Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

Blood Magic had a fresh and interesting premise – basically that magic exists, but it needs blood to work – but is yet another book let down by the horrible execution. Firstly, the romance was utterly clichéd and happened so fast (literally as soon as Silla and Nick meet) that it was laughable, as was the amount of so-called passion between them mere days after meeting – I wouldn’t have been surprised if Nick proposed by the end of the novel at the rate their romance developed… actually, it was the only thing that ‘developed’ in Blood Magic. Do you want to know Nick’s ‘adorable’ and ‘endearing’ pet name for the love of his life? Babe. Constantly. She is not a pig!

 All of the characters were very flat and unrealistic and the alternating viewpoints sounded exactly the same a la Shiver. Silla’s ‘mask’ thing where she pretends to put on different pretty masks to give her, for example, confidence or a sense of calm, got annoying, but that could have been because I didn’t warm to her. The story and prose were boring and both were difficult to get through, mostly because I just didn’t care that much, but also because they were horrible. I think Gratton may have been aware of this, as she tries to spice up the story with the disturbing death of a bunny – Silla kills it for its blood by decapitating it, and then forgets to collect most of the blood so it turns out pointless anyway, finally hurling the poor thing’s head as far as she can throw it…and then doesn’t regret it, which put me even more off her character.

I was interested in Blood Magic at first, mainly because we dive straight into the story, and also by the mystery surrounding the death of Silla’s parents-everyone except Silla believes her dad killed her mum, then turned the gun on himself-the intriguing ‘blood magic’ and finally because I hate to leave a book unfinished. The plot was predictable, there were too many pages and chapters (sixty or so in about four hundred – seriously?!) which could have easily been cut out. Also, Josephine’s chapters were supposed to have started in the 1900s but sounded extremely modern-day, with the exception of the Random words That were Capitalised, which she thankfully Grew out Of.

I can see that some Twilight fans might enjoy Blood Magic, but I found it pretty hard work to get through and I won’t be picking up the sequel when it comes out.

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[SYNOPSIS: The murder of her parents has left Silla damaged and lost, and Silla's insistence that her father is not to blame only alienates her further from her friends and family. When a mysterious spell book arrives, Silla hopes it will lead to some answers about her parents' killer. In her first attempt at magic, in an old graveyard near her home, Nick, the new boy in town spies on her; he recognizes the magic that Silla is performing as the same magic his mother performed with him, before she went mad. Before long, Silla and Nick connect, though Nick is unwilling to share his history with blood magic with Silla. When Silla's friends start showing signs of possession, Silla, Nick and Silla's brother, Reese, must contend with a deadly, immortal woman who will stop at nothing to take the book of spells from them.]