Blood Like Magic by Lisselle Sambury
A Review By: RS
“High stakes, big heart, and lots of Black Girl Magic…unputdownable.” (Aiden Thomas, New York Times best-selling author of Cemetery Boys)
A rich, dark urban fantasy debut following a teen witch who is given a horrifying task: sacrificing her first love to save her family’s magic. The problem is, she’s never been in love - she’ll have to find the perfect guy before she can kill him.
After years of waiting for her Calling - a trial every witch must pass to come into their powers - the one thing Voya Thomas didn’t expect was to fail. When Voya’s ancestor gives her an unprecedented second chance to complete her Calling, she agrees - and then is horrified when her task is to kill her first love. And this time, failure means every Thomas witch will be stripped of their magic.
Voya is determined to save her family’s magic no matter the cost. The problem is, Voya has never been in love, so for her to succeed, she’ll first have to find the perfect guy - and fast. Fortunately, a genetic matchmaking program has just hit the market. Her plan is to join the program, fall in love, and complete her task before the deadline. What she doesn’t count on is being paired with the infuriating Luc - how can she fall in love with a guy who seemingly wants nothing to do with her?
With mounting pressure from her family, Voya is caught between her morality and her duty to her bloodline. If she wants to save their heritage and Luc, she’ll have to find something her ancestor wants more than blood. And in witchcraft, blood is everything.
Review Notes:
Audio Book Publication Year: 2021
An installment in a Series? Yes
Narrator (s): Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Blood Like Magic is a coming of age story of a young witch, Voya Thomas. Family responsibility and young love may prove to be too much for Voya's young age.
Voya is a typical teenage girl. She loves her famliy and its rich Trinidadian roots. As much as Voya loves her family, she isn't quite sure of her place in it. Voya is very unsure of herself. Everyone has a role in family, and until Voya has her calling, hers is to help with the family business and cook. I enjoyed Voya's journey into self discovery and teenage love. Learning to lean on her own intution and strength is empowering for any young adult going through life’s changes.
Luc also finds himself in the throws of trying to learn his true place in the world. Together he and Voya figure out their true sense of self and find an unexpected love along the way.
Joniece definitely brings life to each character and the story. This is the first book I've listened to her narrate and I will be looking for more. Her voice changes for each character, making it very easy to follow the dialogue in this story.
Cons are that this book took me a minute to truly get into. It's set 26 years in the future in Canada. There is this Jetson's kind of futuristic type of technology, but on the flip side, the story feels very current in relation to today’s hot topics. There are lots of acronyms that are associated with future technology as well as the frequent use of gender pronouns to identify the characters. It was a bit of sensory overload. Once I got over that, I was able to get into the story. That, and I became frustrated with Voya's lack of self confidence and the constant second guessing.
Reading Recommendation? Yes!
Rating: 4 (It’s lit!)
Content Warnings? Human or animal loss, Physical abuse/violence
