I have been anticipated Blood Scion ever since I saw the cover reveal. It’s fiery, colorful, and delivers all the promises of power I wanted. And then as soon as I started reading, I knew I was going to love it. In Falaye’s debut, Sloane’s story is heart wrenching from beginning to end. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
This is what they deserve. They wanted me to be a monster. I will be the worst monster they ever created.
Fifteen-year-old Sloane can incinerate an enemy at will—she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods.
Under the Lucis’ brutal rule, her identity means her death if her powers are discovered. But when she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army on her fifteenth birthday, Sloane sees a new opportunity: to overcome the bloody challenges of Lucis training, and destroy them from within.
Sloane rises through the ranks and gains strength but, in doing so, risks something greater: losing herself entirely, and becoming the very monster that she ahbors.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
TW/CW: rape attempt, children soldiers, torture
Blood Scion is about children being forced to be soldiers, burning from within, and powers we must conceal. In a culture and society ruled by fear of persecution, Sloane grows up having to hide who she is and her powers. However it becomes harder, and more painful, to hide her abilities when she is drafted into the army. There she decides that she can use that opportunity to find out what happened to her mother. But there she will have to make harder choices than ever before for survival.
Sloane has to constantly weigh the costs of freedom for herself versus her family and community. To find out what she will have to lose in order to keep her life. Forced to make impossible decisions, Sloane’s training shows her more than she ever thought. There it becomes clear the extent of the conquest, the history and culture that is lost, and the misinformation. Throughout Blood Scion, Sloane and a variety of other characters are forced to figure out if sacrifice in the short term is worth the benefits in the long term. They must also figure out how to deal with their guilt. The blood that lingers on their skin.
Overall,
Blood Scion is both a story that celebrates alliances made when we are encouraged to see each other as competition, as well as the wrenching costs of sacrifice. I could not stop reading. It became a reading session that kept getting longer. Not only is Blood Scion full of action, but it’s also full of heart wrenching decisions and twists which will shock you. Can we retain a shred of who we used to be? A semblance of humanity after it all?
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All amidst the excuses colonizers make, the way we can become monsters when we’re treated as such. That blurry line between monsters and monstrous actions, between choices and survival. It’s n understatement to say that I need to read the sequel immediately, because that ending! Find Blood Scion on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.