IT HAS BEEN!!! THREE MONTHS ON AND OFF READING AND EVEN MORE OF HOLDING THIS BOOK HOSTAGE, AND I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED IT!!! :D

“Blood Debts” is a messy urban fantasy following 16 year-old twin siblings Clem(ent) and Cris(tine). Decades after the lynching of their grandmother, the two of them are trying to reclaim their family’s throne on the Gen Magic council, but their search for justice turns into a tangled series of mysteries once they not only uncover the truth about the murder that led to her death, but that their mother’s deadly illness was caused by a hex placed on her. Despite the secrets, hurt, and drama in the Dupart-Trudeau family, Clem and Cris will have to find a way to bring everyone together if they want to protect themselves and each other. The story is told in six POVs: Clement, Cristine, Valentina,

Zachary, and for one chapter each, Lenora and Jean-Louise.

Unfortunately, my progress was really slow because I was also following along with the audio. But it’s not a choice I regret doing! All the narrators are phenomenal, and why wouldn’t they be, with the cast we got? (I recognized Zeno Robinson from his voice work in The Owl House and Neon White, and while I wasn’t familiar with Joneice Abbot-Pratt before this, she’s gotten a couple of well-deserved accolades for her narration. Those two narrate Clem and Cris’s POVs, respectively.) I loved the emotions brought to the characters, especially in moments of sadness or anger. My only gripe with the audiobook is that

Zachary’s

narrator sounds like he has a different mic than the other three? (But his range is still incredible! It’s just that the quality’s a bit eh if you listen too hard.)

Onto the story itself! First of all, I really enjoyed the main sibling dynamic!! I’m a twin myself, and I don’t see many stories that both explore how twins have a different kind of connection than siblings with an actual age difference, but they also, in essence, have the same conflicts and bumps in their relationship. Some other elements I liked were the magic system, which was divided into three different types, with their own distinctive practices. Gen Magic was intrinsically tied with the heritages of the Black characters in this novel, which makes sense considering its Voodoo inspiration, and I liked how that was something discussed in the story. (There was some discussion about cultural appropriation because of that, too.) I’ve been gradually getting into urban fantasy, so the setting is another aspect I liked, but I can understand if a couple of people are disoriented by some of the references to pop culture and social media.

Also, SHEESH, the villain’s death was brutal!!! I haven’t read one like that in while.

A point of contention for the reviewers of this book is the drama. Personally, I thought it made the book more entertaining, although the sheer amount of it + the large cast makes it difficult to keep track of everyone (thank god for the family tree). If you get attached to a specific character, just realize that literally everyone in this novel makes at least one terrible decision lol(clem…). 

But there’s a couple of things I didn’t enjoy as much. For one, I didn’t like Clem and Yve’s romance. Their introduction was cute, and I wanted to see how their relationship progressed(especially since Yves is pivotal to the story), but it moved too fast for me and felt instalove-y. I was annoyed more than a couple of times hearing about how “strong their connection was” when the entire book takes place over the course of 2-3 weeks. As a result, I wasn’t as emotionally affected by a certain moment in the novel as I should’ve been. *But*. I think Clem’s little cliffhanger corruption arc is promising. I predicted it would happen, but I want to see where it goes. (I like his cinematic parallels with another character.)

I also easily predicted a lot of the twists. The cause of (grandmother and Cris’s namesake) Cristine was pretty obvious, so was Clem’s set-up arc, and another plot point I don’t want to spoil. This also has a couple of indicators of a debut novel, including some issues with pacing and numerous plot points at a time, and the POV distribution felt a little wonky. (The POV thing was because it was setting up for the sequel, though. I’ll have to see how

Zachary’s POV in particular is utilized, because he wasn’t as important in this book. Not saying I’m super bummed about that, though. He has ISSUES.

) I wasn’t a big fan of the climax, but I liked the actual ending. There’s enough material within this universe to make a sequel feel warranted and not forced.

In conclusion, I’ll definitely be checking out the sequel! My feelings about this book are a little mixed but I want to see where these characters go.