SYNOPSIS

Ikenna and her team are traveling Iludu looking for allies who can provide soldiers after being named enemies of the state by Mareen. Ikenna is a wanted fugitive for being blood gifted and everyone else has a bounty on their head for vacating their positions as Praetorians and harboring (working with) a fugitive. This news doesn’t change the team’s goal: to kill the Blood Empire who is starting another war with the world and to go after the corrupt Tribunal Council who are all culpable in her grandfather’s murder.

What could possibly happen?

RECAP AND REVIEW

This is the second book in The Blood Gift Duology. You can find my first book review here. This book is a sci fi book with a bit of romance, full of action. Like the first, it read like a movie. It’s November 2023, and I’ve read about thirty books this year. So far this series remains as my number one series of the year.

You should read the first book to get a clearer picture of what’s going on in this one. Some plot points are mentioned, but aren’t explained in depth.

This book has a different tone than the first one to me. Ikenna has always been pretty stubborn and bloodthirsty, but I think it was heightened in this book. The difference in some ways makes sense because Ikenna’s world turned upside down after the discoveries made in the first book. More discoveries continue to be made in this one as she gets closer and closer to achieving her vengeance.

The Blood Gift picks up a few months or so after The Blood Trials ends. We see a rapid change in the dynamics of the group, specifically Reed and Ikenna. I was surprised at the transition and wished to see it develop more, however so much happens in this book it’s understandable why it wasn’t drawn out. Their relationship changing was still satisfying and steamy.

This first book was mainly about the blood trials and what they went through to become a Praetorian; this book is about war. The realities of being in war. How being a soldier means you do what your higher ups command without much question. What power can do to people and how self interested people can be.

So much occurs, no one really has time to rest until the end, and even then, do they have time to rest? Pretty much all of the loose ends in the first book were tied up and I think done so successfully. The pacing was a bit off, but I don’t think the author is to blame because if my intel is correct, it was originally meant to be a trilogy. That’s on publishing.

Some new information is introduced. I can’t get too much into it without spoiling.

One thing I will say though is that it is interesting what one person can mean to different people. Ikenna’s grandfather was a misguided lover to one, a mentor to another, an enemy, a traitor, a hardass father, a savior, a warrior, an akulu, and Ikenna’s everything. I think the way it’s subtlety woven through the story is a nice reminder of the complexity of who people are and how they present.

OVERALL

Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars. I was satisfied with it as a follow up to The Blood Trials. I honestly want to see more of their story.