Book Review: Blood Scion (Blood Scion #1) by Deborah Falaye

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 432 pages
Author: Deborah Falaye
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: March 8th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

This is what they deserve. They wanted me to be a monster. I will be the worst monster they ever created.

Fifteen-year-old Sloane can incinerate an enemy at will—she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods.

Under the Lucis’ brutal rule, her identity means her death if her powers are discovered. But when she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army on her fifteenth birthday, Sloane sees a new opportunity: to overcome the bloody challenges of Lucis training, and destroy them from within.

Sloane rises through the ranks and gains strength but, in doing so, risks something greater: losing herself entirely, and becoming the very monster that she abhors.

Following one girl’s journey of magic, injustice, power, and revenge, this deeply felt and emotionally charged debut from Deborah Falaye, inspired by Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, is a magnetic combination of A Song of Wraiths and Ruin and Daughter of Smoke and Bone that will utterly thrill and capture readers.

ENDING SAVED IT.

Note: this book is super dark and does not hold back. Please check trigger warning and make sure you’re in the right frame of mind for it!

This was something different, without a doubt. I’m not sure my mood reader self was quite read for everything, buuut I did really enjoy this story overall.

One of the best aspects was the strong female main character, Sloane. I loved her. She had to make the hardest choice over and over again and she kept rising and pushing forward. The audiobook did a fantastic job at narration and I think this also helped bring the story to life.

So much of this plot is heavy and unforgiving. There’s complex characters and a compelling plot. I did find it at times a little slow and I occasionally had a hard time getting fully into the story. The ending though? WOW, I did not see that coming at all. It was full of twists and wildness that set up for book two.

Overall audience notes:

YA Dark Fantasy
Language: light
Romance: kisses
Violence: very high
Trigger/Content Warnings: racism, colorism, rape mentioned, sexual assault, self harm, child abuse, child soldiers, suicidal ideation, death of a parent, genocide, torture, executions, gun violence