Of Wicked Blood Book Review
Hello friends! I hope your week has been going well. Today I’m posting my Of Wicked Blood Book Review! I raced through this book, and I really enjoyed it, even though I’m about to point out some major flaws in the name of objectivity. I hope you enjoy it!
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Title: Of Wicked Blood
Author: Olivia Wildenstein and Katie Hayoz
CAWPILE: 6.4/10
Rating: 3 Stars
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Content Warnings: HP references, death, murder, graverobbing.
Format: Advanced Listening Copy
Publisher: Twig Publishing
Date Published: January 11th 2021
SLATE
I didn’t mean to steal the Bloodstone from De Morel’s crypt. Scratch that, I did mean to steal it. Until I realized it was a curse-magnet that only comes off if I, along with a jolly trio, successfully defeat four curses. If any of us fail, I’m dead. I’ve never been a glass-half-empty sort of person, but my glass looks in dire need of a refill right about now. The only highlight of this wicked treasure hunt: feisty, entitled Cadence de Morel.
CADENCE
I was raised on tales of magic, in a small town reputed to be the birthplace of French witchcraft. Did I believe all the stories I heard? Absolutely not. I mean, if magic existed, Maman wouldn’t have died, and Papa wouldn’t be stuck in a wheelchair, right? Wrong. The night Slate Ardoin waltzes into my life, wearing a ring he stole from my mother’s grave, I call him a monster. But then I meet real ones, and Slate, well . . . he becomes something else to me. Something frustrating to live with but impossible to live without. Something I will fight for, no matter the cost.
This book was “read now” on Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Review
Characters – 6/10
Here’s the thing. I really enjoyed this book, but it has some flaws. The most noticeable one is the trope-y characters. Literally, every character is a YA trope. The bad boy, the ditzy, boy crazy best friend, the naive and “pure” main character. They were all just cookie-cutter characters.
Especially Slate and Cadance. This book is pretty adult (if you ask me this should be a New Adult book) but the characters are literal children. Slate is just a really petty teenager with anger issues and Cadance is the innocent one who can’t be corrupted. I find myself disliking that trope more and more.
I kept waiting for them to develop a bit, and we get there by the end. I’m interested to see where they go from here.
Atmosphere – 6/10
I loved the setting and the atmosphere in this book. I could really envision the small French town this takes place in and the winter setting just made it so cosy. However, I did take off two whole stars for the FOUR HP references in this book. In the year 2021, do we really still need HP references in books? Do we really want to support a TERF? No. HP is not the only book with magic, and we need to stop acting like it is. Make a Hocus Pocus reference or something else.
Writing – 6/10
The writing was not bad. I couldn’t put the book down. Once again, I deducted points for the HP references. It just makes me really mad.
Plot – 7/10
I have to give credit where credit is due. I loved the plot. It was fast-paced but the slower moments were just as interesting to read. The story idea was just so unique and I enjoyed reading this book a lot. I obviously have some polarizing views here. It’s like with Crave by Tracy Wolff. I loved the story, but I’m trying to be objective.
Intrigue – 7/10
I was thoroughly intrigued since I read this book in like two days. I’m a sucker for magical romance okay, sue me.
Logic – 6/10
The magic system could have been better developed, but I sense we don’t know a lot about it since some of the characters are hiding it. I was very confused about the ending. Cadance’s father is definitely hiding something and I hope it’s resolved in the second book.
Enjoyment – 7/10
I did enjoy this. I wish it had done some things differently, but sometimes I just have to be trash for books.
Let me know your thoughts on Of Wicked Blood (book review).
Of Wicked Blood Book Review Pin!
I like how you broke down your review. I’m glad that you enjoyed it despite the downsides.
It seems to be the norm with a lot of books featuring magically references as pointing to HP, or the similarities are so close, it is like they wanted to try to recreated the HP love and riches for their own books, but it never works it just looks like a cheap copy.
Tropes are funny. Sometimes I can appreciate them – they are a staple of any genre, and sometimes they are the worst. I’m not sure how I would feel about this one.
Love your review style.