Blood Debts by Terry J Benton-Walker

Source: Netgalley
TL;DR: Wow that was a lot, and I’m on the fence. Trauma and PoVs for days, but interesting magic and themes.

Plot: Slow yet it took place over a short time as two twins who don’t trust each other and have petty fights constant work to figure out generational curses.
Characters: There were perhaps too many PoVs and I just didn’t connect or enjoy our two primary characters we were with the most.
Setting: I was fully expecting something historical (based on this cover) but it’s a very modern setting we see in glimpses from various individuals. Not the strongest but not the weakest either.
Magic: I wish I could tell you a lot about it, but I was so disconnected the whole read I cannot remember much of the magic here.

Thoughts:

There is not a lot I can say about this one that hasn’t already been said. Especially as I’m not own voices for this. However, I do want to say a few things as I did read this as an ARC (that I’m incredibly late on) and I have some thoughts.

This one follows a set of twins dealing with grief after the passing of their father and the fallout of a generational curse that’s affecting their lives and those around them. This book is full of themes attempting to explore things like generational trauma, abuse, sexual identity and family. And while I enjoyed those themes and wanted more, the endless head hopping, and strangely slow pace, really stopped this one from connecting at all with me.

I don’t want to say I don’t recommend this, but I also cannot say I do recommend this? If you don’t mind the abundance of trauma, the frequent PoV changes with a slower pace (of a story that only spans a few days), then sure. This could work for you. However if you want something historical (the cover is truly misleading on this), or fast paced, or a bit more concrete in it’s themes, perhaps look elsewhere.

2 out of 5 stars