Thursday 1 November 2012

Review: The Blood Keeper - Tessa Gratton


For Mab Prowd, the practice of blood magic is as natural as breathing. It's all she's ever known. Growing up on an isolated farm in Kansas with other practitioners may have kept her from making friends her own age, but it has also given her a sense of purpose—she's connected to the land and protective of the magic. And she is able to practice it proudly and happily out in the open with only the crows as her companions. Mab will do anything to keep the ancient practice alive and guard its secrets. But one morning while she is working out a particularly tricky spell she encounters Will, a local boy who is trying to exorcise some mundane personal demons. He experiences Mab's magic in a way his mind cannot comprehend and is all too happy to end their chance meeting. But secrets that were kept from Mab by the earlier generations of blood magicians have come home to roost. And she and Will are drawn back together, time again by this dangerous force looking to break free from the earth and reclaim its own dark power.

My thoughts:
I liked the way this book was written, there was an ease to it and the POV changes worked great. It was also so easy to follow.

The book has 3 POVS. First Mab who is a blood witch and lives on a farm, working with curses and blood. Not your ordinary teen. Then there is Will, a local boy she meets and who ends up involved with it all. And yes romance interest too. Lastly, there is Evelyn who came to the farm long ago. Her POV is not around much as it is in the past, but it's important to the plot. Why I did not know before way into the book. It was a nice little mystery. The one thing I did not like with her POV was that it was in italics, ugh, not fun to read. Luckily she gets a page here and there. And when the shift occurs you get to read the name of the POV. Always good.

This is part 2 in a series, but it works great as a stand alone as the previous book was about someone else.

I do not want to spoil the whole plot but Will and Mab meet. She is the new leader for her kind. She is a free spirit, connected to nature and I liked her. Will was a good guy too.

Conclusion:
There is some suspense as things are going on (I can't say more). A bit of a mystery and chilling spells. Magic is not always kind and that is shown here.

Cover:
Eh

Series: The Blood Journals #2
Genre: YA, paranormal
Pages: 432
Published: Aug 2012 by Random House Books for young readers
Source: For review


42 comments:

  1. As Rumple says, "Magic always comes with a price."

    I love when authors make a lot of POVs seem to flow well.

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    1. I think so often I come across books where the POV shifts are messy and it takes me a while to know who is talking

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  2. O.o good to know it works as a standalone, I put off reading the book I received because I had not read book one!

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    1. I was worried and I knew the library had book 1, but I read it anyway and it worked :)

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  3. A good YA book is a treasure nowadays.

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  4. I've long wanted to read her -- I know Maggie Stiefvater thinks highly of her. The cover is fabu!

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  5. I was eyeing this awhile back but I hadn't read the first one so I passed, it is nice to know it works well as a standalone!

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    1. So weird that the library does have book 1 but yay cos then i can go back

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  6. Love it when multiple povs work together well.
    Glad you enjoyed.

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  7. Yeah, definitely "eh" on the cover. :)

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  8. I have this one and I haven't read the first yet. Now at least if I can't get a hold of the first, I can read this one out of order! yaY! ;) Not that I do that... *cough* Anyway...

    Looks like a book I would still enjoy even with the italic POV... ;)

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    1. Haha, yes what am learning you all! Reading out of order. I say! The horror

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  9. Blood witch sounds intriguing. And I think the cover is cool.

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    1. I am glad you like it, even if it was eh for me

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  10. Not a fan of the cover either - but sounds interesting! :-)

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  11. I won this book from a blog contest a few weeks ago and I did not want to read it before reading the first book in the series, but after you saying that it can be read a stand alone, well then, it got bumped up in the reading pile :) Thank you!

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    1. For me it worked well, sure things are mentioned, but I just took it like any other backstory

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  12. Not the greatest covers, but the book sounds good.

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  13. i like all those changing povs. makes books fly by.

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  14. Sounds good! But I think I'll wait to read this since I have the first book and want to read that first.

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  15. I'm really glad you liked it, Blodeuedd as I have seen few meh reviews for this one. I've just bought book one and can't wait to start it! ;)

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    1. It just flowed so well for me, and well I like when it does :D

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  16. Well, i don't know. I guess I like the cover, it's pretty and creepy, at the same time.
    I thought this book was a sequel to Blood Magic, but it seems that it is a companion novel,
    I like books about magic and hopefully, I will come around to reading it soon.
    LOVE your review!
    Your constant reader,
    Soma
    http://insomnia-of-books.blogspot.com/

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    1. Yes it does have something, and then I go all meh again, and then, well it changes :)

      Companion indeed. We do meet the main characters from book 1 briefly as they stop by

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  17. A farm in Kansas? Cool. Maybe I've seen it. ;)

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    1. If you saw free spirtied people running around..and crows then you might juts haev seen it ;)

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  18. I have a book by her, a first book, now I wonder if it's this series lol. but it's in French so I don't know. I really need to read this book, I have it for a while.

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    1. Lol, then I can't help you ;) Maybe if it says blood somewhere, then it's the same

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  19. I haven't heard about this book nor have I read anything by this author. I may check it out. Great review.

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  20. I'm glad that the different POV's worked for you! This premise sounds interesting!

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  21. I like the sound of this one and I'm a fan of multiple POV's so I'll have to keep an eye out for the first book :)

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    1. Then I am sure it would be a great book for me

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