Blood Rose Rebellion (Blood Rose Rebellion, #1)

by Rosalyn Eves

"A magical tale unlike anything you've read before." —Bustle

"[A] richly imagined 19th-century historical fantasy." —EW, A-

The thrilling first book in a YA fantasy trilogy for fans of Red Queen. In a world where social prestige derives from a trifecta of blood, money, and magic, one girl has the ability to break the spell that holds the social order in place.

Sixteen-year-old Anna Arden is barred from society by a defect of blood. Though her family is part of the Luminate, powerful users of magic, she is Barren, unable to perform the simplest spells. Anna would do anything to belong. But her fate takes another course when, after inadvertently breaking her sister’s debutante spell—an important chance for a highborn young woman to show her prowess with magic—Anna finds herself exiled to her family’s once powerful but now crumbling native Hungary.
 
Her life might well be over.
 
In Hungary, Anna discovers that nothing is quite as it seems. Not the people around her, from her aloof cousin Noémi to the fierce and handsome Romani Gábor. Not the society she’s known all her life, for discontent with the Luminate is sweeping the land. And not her lack of magic. Isolated from the only world she cares about, Anna still can’t seem to stop herself from breaking spells.
 
As rebellion spreads across the region, Anna’s unique ability becomes the catalyst everyone is seeking. In the company of nobles, revolutionaries, and Romani, Anna must choose: deny her unique power and cling to the life she’s always wanted, or embrace her ability and change that world forever.

“A fast-paced historical fantasy full of magic, romance, and adventure!”—JESSICA DAY GEORGE, New York Times bestselling author of Silver in the Blood

• ISBN10: 1101936029
• ISBN13: 9781101936023
• Publish Date: 13 February 2018 (first published 28 March 2017)
• Publish Status: Inactive
• Out of Print: 22 January 2025
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Ember
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781101936023

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

3.5 stars

"Some rebels are made, not born"

I went into this book completely blind. So when it turned out to be about powers I was very surprised, a good surprise though.

Anna feels like she is the disappointment of the family, due to her big sister always being the best at everything. Plus she feels guilty for something that happened to her little brother that has now made him be weaker than most boys his age. Between the guilt, she feels and always being second-best compared to her sister, she ends up making some questionable decisions on a big night for her sister. Choices that while understandable when looking at things from her point of view, but also wrong when looking at them from her family's point of view.

Overall I did find this book enjoyable, and I do want to continue on with the series to see what Anna and her family/friends get up to next. Anna does really act her age, this isn't one of those stories where the young teenager acts like she knows everything or has a real understanding of how things work in her world. Anna really is innocent and still has a lot to learn not only about how her magical world works but the non-magical world as well.
The friendships she makes and the family she learns about were very enjoyable to read as well. Her part in the rebellion did seem a little sudden and not really explained very well at times.
I did have a slight problem with how her family was acting towards her about powers and saying she's a disgrace, etc. I'm not going to lie though this book did remind me at times of the These Vicious Masks trilogy (In a good way), it was very different as well.

I do hope something are explained better in the second book.

Upon re-read I gave the book 4 stars due to the world building and the friendships between main characters.

Blog Twitter Instagram

[anne]

Fantasy with Hungarian theme, considers pluses and minuses of revolution

[inlibrisveritas]

Blood Rose Rebellion is a not only a historical fantasy but a dystopian. It has a rather unique blend of elements, but ultimately while it does provide some new flavor to a rather saturated market it still felt somewhat recycled after a while.

Let's start with the positives. I really dig the awesome mix of historical fiction with fantasy. I'm a big fan of period novels that have paranormal elements, it brings some new flavor to familiar territory. Plus it's always fun to see how these societies deal with the magic and other oddities. I loved the political play and the rather ragtag nature of the rebellion itself. There are so many novels with a teenager lead armies for freedom, and it gets boring. Thankfully BRR casts a rebellion in a more realistic light and fills it will hasty planning and lofty ideals. The magic system is also rather interesting and really loved the parts centering around the Binding and everything that ties into it (avoiding spoilers here).

But that leads directly into the negatives. I feel that we didn't get a lot of explanation about anything when it comes to the magic. Granted our main character is an outcast to the magical society, so a limited understanding is expected but so much was glossed over. some things that were merely mentioned, almost in passing, become important connects later on and the lack of focus really pulls away from the impact of the reveal. I really wanted to understand the different classes of magic users and their skill sets, but we only get explanations if something is directly used in front of Anna. Which brings me to Anna herself. I kind of hate her. She's not a bad person and she doesn't really insight any anger, but I found her frustrating. Anna acts like a teenager placed in an odd position. She doesn't completely grasp the impact of most situations, she doesn't think things through, and she changes her mind...a lot. She's a teen, it fits the bill...but damn does it get annoying after awhile. I do understand her indecision, as being an outcast with a sudden amount of power could cow most people but it just didn't make for a fun reading experience. Though we get a full story it felt like it was a book that was spending its time spinning its wheels leaving me feeling like not a lot was happening.

Overall I'm not overly impressed with this one. It wasn't a bad read by any means and I definitely see people enjoying it, but this just isn't one that gripped me or made me want to continue the series.

I received this in exchange for an honest review.

[tweetybugshouse]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book as it started out i was expecting the typical rich versus poor version i seen over done in various dystopian novels. We have a member of the upper class who have the use of magic and she of course does not but she does in a way that is not expected by the normal. Their are various other members of this society that are underclass who also weld magic but are forbidden to as they are not part of upper society. I like the twist that the main character being a part of the upper class is going to be the undoing of the whole world.

Anna is a unique character in that she does not want to harm those she loves which are part of this upper class, nor does she see it as fair that their "magic" should be the only magic and that is unjust that this "binding" prevents those are not in the know to have access to magic. This book is very well rooted in historical fact and that makes it stand out in this genre as it is dystopian but it also is historical fantasy fiction. Their a lot to be found in the pages of this book and i hope that you give it a chance and i excited to see where the world is going in the next book of this story.

I received a copy of the arc from Misprint Arc Adoptions.

[Cocktails and Books]

3.5 stars

I liked the story. It dragged on a bit and Anna had moments of self pity that could irritate, but overall it was good. I wanted more of the relationship building between Anna and her cousins. Maybe with the next book we'll
See if that happens.

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Initial Thoughts: A strong book in some respects: fun concept, great setting, interesting characters. However, the pacing was slow at times, and the book reminds me of others I've read recently, including A Shadow Bright and Burning.

[Beth C.]

Review to come on vampirebookclub.net - will publish here when after :)

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

DNF @ 65%

Blood Rose Rebellion first caught my eye because of its striking cover (way back when it was blue). I'll admit it - I'm a sucker for a gorgeous cover. Then I heard that it was fantasy and set in Hungary and I knew I had to read it! Blood Rose Rebellion is a book with a ton of promise, but sadly it just didn't live up to my expectations.

Anna is the main character of this story and is, of course, special because of her lack of magic. She is "barren" in the magical world, the Luminate, or is she? After breaking her sister's super important debutante spell, she's shipped off to Hungary where she'll be less of a threat to society. Once there... things go downhill. Unfortunately, Anna is a really dumb character. Anna runs around in places she's been told are dangerous to prove she can. She makes stupid decisions despite the possibility that she could ruin things for everyone in the process. She puts her loved ones at risk for no good reason. Repeatedly.

Gábor is Anna's love interest who she falls for despite the fact that he's a "Gypsy" (Her internal dialogue, not mine.) Even after getting to know Gábor, Anna chastises herself for falling for him based on his ethnicity. She also continually uses the word "Gypsy" despite Gábor telling her the correct term is Romani. She is told that it's offensive and tells others that it it's offensive, but continues to say it - just not to his face. All of that being said, I actually did like Gábor. He was one of the only tolerable characters, although their romance leaves a lot to be desired.

Even if the main characters and romance are both crap, sometimes a great villain can carry a story. But that didn't happen here. The "Circle" was frankly a ridiculous threat and so were the individuals that Anna encountered up until I finally gave up.

To add insult to injury, Blood Rose Rebellion is incredibly slow. While things do happen and there is some magic, it all happened at a snail's pace and made this book difficult to get through. Despite the issues I had, I would probably have finished it if the pacing had been just a bit quicker. There was actually some really cool imagery and a unique magical world! Which brings me to my last point.

The one thing I really enjoyed about this book was the world building. Even if it wasn't a completely accurate representation of real-world Hungary, it was incredibly fun to read about and easy to picture. I also thought the off-limits magical place Anna visits was amazing and I would have liked to have explored more of it! Sadly, I just couldn't do it.

Blood Rose Rebellion should have been an amazing book! A setting we don't see very often combined with an interesting magical system would usually be right up my alley! I made it 65% of the way through this book before finally accepting it just wasn't for me and calling it quits.

[Ashley]

What I liked:

* Very cool setting! It starts in London and moves to Hungary. Plus we see a few other places along the way (Austria).

* It was really interesting how magic was intertwined with the class system. The rich get magic, the poor do not.

* I loved the main character, Anna. What I loved most about her was how she needed some time to decide for herself what was ‘right’. She had people pulling her in different directions, trying to use her for different reasons. She struggled with figuring out what SHE felt she should do. I loved watching her go through that.

* Revolution!! It was really easy to hate people in control, which was kind of fun.

What I didn’t like:

* I didn’t love the writing. It just didn’t excite me that much, or I didn’t click with it. It wasn’t bad, I think it just didn’t quite sync with me.

* On a similar note, I didn’t get super invested in any of the characters (other than the MC, who I quite liked). There’s a romance, but it was kind of bland. There were a few other side characters, but I just didn’t feel for them. There are even a few deaths, but I felt NOTHING. I just couldn’t get invested. I wasn’t made to care about them.

* There were a few bits towards the end where I was like, ehh this is a bit weird.

Blood Rose Rebellion is a pretty cool book to read if you’re looking for magic intertwined with historical fiction, European cultures, and rebellion against some major dickwads!