Hi friends, happy Monday! I hope you’re all doing well. Today I’m posting my review of Deborah Falaye’s novel Blood Scion.

This book was on the 2023 Canada Reads longlist.

Blood Scion by: Deborah Falaye: Sloane can set fire to her enemies at will because she’s a Scion. Under the Lucis rule, being a Scion is a death sentence. Seen as less than a person, she has had to hide her identity all her life. Her own mother knew and disappeared to help hide her, but now at fifteen she’s been enlisted to the Lucis army. She must again conceal her truth and pretend to hate her own people, while planning to try and infiltrate the Lucis army and destroy her enemies which comes at a high price, the price of losing herself and becoming the monsters she wants to demolish. This novel was highly intense. It never felt like there was a moment to rest because so much was happening. That definitely kept the reader invested because as our main character Sloane learned new things, we did too as the reader, and wow did plots thicken and fast. Once we would learn about one thing, it wasn’t long before we were learning even more. It almost felt like we never recovered from all the reveals because they kept coming, hit after hit. The reader felt bad for Sloane because it was so much she had to deal with. The people she thought she knew, turned out to be completely different; even her own grandfather who raised her had a past no one saw coming. Sloane was such a dynamic character who fought for the things she believed in, but also had a very soft side that complemented how hard she had to be in this cruel world. The reader rooted for her from start to finish because she had such a big heart and wanted to reveal truths that no one else had the heart or guts to, which was just so powerful to read. The secondary characters were just as developed because they were so shifty in where they stood. The reader enjoyed their ambiguity because it helped out the plot in its complexity. The world was so intricate and well thought up, the power and the magic all came together well; we’re hoping that in the second novel we’ll get to see more of Sloane using her power. The writing was really well done and the reader could see where the author pulled from real life topics and issues and brought it into her world to drive home that these things exist and should be talked about to give voice and awareness to them. This ended on a high note and a bit of a cliff hanger since we don’t know how, nor could we possibly predict how it will end because Falaye has done such an amazing job of creating these twists that no one could see coming. The reader is expecting the sequel to be just as action-packed with an ending that will do Sloane justice because she deserves it. This is a highly recommended read.