Deborah Falaye

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.

Following one girl’s journey of magic, injustice, power, and revenge, Deborah Falaye’s debut novel, inspired by Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, is a magnetic combination of Children of Blood and Bone and An Ember in the Ashes.

Blood Scion

This book is dark, like, really dark. But it's about child soldiers conscripted into an army, so that tracks. I feel like a lot of fantasy series have a similar aspect of teenagers in military, but Sloane actively pushes back against that, where a lot of other protagonists are relatively complacent. I also see some similarities to The Blood Trials in this one, but Blood Scion focuses more on the ancestry and oppression of Yorubas and Scions, whereas The Blood Trials is more sci-fi and political. Sloane is young, and it shows at times, but that's understandable--she's a child forced into conscription. She's not going to be the most successful recruit, and that makes her easy to root for. She's tough, smart, and keeps ahold of her humanity when the military leaders try to break her. There are so many twists and turns, and I didn't see the ending coming. The only questionable thing is (MASSIVE SPOILER) the slight romantic involvement with Dane at the end. He's 18, she's 15 and a subordinate. He turns out to be a backstabber, so this adds to his nastiness, but I was not a fan of the age gap here.

Holly

So so so good!!

This book is dark, like, really dark. But it's about child soldiers conscripted into an army, so that tracks. I feel like a lot of fantasy series have a similar aspect of teenagers in military, but Sloane actively pushes back against that, where a lot of other protagonists are relatively complacent. I also see some similarities to The Blood Trials in this one, but Blood Scion focuses more on the ancestry and oppression of Yorubas and Scions, whereas The Blood Trials is more sci-fi and political. Sloane is young, and it shows at times, but that's understandable--she's a child forced into conscription. She's not going to be the most successful recruit, and that makes her easy to root for. She's tough, smart, and keeps ahold of her humanity when the military leaders try to break her. There are so many twists and turns, and I didn't see the ending coming. The only questionable thing is (MASSIVE SPOILER) the slight romantic involvement with Dane at the end. He's 18, she's 15 and a subordinate. He turns out to be a backstabber, so this adds to his nastiness, but I was not a fan of the age gap here.

This was an incredible debut! From the beginning, I was drawn in and didn't want to put the book down. I loved the plot, storytelling, and world the author created. Please read this book!

Brandyn

4.5 stars.


They won’t just remember you, Sloane Forshadé. They will fear your name. 


This book was definitely intense for a YA novel, but nonetheless it was gripping, enticing and I couldn’t put it down. The book explores intense themes of war (child soldiers), violence and sexual assault, so looking up trigger warnings beforehand would be beneficial. The deaths mentioned and described were brutal and when reading you would assume this book is targeted towards adults until you realise the characters are in their teens.
The way the author incorporates Yoruban/Nigeran mythology is so beautiful and alluring. The writing style is stunning and easy to grasp. Deborah was able to put words on paper and say what others have attempted top say but were unable to do so. Also the fact this is a debut novel is insane????? Yet there are moments where it can be slow paced where nothing is happening then suddenly too much is happening at once but I wasn’t mad about it since I ate it all up regardless.
Sloane is a character that has known loss, heartache and friendship. She is a Scion who has been forced to suppress her identity from people who see no importance in her existence. Her growth from the beginning of the book till the end is outstanding as she gains a confidence she never had before. She finds friendships she cherishes in unthinkable circumsatnces that made my heart ache.
ALSO THE TWISTS???? I was not expecting majority of the revelations and I LOVED that I was unable to predict what was going to happen. But the romance was not what I expected, I did think that was a little rushed especially with what Sloane has been through.
SOOOOOOO if you haven’t read this yet then please hurry up and do so !!!!

  
    When the world tries to silence you , do not quiet,. Scream, Sloane.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc and finished copy from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Blood Scion

Author: Deborah Falaye

Book Series: Blood Scion Book 1

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Yoruba/Nigerian inspired MC and characters, Black characters, Yoruba-Nigerian mythology inspired 

Recommended For...: young adult readers, military fantasy, fantasy, sci-fi, Yoruba-Nigerian mythology

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Genre: YA Military Fantasy

Age Relevance: 16+ (death, parental death, gore, violence, war, sexual assault, religion, child soldiers, suicidal ideation, colorism, starvation, human trafficking, language, torture, romance, child abuse)

Explanation of Above: The book has a lot of graphic scenes involving death, parental death, violence, gore, depictions of war, and torture. There are two scenes with an attempted rape and a few mentions of it throughout the text. There are mentions of religion and a couple of scenes with prayer in the book. The book heavily focuses on child soldiers and has depictions and mentions of child abuse. There is one mention of suicidal ideation and one comment about how dark the MC is in a mocking tone. Starvation is mentioned occasionally in the text. There is also cursing occasionally in the book, there’s more as the text goes on but it’s still fairly tame compared to other books I’ve read.

Publisher: Harperteen

Pages: 415

Synopsis: 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 ahbors.

Review: I absolutely love this book! I very much appreciated the trigger warnings in the beginning of the book, which helped me get into the mindset of what kind of book this would be. The book is very brutally honest about the depictions and inspirations it uses, which I very much appreciated not being sugar-coated. The book is well written and has well developed characters and world building. I loved the blend of sci-fi and fantasy in the book and how the military played in this world. The book had amazingly complex characters as well and multiple different interwoven webs of lies and deceit, so much so that it makes GOT spin on its heels in my eyes! This is a damn good debut novel and I can’t wait for book 2!

The only issue I really had with the book is that sometimes I got confused because the book does have some fast-paced moments. I also figured out that a certain necklace was not picked back up so I’m wondering how the journey to a certain area will go, but other than that I absolutely loved this read!

Verdict: Highly recommend, but not for the faint of heart.


Blood Scion

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