Review of "Blood Magic"

"Blood Magic"
Tessa Gratton


 

2

Pub. Date: May 24th, 2011
Pages: 405
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers


Synopsis: It starts off simply.

Draw a circle ... place a dead leaf in the center ... sprinkle some salt ... recite a little Latin ... add a drop of blood ...

Maybe that last part isn't exactly simple. Yet somehow it feels right to Silla Kennicott. And nothing in her life has felt remotely right since her parents' horrific deaths. She's willing to do anything to uncover the truth about her family—even try a few spells from the mysterious book that arrived on her doorstep ... and spill some blood.

The book isn't the only recent arrival in Silla's life. There's Nick Pardee, the new guy next door who may have seen Silla casting a spell. She's not sure what he saw and is afraid to find out. But as they spend more time together, Silla realizes this may not be Nick's first encounter with Blood Magic. Brought together by a combination of fate and chemistry, Silla and Nick can't deny their attraction. And they can't ignore the dark presence lurking nearby—waiting to reclaim the book and all its power.


I had high expectations for "Blood Magic", but sadly it did not live up to them.  I almost stopped reading this book multiple times, but then something would happen that kept me reading and I kept hoping it would get better.  I have to say the last 100 pages were pretty decent, but the pace was just too slow through the rest of the book.  There was too much switching between Nick and Silla's Point of view.  I think I would have liked this book better if it had been strictly told by Silla, I was not a huge fan of Nick as a character and his narration didn't help.  Nick may have been nice and patient with Silla, but he was an a-hole to everyone else.  If the duel narration didn't slow the book down enough, there were plenty of flashbacks and old journal entries to break us out of the immediate story.  Yes I did actually enjoy the journal entries at first, but after a while it just felt like the book wasn't going anywhere.  On top of that, I didn't really fear for the characters lives when they were "in danger" because there was so little action. 

What did I like about this book?  I liked Silla as a character; she was strong and I liked how she used masks to cope.  I liked the Gothic elements at first, but that only kept me interested for the first 200 pages.  The same goes for the use of blood.  I like how the book dealt with the dangers of too much power, it gave the book more depth than just a paranormal romance.  I am wondering if my problem with this book was that there was so much going on, but the plot didn't move forward.  It almost seemed like there were just too many elements forced into this book. 

There are a lot of great reviews of "Blood Magic" out there, but I just struggled through the first 300 pages of this book.  Maybe my expectations were too high, it is a possibility.  If you are really looking forward to this book, then give it a go.  I am definitely not continuing with the rest of this series.  I felt satisfied with the end of the book.  There is one question that remains unanswered, but I don't feel compelled to read anymore.  If you agree or totally disagree with my review, feel free to comment.

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