at times this felt like a relationship counseling session on the titanic. all around a boat is sinking, people are screaming and dying, and things are on fire, and our MCs are just looking deeply into each other’s eyes and asking, “but where do YOU see this relationship in five years? I still have baggage and low self esteem from my childhood and I am afraid you’ll get tired of me” meanwhile the world is on fire and everyone may not survive long enough to have any of this even come up. like, maybe worry about if you will live another 5 years before we worry about whether a throuple can all get married to each other or…? 

This absolutely gripped me from the first chapter all the way through the epilogue in a way that YA books often don’t. It was fast-pasted, filled with action and emotion, unique and heartbreaking. Absolutely loved it. 

The Last Bloodcarver follows Nhika, the child of refugees who fled their native land after colonizers took it over and began slaughtering their bloodcarvers, experimenting on them. Nhika is, as far as she knows, the last bloodcarver—heartsoother, her people call it—and must hide her gift lest she be killed or forced to use her gift to kill. She gets drawn into a mystery, learning more about not only her own heartsoothing but also of the mechanisms of the city she’s been barely surviving in, all the while figuring out who to trust (and who can trust her). As she gets closer to the truth, she gets further away from what meager safety she’s known.

I would categorize this as upper YA. it’s not inappropriate and doesn’t have spice, but it also doesn’t hold the reader’s hand through major plot developments. The worldbuilding tells you only what you need to know, and the characters are complex with more than one motivation. Pacing is fairly consistent and the prose is easy to read and not overly clunky. The anatomical descriptions, in particular, were enjoyable and unique.