The Blood Gift by N.E. Davenport

Welcome Back, Booklovers! It's February already! The year is already flying by and after a series of DNFs I wanted to pick up an engaging fantasy but I wasn't sure if I should jump into anything by a new author. Then an arc of The Blood Gift by N.E. Davenport came through. So I decided to jump back into this world for the final installment. 

We see more of the world of Iludu this time around as Ikenna and crew search wide and far for allies. No one really wants to get involved because they don't want their people to die at the hands of the Blood Emperor. So Ikenna's new team (who have yet to figure out a team name) find an unlikely ally in Ajani, the Accacian warlord from book one who has his own reasons for wanting to bring down The Blood Emperor. 

No one can accuse this book or moving too slow because it was very fast-paced with multiple plot lines. I actually think some of the plots could've been cut and streamlined because I was hoping we'd have more time with certain characters. The cast is so large that not every character got a lot of time on page. The world of Iludu itself is interesting and we get to see more of it this book. And we got some glimpses into their past history with each other and how every country has their different version. Different countries within this world follow different gods and goddess and Ikenna finds herself in a tug of war between them while trying to garner enough magic to take down an empire.

I will say tonally book two felt different than book one. Ikenna was impulsive in book 1 and that carried over in book two. But she felt more immature here. Which I would've thought everything she experienced would've made her a little more rational. Especially since she was taking on a leadership role here as a general gathering people for a rebellion. It was frustrating when she would act petulant just to annoy the people around her. And then you have characters like Ajani who are only four years older years older referring to her as a child as if she's years younger. It was hard to believe this girl spent years in a strict military academy. And instead of growing out of her childish way she stayed consistent in them all book.

That being said when she wasn't being a contrarian for the sake of being a contrarian I did enjoy Ikenna. A bad ass character is always fun but my favorite scenes were the ones where she was with Reed and able to let her guard down. And despite what went down at the end of book one he's very supportive of her. Because he also had a strong connection to her grandfather, he was one of the only ones who could understand what she was going through. I also liked her scenes with her grandfather's old associates as they allow Ikenna to see another side of her grandfather that she hadn't seen. They also offer some insight to his relationship with her mother and how it differed from his relationship with Ikenna.

This book needed more death. And not just because I had my own mini list of characters who get a blood spike at any moment. The violence in book one made me physically uncomfortable multiple times while reading. There was a feeling of anyone could die at any time. With the exception of one death everyone who died here deserved to die. Even the ending was just too happy and idealistic. It just didn't fit this world for me and felt a little rushed.

Overall I think readers who enjoyed the first book for the action and the romance will be satisfied. Especially if you enjoyed the romance and wanted some more spice. No details are spared!