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caseythereader 's review for:

Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker
3.0
adventurous emotional funny mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Thanks to Tor Teen for the free advance copy of this book.

 - The world of BLOOD DEBTS is fantastic. A New Orleans with several branches of magical families, warring for power on multiple levels. The imagined world here is so rich it feels like it could be real.
- I loved Clement and Cristina, both prickly and headstrong in their own ways, and deeply loving of their big, loud, fractured family (the aunts! I loved them all!) Also, it has multiple queer characters, which I haven't seen mentioned much in the marketing.
- However, for me, this book was a lot of telling rather than showing. It was mainly the kids running from adult to adult and prying pieces of secrets out of them, then rehashing everything they know in the next scene, repeat. I think this might have worked better as an adult fantasy instead of YA/New Adult, with POVs from the many adults and their grudges rather than the teens, who are the only ones out of the loop. 

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