Blood Heir

Title: Blood Heir
Author: Amélie Wen Zhao

Publisher: Harper Voyager
Year: November 2019
Pages: 446
Series: Blood Heir #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Reading Time: 1 - 15 Feb

Binding: Illumicrate Exclusive Hardback
ISBN: 9780008328054
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★★

Blurb:

 In the Cyrilian Empire, Affinites are reviled.

 Their varied gifts to controls the world around them are unnatural - dangerous. And Anastacya Mikhailov, the crown princess, has a terrifying secret. Her deadly Affinity to blood is her curse and the reason she has lived her life hidden behind palace walls.

 When Ana's father, the emperor, is murdered, her world is shattered. Framed as his killer, Ana must flee the palace to save her life. And to clear her name, she must find her father's murderer on her own. But the Cyrilia beyond the palace walls is far different from the one she thought she knew. Corruption rules the land, and a greater conspiracy is at work - one that threatens the very balance of her world. And there is only one person corrupt enough to help Ana get to its core: Ramson Quicktongue.

 A cunning crime lord of the Cyrilian underworld, Ramson has sinister plans - though he might have met his match in Ana. Because in this story, the princess might be the most dangerous player of all.

Review:

 I'm so annoyed I didn't read this sooner but also relieved that I barely have to wait for Red Tigress to come out. I'd like to akin this a little to the Red Queen series however where that crossed in to more of a dystopian this is a more typical fantasy setting. The Affinites range in vastly different types and strengths of powers and as is typical we follow what is possibly the strongest of them all.

 Ana quickly introduces herself and her mission in the opening chapters, though others in the book take a long, long time to get there for themselves. Interestingly, whilst Ana has one of the rarest Affinites she knows, she doesn't have any particular. . . skills. She freezes in moments of action and screams for justice in the moments when she could manipulate her way to the top with a little thought. She's a princess protected from the world suddenly unleashed. She has a lot to worm from Ramson Quicktongue who can scam and kill his way to the top. He's rather delicious and their banter is great, a real carrier of humour in the book.

 There are some real world themes being carried in this book, human trafficking and slavery are quite central to the world and we're shown this through Ana's eyes as she realises that the world she thought was so beautiful under her family's rule is in fact riddled with issues. It's quite present and clearly something to be explored in the following books (I currently have no idea how many books are set for this series but Goodreads is showing as a trilogy). I'm excited to see where this goes, I'm reading this as part of the Instagram readalong hosted by the author herself and I can see the passion driving her around this subject.

 I'm enjoying the setting of this world, it's a little different from other fantasy settings. A real cold landscape but a lot of other parts of the world present for our characters to come from. It leads for a range of characters and I'm very excited to see some of their parts expanded in the next book. We have kick-ass female characters, suave men, manipulated underdogs and vicious, power hungry enemies. It's really quite a simple plot, there are some distractions and revelations along the way but it's certainly not a book you have to concentrate on wrapping your head around. The characters backgrounds are nicely explored and I hope we get more of this as we continue. I also enjoyed the mix of introductions and ripping away of characters, you certainly can't tell from the start who will be surviving the book.

 I know you'll be thinking about it, as it's kind of part and parcel of YA, the romance element. Don't go hoping for it in this book. I'm holding out hope, we're getting teased for some in Red Tigress. . . please.