The Blood Trials by N E Davenport

I would like to thank Anne from Random Things Tours and Harper Voyager for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Harper Voyager

Published – Out Now

Price – £8.99 paperback £4.99 Kindle eBook

It’s all about blood.

Blood spilled long ago between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor, ending all blood magic.

Now there is peace in the Republic – but there is also a strict class system, misogyny, and racism. Her world is not perfect, but Ikenna survived in it. Until now.

With the murder of her grandfather, Ikenna spirals out of control. Though she is an initiate for the Republic’s deadly elite military force, Ikenna has a secret only her grandfather knew: she possesses the blood magic of the Republic’s enemies.

Ikenna throws herself into the gladiatorial war games at the heart of her martial world: trials that will lead her closer to his killers. Under the spotlight, she subjects herself to abuse from a society that does not value her, that cherishes lineage over talent – all while hiding gifts that, if revealed, would lead to execution or worse. Ikenna is willing to risk it all to find out who killed her grandfather…

So she can end them.

Magic, technology, and rebellion meet in this stunning debut – part one of a duology that sees a young Black woman rise through misogyny and racism to become an elite warrior.

A story can be like an album with various high and low energy songs representing the fast and slow parts of a tale. We action followed by some time to breathe. What is often harder is making the pace fast and giving us that precious character and plot development. What impressed me in N E Davenport’s exhilarating fantasy novel The Blood Trials was how the reader is pretty much running to keep up with its main character on a dangerous trip into a world that is both deadly and incredibly prejudiced and delivers a really interesting lead character in the process.

In the Republic of Mareen the young but highly powerful warrior Ikenna is still grieving for the loss of her only remaining relative Verne Amari the war hero of the Republic but also someone who had enemies about both his skin colour and his politics to try and get a fairer outcome for those on the bottom rungs of society. His sudden and unexpected death has rocked Ikenna out of her dream of getting into the major army unit of the Republic – the Praetorians and she just wants some time to herself. But when an old family friend tells her that he thinks her grandfather was murdered and that the clues lie in Verne’s old unit then Ikenna decides to enlist. Unfortunately, the Praetorian trials are well known for being a deadly tournament and a high number of the students do not make it and die I the process. Ikenna and her two friends soon find themselves up against deadly scenarios, the racism and sexism of those in charge and on top of that the global powers are shifting and in so doing threating further violence for the whole world.

Despite being a meaty first volume in the duology what really impressed me in this story is the pace and energy Davenport throws into this story. From our first bar fight to the surprising end point we get situation after situation thrown at Ikenna. It’s a skilled set of constant set pieces testing Ikenna to her limits we get fights, sadistic leaders, assassination attempts, cannibals and dangerous creatures in a world that mixes hi tech equipment with computers, biochips and jets with ancient myths and Ikenna’s secret blood powers that give her an edge in fighting and healing. This then gets mixed further with a growing plot of political intrigue and the power shifts in this world. It’s a huge ambitious story throw at us high speed and there is plenty to enjoy in the process. Davenport has avoided these set pieces scenes getting too repetitive and each proves a different test for Ikenna to navigate through in a different way as well as develop her own skills and abilities. The story has an exhilarating pace but I think one that readers who enjoy speed over slow character development will enjoy immensely.

At the heart of this is Ikenna and what really again impressed me is that she is an uncompromising highly driven warrior. A skilled fighter and planner she is just a little lost though when we first meet her due to her grief but as soon as she gives herself the mission to find her grandfather’s killer then she is focused on this and everything else thrown at her is a mere distraction. Watching her get out of the situations she’s put in is a delight to read

The story is told by Ikenna in present tense, so we are getting her immediate reactions to scenes as they develop. What really struck me here is get a sense of what is like to be extremely capable and yet see how people judge you on your skin colour and gender. Ikenna takes bigotry in her stride and knows how to fight back; I also really liked how this use explores the wider flaws in the Republic that Ikenna and her grandfather served, and this becomes a wider plot point as the story develops as Ikenna starts to see that change is needed and she may help bring that about. I did also like how Ikenna’s drive and the book showing the counterpoint to that strength is Ikenna often wasn’t as focused on those around her and what they were going through.

My one issue though was that with such a focus on Ikenna and her personality that sometimes the other characters became jut supporting cast only and we could perhaps had done with more scenes where we saw how Ikenna and her core friends actually operated but often Ikenna is purposely on her own and while that develops her own story a lot it does take a while for any other characters to settle in and we get to know them better. What Davenport though does do well is very much remind us that no one is safe in this book and that does mean we worry about everyone! By the end though we do get a new core group that I think we’ll know a lot more about in the next instalment.

This was a really entertaining and ambitious read where I loved the way the story gallops and develops very quickly from a tale of revenge to something a lot more epic and it doesn’t allow us very often to take a second breath and in this instance that works really well. A central character I both admired and just a little bit feared as they are so much a warrior and again that’s a refreshing change from the typical reluctant hero we usually get in these stories. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how this story concludes and Davenport is definitely a name to watch out for in the future.