Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton
Publication Date: May 24th 2011
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Hardcover, 405 pages
It starts off simply.
Draw a circle ... place a dead leaf in the center ... sprinkle some salt ... recite a little Latin ... add a drop of blood ...
Maybe that last part isn't exactly simple. Yet somehow it feels right to Silla Kennicott. And nothing in her life has felt remotely right since her parents' horrific deaths. She's willing to do anything to uncover the truth about her family—even try a few spells from the mysterious book that arrived on her doorstep ... and spill some blood.
The book isn't the only recent arrival in Silla's life. There's Nick Pardee, the new guy next door who may have seen Silla casting a spell. She's not sure what he saw and is afraid to find out. But as they spend more time together, Silla realizes this may not be Nick's first encounter with Blood Magic. Brought together by a combination of fate and chemistry, Silla and Nick can't deny their attraction. And they can't ignore the dark presence lurking nearby—waiting to reclaim the book and all its power.
Tessa Gratton's intoxicating first novel will keep pulses racing, minds reeling, and pages turning right up to the very last drop of blood.
Unfortunately, lately more and more of the YA paranormal titles I pick to read,no matter how interesting and good their premises may seem,turn out to be a huge or mild disappointment,but a disappointment nonetheless... And Blood Magic I'm afraid, falls in that very category of books for me.
The book begins throwing the reader immediately into the world of blood and magic Tessa Graton created,and explanations are slowly given.The narration is alternate,shifting from Silla to Nick and on the plus we have some journal extracts.I'm not a huge fan of constant switchings in the narration,so that style tired me a bit,but it had its advantages also.I really liked the journal extracts,I enjoyed Silla's narration mostly,and I found a bit indifferent that of Nick.I also found a bit indiffirent and flat Nick himself as a character as well,so that may pretty much shaped my opinion towards his narration.
From the beggining,I had a small problem with all the gory details and the blood references,but ok, that didn't bother me all that much.From the beggining also I found the pace of the book a bit slow...After all,for about 150 pages in the book nothing all that important happens.Maybe the prose made me think that the pace was slow,I don't really know...But ok,still,I didn't really mind and I was curious about what was going on.But what completely threw me off was a certain incident,after which I just couldn't bring myself to like this book,even if it turned out to be amazing by the end (which it didn't by the way).You see,I have a thing for animals,and especially for bunnies (I have one as a pet actually!) and reading in complete details how Silla killed a bunny for its blood,one can only imagine what did to my opinion towards this book...It was the most disgusting thing I have ever read,and after a couple of lines and after understanding where the story went,I just skipped all those details.I just couldn't take it (after all,that incident was after having already read the murder of a kitten,but with considerably less details...).After that,no matter how good this book may turned out to be,I just couldn't like it.Call me oversensitive,but I just couldn't...
Apart from that,the world building was interesting,but not something I haven't already read before and the romance between Nick and Silla never managed to grab me.I didn't feel any connection between them and the instant love thing didn't help matters.As soon as their third or fourth meeting,and before even being on a date or having spent time alone for more than 10 minutes,they are all over each other,with an unaccounted passion...The overly dramatic prose used to describe the feelings of the main couple didn't help me get into the mood either.
Anyway,in overall, I didn't enjoy Blood Magic half as much as I expected,and those animal killings just killed my mood towards it.Either way,it's a series I won't continue reading.
Nice review Anna, I believe I would hate the same things you do. Killing animals by shapeshifters for dinner is one thing, killing for magic is just plain wrong.
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