Title/Author: Blood Magic (The Blood Journals #1) by Tessa Gratton
Publisher/Date published: Random House Books for Young Readers, January 1st 2011
How I got this book: own it
Goodreads summary: "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."
Guys, I have to be honest with you all: I almost DNF-ed this one.
But I didn't and in the end I'm happy I stuck with it!
I really like the idea of blood magic and having to make sacrifices for your abilities. It's kinda gory and messy and I like that because it's different from the magic systems I usually read about.
The problem I had was with the characters. Silla kinda annoyed me. And so did Nick. And them together annoyed me A LOT. I really don't want to say insta-love, but yeah, I might as well say it. I mean, I got how they had a connection due to the magic and everything, but their relationship went from not knowing each other to lurrv pretty fast.
For me, there was just too much that we didn't know for most of the book and I found myself starting to enjoy it when more was revealed and a BIG TWIST appearing that had me reeling and want to do a slow clap because I did not see that coming! I still think Silla was REALLY unstable and she continued to annoy me, but less than at first.
I'm still kinda on the fence about Blood Magic, but I'm interested enough in what happens next that I'll continue on with the sequel soon, we'll see how it goes.
My rating: 2,5 stars
Sounds like the general plot of the book - the idea of the magic- was good but the characters weren't.
ReplyDeleteThat's bad, but I least you finished!
And I can totally imagine you doing the slow clap thing :D
Hmm, I'm not very inclined to pick this one up. The idea of blood magic is quite curious, but I'm probably going to have to put it off till the future.
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