Since discovering the treachery of Mareen’s Tribunal Council and revealing her blood-gift to save her Praetorian squad, Ikenna has become a fugitive with a colossal bounty on her head.

The Blood Trials has it all— action, a deadly competition with REAL stakes, an accurately paced romantic arc, a relatable and incredibly flawed main character, discussions of racism and systemic oppression, and the perfect blend of worldbuilding vs. plot for my reading tastes. Easy to read and comprehend, this book is a great transition read for readers interested in reading more adult SFF that still has a young feel to it. I thought the world was interesting and I liked how it was expanding as we got closer to the end. There were several twists and turns I didn't see coming at first. Speaking of Reed, I really liked the development of his character and thought his dynamics with Ikenna were tension-filled and thoroughly enjoyable, I can’t wait to see how things develop in the sequel. Davenport's writing itself is great, putting us firmly in Ikenna's head in a way that had me furiously irritated both on her behalf and because of her dumbass emotionally-driven decision making.

The Blood Trials is part murder mystery, political intrigue, and violent tournament. The story follows Ikenna who signs up to endure the contest to become a Praetorian, the most elite soldiers, as a means of investigating the murder of her grandfather. The prominence of the various elements of The Blood Trials ebbs and flows over the course of the story. There would be periods where I would wonder if Ikenna forget about her search for answers as there hadn't been so much of a mention of the mystery for huge chunks of the story. It irritates me so much that marketing + people's misconceptions of ~women writing fantasy must mean its young adult~ + the cover are causing people to either undervalue or misrepresent this book. It's a very violent, very adult, very messy piece of sci-fi that's pretty damn good. The blood spilled between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor long ago. The blood gifts of Mareen’s deadliest enemies. The blood that runs through the elite War Houses of Mareen, the rulers of the Tribunal dedicated to keeping the republic alive. I liked how Davenport incorporated racism and misogyny in this high fantasy thing. Ikenna’s life was literally in danger most of the time because of these prejudices. These elements were a great part of this work since it immediately makes her relatable for a lot of readers. So, the good news is, compared to the first book, Ikenna frustrated me a lot less. The bad news is, this left space in my head to start noticing a lot of things about the writing, and none of it made me very happy.

Despite the first person POV, the wonky pacing (like, two books worth of plot is crammed in here), some iffy worldbuilding choices, and the use of idioms and slang that make no sense in the context of the world the author has built, I really enjoyed reading this. I am excited to see what else this series has coming, if all the wild shit that was pulled in this one was just the beginning. Much has been said about the violent nature of the books... and maybe I'm just a horrible person that has been desensitized... nothing here felt particularly worse than something I read a decade ago in The Hunger Games or experienced while on my Criminal Minds rewatch.... but that's going to be a reader by reader basis. I'd say that while the book feels very juvenile and filled with a lot of half baked ideas, it does mostly read as a book for the adults it's marketed toward. I also think it's one of the rare books with characters in the grey space age of early adulthood that doesn't feel like it's trying to split the difference and appeal to two age categories, despite the nature of the writing. Overall, I'd rate this sequel 4.5 stars and I know that fans of the The Blood Trials will definitely love The Blood Gift. I can't wait to read N.E. Davenport's upcoming work! Another highlight for me was the worldbuilding, which incorporated an intricate chess board of geopolitical rivals, each with their own goals and societal quirks. Once again, contrast is key. The mostly white-skinned, techno-capitalist, militaristic society that Ikenna lives in is compared to their innovative, dark-skinned neighbors and an empire of bloodthirsty magic wielders led by a despotic emperor. All this when Ikenna is a mixed-race female with dark skin who has to hide her blood magic, and she’s been indoctrinated by a misogynist, military industrial complex that prejudices her very own skin color and magic. It was fascinating commentary on our world, on modern America, and the contradictions of Ikenna’s life panned out toward a satisfying conclusion. Ikenna is essentially always on the defensive, paranoid, and angry. Because of this, it is extremely unenjoyable to read from her perspective. I didn’t find her internal monologues interesting. In fact, I found a lot of the places her thoughts went downright stupid. She would essentially come up with an idea of who and why killed her grandpa and would be irrevocably convinced of this idea without any proof. Mind you, Ikenna is an adult (around 20 years old). She really just read like an angry petulant child most of the time.It is virtually impossible for a reader to form a connection to a character if the character has virtually no vulnerable moments. And that is the case with Ikenna. Sure, her grandfather died, but her grief is never fully explored and is instead replaced by an unrelenting anger and need to find her grandpa’s killer. But I could've ignored that, because I didn't have very high expectations for her anyway. However, I couldn't ignore all the issues I had with the writing. I do understand that she wanted this to be a trilogy, the publisher wanted a duology so she had to combine her ideas for books 2 and 3 into one book. Honestly some of those ideas that were originally for book 3 could've been dropped in favor of fleshing out some other plots. I still had questions that didn't get answered because they were breezed past for other plots. More people needed to die! The deaths we had I feel like we didn't really get to know those characters well/weren't following Ikenna around them long enough for them to have big impact. The expanded magic system and brushes against the pantheon made the battles and conflicts much more epic. It was interesting to see that the gods were just as fallible as the humans in this story, which added more complexity to the overall story. The stakes in this story kept escalating from bad situations to worse ones almost continuously with rapid, satisfying action and we get a deep insight into the politics and history of the world. The political undertones of the book are deeply embedded in the story, and Ikenna's fury at the system and the numerous enemies in her path make her a character to root for. The first has to do with Ikenna. Look, I get that she was always going to be special as our main character. She has the Blood Gift and all of that. But her level of special receives like three upgrades over the course of this book, and I guess it's not something I expect to see if we're talking about an adult fantasy. This much Chosen One-ness is something I see more often within YA, and it irked me. I also had trouble buying into her supposed development. One of my biggest issues with the first book was how little she thought things through, and how she kept deciding that people were murderers based on very flimsy "evidence". Only now I'm supposed to believe that she has become some sort of strategic mastermind.

LOYALTIES. REVENGE, POWER. WITH THE WORLD AFLAME, ONLY ONE THING IS CERTAIN: BLOOD WILL BE SPILLED. On top of that, the pacing was top notch, delivering a rip-roaring action thriller that didn’t shy away from character moments, relationships and emotion. The fight choreography was tight, and there were some spectacular action set-pieces throughout the novel. As well, action was often seamlessly blended with conversations and relationship building in a way that I loved. This also played well into a side of Ikenna that I liked, which was the more calculating, observant side she inherited from her military leader grandfather. It balanced well with her outward aggressiveness. Magic and technology converge in the first part of this stunning debut duology, where loyalty to oneself–and one’s blood–is more important than anything. The Blood Gift is a worthy sequel that I really enjoyed reading, although it suffers from some pacing problems because Davenport does try to cram in too much into one novel.I re-read The Blood Trials before I jumped into this just to be refreshed and immersed in this world and ready for one of my most anticipated reads of 2023. And I have to say it was not a 5-star read and at the conclusion, I have unresolved feelings. This does not mean I did not enjoy the book, I did, immensely! But I was a tad disappointed because I had hyped myself up so high for this as Blood Trials was one of my top 5 reads of 2022. I wish Davenport had trusted her readers more with being able to identify themes, motivations, schemes without having to explain them in vivid detail(and often repetitively). There was a large amount of info dumping and narrative hand holding in this book, which may be a good thing for younger readers but I was under the guise this is an adult fantasy. Normally I can overlook some info dumping but the way it was done was either through Ikenna’s internal dialogue or awkwardly long conversations where things are overly explained. Frequently these conversations or internal dialogues are happening in the middle of an important event which I found unnatural. I wish The Blood Trials would have done more showing and less telling and trusted us as readers to infer the rest. That said, Ikenna felt all over the place as the narrative voice of this story. Her internal dialogue often swung from logical to filled with rage in ways that could be hard to follow. These mood swings were conveyed through telling, rather than showing, which made them seem almost performative on Ikenna's part in a way that didn't make sense. There’s also a lot of internal narrating, which often popped up in the middle of a scene that otherwise had a lot of action going on. Ikenna’s musings usually restated information that the reader had already been told numerous times while completely ignoring obvious questions or further areas of investigation. The events of this book really could have been broken down into two books but my assumption is that this was a publishing choice. That being said, I think she did a good job of making it all work together. While there was plot, I felt more connected to the characters and their desires. I enjoyed getting to see more of Dannica and Caiman and the playful banter the formerly known "Gamma" squad he with one another. The icing on the cake was the love shared between Reed and Ikenna. I was reminded early on that this is an adult sci-fi book and appreciated the spicy scene we were given! My vengene for revenge was nearly as strong as Ikenna and wanted to paint Illudu red with Selene's blood. For his granddaughter, Ikenna, the only thing steady in her life was the man who had saved Mareen. The man who had trained her in secret, not just in martial skills, but in harnessing the blood gift that coursed through her.