Review: Blood Magic

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



If a book were likely to give me nightmares, this one would be it. (Sadly, books don't give me nightmares at all, so I miss that little thrill.) I stayed up to 1:30 in the morning just to finish it.

I loved this book, but I'm hesitant to recommend it too much. If I were still working in a bookstore, I'd call it "dark" and say that it was for a "mature teen audience." What that translates to is simple: while not loaded with sexual content, this book is violent. Our main characters occasionally make bad decisions, and those decisions have devastating consequences.

This book is the story of Silla and Nick. Silla is in her senior year, and she's recovering from the recent death of her parents. She found their bodies together in the home--her mother shot in the chest, her father in the head. Murder/suicide. Except that Silla still trusts that her father was not capable of that sort of violence. She still loves him. Now she lives with Gramma Judy (just Judy, thank you) and her slightly older brother, Reese. When a package arrives in the mail for Silla, containing a book in her father's handwriting and a short letter from someone named "Deacon," Silla's world shifts again. The book is a collection of blood magic spells--fueled by the caster's own blood. Curious, wanting to believe that this might provide some sort of explanation for her parents' deaths, she tries a spell. And it works.

Nick is the new guy in town, and he saw Silla work her first blood magic spell in the graveyard that night. He knows blood magic, too--his mother was a practitioner, and he doesn't have good memories of what she did.

Nick and Silla are drawn to one another, and Silla is, in turn, drawn to the magic. But even as they explore the book, and each other, another force is waiting for a chance to attack.

I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. It was dark, which is appropriate for a book with this subject matter. I do think it's a bit much for some teens, but others will find it a welcome relief from the YA paranormals out there that duck the hard questions. Too often, YA magic is shown as something without a significant price, as something that is as bland as a suburban life. In this book, Gratton explodes those conventions and reminds readers that, no matter how young a teen may be, he or she is playing for real-life stakes. Decisions do matter, even if they're made by teenagers.

I do recommend this book highly, but only to a limited audience. It is not recommended for those that dislike dark and violent teen reads.



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