Themes: Magic, family, Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, mythology, drafting, army, African culture, betrayal.Īdvisory: References to rape and sexual assault. The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes.

Readers who enjoy dark fantasy will enjoy this epic novel. Honestly the trigger warning are going to be plentiful, so I’m recommending this for the very mature end of YA. Murder, killings, rape, torture of men, women and children. There is no denying that all is not right in this world. If the author’s goal was to show the reader just how desperately horrible the main character’s circumstances are, to push us to the utter depths of despair, she does that right from chapter one. Each word has been carefully selected and it took me a long time to read this book because I needed to savour each sentence (and also recover after each next horrible event!). The world building is done gradually but there is no shortage of beautiful words, names, locations and cultural groups that give this book such an authenticity. The book is grounded in African culture and mythology, specifically Yoruba-Nigerian mythology. And in a kill or be-killed world, it’s hard to know who to trust.

As she works her way through the training and makes new alliances, she must come closer to finding out the truth of who she is and what she stands for. But when she is drafted into the Lucis army, she must do unthinkable things to survive. Ever since her mother disappeared, she knows the Nightwalkers are to blame, she just needs to prove it. If the Lucis or their vicious Nightwalkers discover that she is a Scion her fate will be death, along with the death of all her loved ones. Sloane must hide what she is at all costs. It also leaves the reader with no question as to why our protagonist must make the choices she does and how hard she has to fight for justice and even just a glimmer of hope for a better future. Parts of this book left me feeling sick, and there is no shying away from the cruelty these characters must face. Blood Scion is a hard-hitting, epic fantasy novel that doesn’t pull its punches.

Blood scion review