Review: Bloodchild by Anna Stephens

Bloodchild

Anna Stephens

Godblind #3

Harper Voyager

512 pages

5/5

Copy received from Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed Godblind. I loved Darksoul so Bloodchild had a lot to live up to as the conclusion to this trilogy.

Spoiler. It does.

Summary: The great city of Rilpor has fallen. Its walls have crumbled under the siege by the savage Mireces; its defenders have scattered, fleeing for their lives; its new rulers plot to revive the evil Red Gods using the city’s captured, soon-to-be-sacrificed citizens. Now, with the Fox God leading the shattered remnants of the Rilporian defence and the Mireces consolidating their claim on the rest of the country, it’s up to Crys, Tara, Mace, Dom and the rest to end the Red Gods’ scourge once and for all. While the Rilporians plan and prepare for one final, cataclysmic battle to defeat their enemies, the Blessed One and the king of the Mireces have plans of their own: dark plans that will see gods resurrected and the annihilation of the Dancer for all time. Key to their plan is Rillirin, King Corvus’s sister, and the baby–the Bloodchild–she carries. As both sides face their destinies and their gods, only one thing is clear: death waits for them all.

I have enjoyed reading the Godblind trilogy immensely. It has been a wild ride full of misery, violence, gore and some genuinely uncomfortable moments that make you wince. It is also full of interesting characters who I both love and hate, depending on what side they are on.

At the end of the last book, things weren’t looking too good. Yes, the Blessed One’s plans had been disrupted but the city had been lost to Corvus. Fast forward to Bloodchild and now Lanta wants to use Rillirin’s unborn child to be the new vessel for the Dark Lady, and the rest of the characters are trying to stop her and Corvus. It goes about as violently as you would expect.

I loved reading these characters stories. After three books it’s hard not to be invested in their journeys and you want to see them succeed in utterly destroying the enemy. The story is brutal and violent and not everyone survives which is hard to read but works really well in making you invested in the story. I didn’t cry whilst reading it but my lip was wobbling at one point which just goes to show how much I cared about the characters. The novel ends on a hopeful note which was really nice after three books of unrelenting grimdark misery (not that I don’t love a nice bit of grimdark misery but I’m a sucker for a nice ending).

Bloodchild managed to hit all the sweet spots that I love to read about. It is action packed with lots of violence and a compelling story that I wanted to both finish and not want to end.  There’s some sweet romance to appeal to my softer side and it manages to be heart breaking and hopeful amongst all of the violence. I loved the characters and I loved the story.  It was an almost perfect book for me.

Advertisement