loved getting to see more characters. It's not that I didn't love Cego in the first one, but having multiple POV's felt like a much needed break from his story - which was still great and interesting itself. But we get to see the Slayer and learn about him more. We get to see Murray struggling with what he learned. Sol is on her own arc and is going to be face with (I think) a big decision in the next book. It was so, so good. And, of course, the fights were fantastic.

What a phenomenal continuation of book one - well worth the wait!
I am already gagging for book 3 of this fantastically detailed, wonderfully dark, super mysterious series!

I was pleasantly surprised by how much more insight we got to Sol in this book as I wasn't expecting it (because we typically don't have authors care enough to focus on the details of the female side character) but it propelled the story and depend my interest when I didn't think I could care any more for these characters.

Once again, the combat scenes are so visually immersive and Darwin left no stone unturned when it came to dealing with scheming, betrayal, new found power, friendship and social justice.

I cannot stress enough just how fantastic the narrative voice is.
The pace and tone of the writing keeps you right there in the action but also helps you invest emotionally.

Do you need to be a fan of SFF/Dystopian to read this series? Absolutely not - it has literally been written for everyone and still succeeds in having depth and integrity.

Bring on book 3!!!

Everybody has a plan until a guy punches a fist through a mech and ignores your tech weapons. In book 2 of the Combat Codes series from Alexander Darwin "Grievar's Blood" things definitely escalated.

Aside from the fact that his mentor is gone, one of his teammates vanished, and there is now a beast of a person intent on introducing his fist to Cego's face at the beginning of term, things aren't too bad. But after finding out he was raised in a VR world and that something in the Circles interacts with him differently he is rightfully worried. Meanwhile Murray is drinking and fighting in the Depths to try and get over the betrayal he feels from society, at least until his old teacher appears. And a new POV is Solara, who is attempting to steal her father's body from a collector, yea nothing about that sounds great.

Reasons to read:
-Are the rules of what is expected for a good person just tools to exploit them?
-Few answers to things that were teased
-Murder Birds
-I can see the action scenes so clearly in my mind
-The finale is coming soonish

Cons:
-That's kinda messed up what you did to that person

I still really enjoyed my time with this one, but didn't love it as much as COmbat Codes. It was lacking POVs with my fav characters. I also felt the additions of the new POVs felt very out of place and disconnected.

A fascinating and thrilling follow-up.

Darwin has upped the stakes considerably in this second installment of the Combat Codes Saga, which is really saying something when the series is already tackling brutal, sometimes fatal duels, many of which involve children.

It was a bold and interesting choice leaving the Lyceum for so much of this book, exploring more of this world through the eyes of multiple characters besides the ones we followed in book 1, but it's a gamble that I think paid off given the ending. And it lent the spotlight to fantastic new POVs, one of which was my favorite part of this book.

Solara Halberd's journey in this book was a breath of fresh air, taking us to the beautiful islands of Besayd (love that little reference to Final Fantasy X's Besaid [I assume]). It was nice seeing a new setting in this world, getting a bit of this country's culture, including the introduction of rocs, which I loved. Rocs are huge birds that people use as mounts, just like Final Fantasy's Chocobos. Sol's storyline involving trying to retrieve her father's body was both exciting and also brought some emotional stakes to the proceedings, which the first book had as well but were definitely heightened here with this storyline.

Not to mention the fact that this teen girl has to steal her father's body from some Daimyo lord's personal museum is a way darker topic than I expected this series to tackle. Which, again, is quite saying something given the central conceit of the series as I mentioned before. But right from the start, I was totally on board with Sol's goal and was anxious to see how it played out. I also enjoyed (in a morbid way) getting to hear this Daimyo Lord's perspective on the world, how the Daimyo think Grievar and Grunts slot into the world order. This was a brilliant and organic way of tying the two new POV storylines together thematically.

That other new primary POV is that of Silas the Slayer, Cego's long-lost brother. Silas's POV is much darker than any other character's, but for understandable reasons given his past. We also get to see icy new locales through Silas's eyes, broadening the scope of the series even further and revealing some of the political machinations at play in the background.

Cego's storyline also takes some wildly dark turns in this volume, which I won't get into for fear of spoiling the journey, but I will admit I was much more invested here than I was in his story from the previous book. Darwin does a great job of writing these action scenes and introducing genuinely shocking turns of events one after the other. This book is truly a rollercoaster ride. It's also a bold and effective structural choice to sideline a main character for a good third of the book, but it works super well here, and Darwin does such a great job at getting us invested in all the other POVs, you hardly notice it.

The book ends setting up a paradigm-shifting conflict for the final book in the trilogy, with a bunch of disparate storylines converging to reveal the true intent of the Combat Codes Saga. I can't wait to see how it all unfolds.

Alexander Darwin continues his tale of a future world where combat between people, genetically adapted for fighting, determines justice in fighting circles and fighting with The Combat Codes that allow no enhancements. While still focusing on Cego, who is in his second year of the The Lyceum, the tale is broadened to include his older brother, Silas, who has became known as the slayer because of his awesome fighting skills, and his friend Solara Halberd who has crossed a continent to bring her father’s body out of a rich Daimyo’s museum. But the loss of Grievar's Blood (paper from Orbit) to benefit Daimyo aims is a motive for revolution that may be coming in the final book of this trilogy. Highly recommended

This sequel to Combat Codes did not disappoint! I loved seeing more of the character growth and how they grew closer to each other, in between classes and training.

There's always a twist with this group and we get another one in this, but the pacing was really slow at times, so I gave it a 3☆.

Thank you, Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Thank you to Orbit and Netgalley for the eARC of Grievar's Blood!

I was so excited to see the sequel to the Combat Codes coming out fairly soon after the first and even more excited to get an eARC for it!

This was a solid sequel to the first book, expanding the world in a lot of different and unique ways. While we still have POVs of Cego and Murray, we also got some new additions: Sol and The Slayer (I don't want to spoil who it really is). Both of these really helped move the story along and explored new areas of the world. The story takes quite a few dark turns throughout this book and I appreciate when an author can write about young adults without softening the story. Pardon my pun, but no punches were pulled in Grievar's Blood.

As addressed in the author's note, I was worried about "second/middle book syndrome." I don't think this book suffered from that. It set a brisk pace and didn't feel at all like book one, which is more a school type setting. By broadening our POVs, Darwin distanced book two from its predecessor while still moving the pieces around, so to speak, in preparations for the conclusion.

I ended up giving this 3.75, which always feels a tad pedantic to do, but if forced to round, I would round up to a 4 star and not feel like I am giving undue credit. Beyond book one just having a great reveal at the end that bumped up the rating, book two lacked improvement in the one area that really stuck out to me: the dialogue. It still didn't have the flow I was looking, with some cheesy and clunky bits still coming through. Additionally, this might sound crazy...but I wanted this to be longer?? It's already 432 pages, but split between our POV characters, that leaves us with 100 pages with each, give or take. I think I would have enjoyed a few more quiet moments along the way to really build our main characters up for the final book, to bring their arcs full circle. But I understand the idea behind this book having a lot of tight, focused storylines to keep from suffering from middle book syndrome. I felt similarly about another sequel I read recently, The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter. Both books are pretty fast paced the entire way, and left me feeling excited while I was reading but ultimately wanting more slower moments to balance things out once I had finished.

The Combat Codes series has an addicting quality to it that makes them difficult to put down. If you want lots of actions, detailed fights, and unique sci-fi dystopian world, this is a series I would recommend picking up! I can't wait for book three, Blacklight Born (killer name).

I'm so glad we got more expansion in this book. I also didn't feel like it had middle book syndrome. It's definitely an engaging and fun story. I wish we had more Cego and Murray and hopefully we will in the next book. I enjoyed the new POVs and plot lines that started happening. Can't wait for the next one!

I have been looking forward to this since finishing the Combat Codes… and it did not disappoint!

We pick up at the start of the new academy year. A mysterious new tattoo on the arm of Cego after he learned his past is not what he believed it was. Sol had her world turned upside down with the death of her father and now is a POV as she navigates what that has done to her. Which for me personally was some of my favorite chapters of the new book.

Darwin has begun to expand his world outside of the academy and brought in new cultures and experiences. That one way of the Grievar is not always the same as another.

One of the biggest shockers at the end of book 1 was the appearance of Cegos brother, who is an opposing Grievar and the one who took the life of Sols dad.

The pacing was good and even though it bounced PoVs it never felt disjointed. All and all I enjoyed this book and can’t wait for the story to continue.

Grievar's Blood is the exhilarating follow up to Alexander Darwin's Combat Codes. I very much enjoyed this sequel and especially the additional POV's we get, including that of a prominent female character.

I wouldn't necessarily consider myself to be a huge aficionado of martial arts or different fighting styles, but Darwin has managed to keep me interested throughout both these books.

If you liked Combat Codes, I think you'll love Grievar's Blood! We finally get Rocs! YAY!

A solid 4 ⭐

Thank you Netgalley and Orbit for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

*3.5 out of 5 rating*

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the e-ARC of Grievar's Blood.

Getting this arc was just the excuse I needed to start this series! That being said, you should definitely read Combat Codes (Book I in the series) before picking this book up.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and I was excited to see how Alexander Darwin continued Cego and the other Whelps journey.

For me, this book started off slow and I found myself not feeling as connected to the characters as I did in the first one. Not going to lie, it took me about 50% of the way through the book to finally become immersed in the story again. Once I hit the halfway mark, I flew through the rest of the book.

At times, I felt like there were gaps in the story and clearly many of these were meant to signify jumps in time. However, this caused me to feel a little adrift because there was no clear designation of how much time had lapsed from one point to the other. This was especially true for me at the end of the book, to the point where it felt a little rushed and not fully developed.

While I appreciate the new points of view that we're introduced to in this book (e.g., I really appreciated Silas's view and I like how different it is compared to the other characters), I think this helped to contribute to my disconnect from the characters. One of the aspects of the first book that I liked so much was the found family and seeing how all the Whelps came together. The second book, in my opinion, is missing that element of camaraderie and friendship that was so prevalent in the first one.

I do hope that in the third book, we get to see more of Wraith. I think he has the potential to be a very interesting character.

I will say that there are a lot of threads and unanswered questions at the end of this book - almost to the point where I cannot begin to think that Darwin will be able to wrap it all up in one more book. I am excited to see where the conclusion of this series goes because the setup in this book has the potential to lead to something epic.

Now I need to anxiously await the final installment!

Thank you again to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Imgur link goes to Instagram post scheduled for November 26th
Youtube Review to come (Monthly Wraup & Reading Vlog)
Blog Post goes Live December 12th


If I was a Tiktok reviewer the most applicable sound I can think of for this book is the one that goes ‘How do you go from this (Combat Codes), to THIS? (Grievar’s Blood)’. This was a huge step up for me from Mr. Darwin, and I loved this. Grievar’s Blood picks up shortly after Combat Codes, so go in prepared. We quickly find out Sol has left the academy to attempt to retrieve her father and Cego and the others are still there. Murray has gone Deep again, drinking himself into a stupor.

All of my complaints that really bothered me about Combat Codes were resolved out in this volume. Murray and his black and white thinking becomes so much more fleshed out in this book. He started to loosen by the end of book one and in this volume we really see that, and his plot was great. Sol also becomes a point of view character and I LOVED her. She takes no prisoners and goes for what she wants, but in a smart way. In fact Grievar’s Blood really stepped up the game, giving us quite a few more female characters than in book one (where it was almost entirely men everywhere).

Finally the pacing and the story in this was fast. I remember feeling bored by segments of The Combat Codes, it wasn’t terrible but it dragged. Grievar’s Blood dragged nothing but bloody remains behind it. This book is violent, fast, and heartbreaking. One of my favorite side characters dies, but one of my most hated characters also dies. You win some and loose some. My husband pointed out, it’s just like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

That brings me to my final point. As a fan of the sport, with a husband with over a decade of experience, I absolutely loved all the Jiu-Jitsu in this. Movements and maneuvers were name dropped and brutality but thoughtfulness of the sport was on full display. Overall, for me this was worth the admission. Combat Codes lacked but this more than made up for it to me. I’ve already asked for the books for Christmas and I intend on a full reread before Blacklight Born.

4.5 Omoplatas

P.S. I loved this but Orbit, I still think the covers were better than before. I would kill to get my paws on those old covers.

Treading too heavily in memories, dredging up either joy or regret, will only serve to impede the path of progression. Thirtieth Precept of the Combat Codes.

Grievar's Blood is round 2 of a 3 round fight and boy oh boy did Alexander Darwin put on a show. Darwin's writing grabs ahold of you right away and locks you into a Kimura but rather then fight back to escape the words on the page draw you in closer and closer and next thing you know the bell has rung and you have to go fresh up as you get ready for round 3 ‘Blacklight Born’ to get released. Seriously Alex I need that in my inbox asap :)

All jokes aside Drawin takes what started off as a very small world with ‘The Combat Codes’ and used ‘Grievar’s Blood’ to transition the series into a full blown epic fantasy. While the original cast is present in this one they play a lesser part and instead we spent the bulk of the time with some new characters that we were aware of but didn’t get the chance to get to know in book 1.

“If the fear gets too high up, here in your chest, you won’t be able to breathe, think, act. “Keep your fear down here,” her father said as he patted Sol’s belly again. “Here, you can use your fear. Here, it is your friend.”

As someone who has spent many years studying Taekwondo, alongside Muay Thai
and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, one of my favorite aspects of this series is that the fighters have to actually put in the work, take their bumps and bruises in order to level up their fight game. This is something a lot of authors who write action scenes, especially martial art based ones tend to overlook. The attention to detail shown here as well as how Darwin describes the fight scenes when they do take place shows his first hand martial arts knowledge and allows the book to feel both fantasy and authentic all at the same time.

As the story progresses so does the political tension, gone are the days of school kids training to prove their worth among their peers. Unfortunately Cego and his friends are getting to learn first hand the grim reality of the world they live in. Similar to the world we live in, it's easy for those with power and money to make decisions that can greatly impact those who don’t.

While I would love to shed some light about some of the new POV’s we experience in this installment in the series to do so would run the risk of spoiling things so if you want reach out after you have read the book as I would love to talk in length about the direction I think this might all be going.

This world they’ve built, it is not for us. Soon, this storm will come to them. Soon, we will find our path home.

I’ll leave you with this teaser, just like in the real world when people get pushed to their limits the only option is to push back and I suspect that is exactly what we will see in the epic conclusion to this series.

Sometimes it’s difficult to write a review for a sequel without giving away any spoilers for the first book, but here we go. I’m loving this series so far, and I absolutely flew through Grievar’s Blood. We get a lot more backstory for the characters and exposure to other territories and cultures within the world that Alexander Darwin has created. While The Combat Codes was dual POV, with get a few more points of view in Grievar’s Blood. There’s a lot going on, but I was invested in each story line.

This sequel is still as packed with action and fight scenes as the first book, and we get a closer look at how the matches between territories are arranged and conducted. Revelations are made about the Codes themselves, why they are written, and who benefits from their implementation. Cue even more mystery… And truly the even more exciting parts are pure spoiler, so just know that there are some great reveals.

Anyway… I loved it. Read the series. Love it yourself. Can’t wait for the third installment.

4.5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the eARC; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I applaud the author for not restricting this book to one of action sequences and familiar settings. This is a more ambitious, polished book that offers more peeks at the world and power hierarchy, and is a fantastically structured, well paced story that embraces the potential promised by The Combat Codes. An easy recommend from me.

Full review on the blog!