Fire of the Blood by Jasmina Coric. Excellent writing but it was not the book for me. #review

Synopsis

It didn’t start with fire and blood.
It started with a man, drinking alone in a bar, thinking about a woman, and whether or not to kill her.

Meet Isabrand and Mallory, siblings separated at a young age. Their family has a few problems.

To start, Isabrand has been hired to assassinate his sister. But overcoming his childhood love for her won’t be as easy as he’d hoped, especially when Mallory begins to tell him her life story: details of a horrific childhood at an orphanage for supernatural beings, called the Academy, before finally being rescued by estranged family.

Yet family is never what it seems, as Mallory discovers she is part of an ancient legacy of dragon shape-shifters and witches known as dragoviks. After a murder takes place in her town, Mallory knows she must act to protect her newfound family and home. Joining forces with a team of fellow dragoviks, she begins down a path that will determine her fate. Her future ahead of her, she must decide whether to move forward or return to her past.

Review

3 stars

First I want to thank Jasmina Coric for sending me a copy of her beautiful book!

Now have you ever read a book that left you puzzled, thinking it was maybe not the book for you yet the author did a great job at writing it?

Because that’s totally what happened to me with Fire of the Blood.

The beginning of the book…lost me.

Mallory’s time at the academy was very confusing and I experienced similar feelings when I watched Sucker Punch or Total Recall by Colin Farrell.

It was very hard to read, the punishment, the torture…the author didn’t sugarcoat it! The memories were disjointed, leaving me lost and trying to grasp the reality and the timeline.

I think what the author did to set the tone is genius BUT it didn’t work for me as I am one of these readers who need a more linear plot.

I am also the person who NEEDS to understand. When I was a kid (and nowadays still) I was always asking: Why?

It explains why I had a hard time yet also realizing that the author did a very good job.

Kind of frustrating like you are not privy to the joke…

Once Mallory was out of the Academy, the pace was better for me. I loved the sarcastic found family, the morally grey characters and that it was an urban fantasy with dragon shifters and witches. The world building is also very well done.

I could feel that the author poured her heart out in that book and really paid attention to the details. Her writing was excellent.

There are a lot of great things in that book as the gushing reviews demonstrate. As explained above, I just was not the perfect match for the book to give all the stars it deserves.

So please go read other reviews about that book to make up your mind if it could be something you’ll love as the author really deserves praise and love.

Thanks for reading.

Sophie