Blood Heir (Blood Heir, #1)

by Amélie Wen Zhao

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

"Dark" is an apt description for Blood Heir, a book where so many terrible things keep happening to the characters that it's difficult to say the story is "fun" or "enjoyable" to read. However, an interesting plot and strong world building kept me turning the pages and have me excited to read the sequel when it's released.

I did struggle with the beginning because ostracization, torture, injustice, violence, and slavery are all recurring themes, and while these are obviously important topics, they can make the book feel heavy. Each time I picked it up, I wondered what awful thing was going to happen to which character next. However, as protagonist Ana and her unlikely crime lord partner begin to come into their own--their abilities and their beliefs--the story also starts to show more hope. They know things will be hard, and more things will go wrong, but they realize that they must try, that it is their choices that define them.

I do wish I could have rooted for both characters a bit more. While the author does strive to make both nuanced, I felt she missed the mark in representing what are supposed to be their fundamental characteristics. For instance, Ramson is supposed to be the best criminal in the entire country, a man who can accomplish what no else can with cunning and ruthlessness--yet he never does anything particularly impressive during the course of the book. He gets into and out of a few scrapes, but so often it seems that other people are getting the upper hand on him; I can believe he's a skilled criminal, but I don't believe he's the best or unparalleled.

Ana is also a bit difficult. She struggles with having a blood Affinity, the ability to control others' bodies with their own blood, either to toss them about or to hurt or kill them. (Possibly she could figure out how to heal with it, but she doesn't know how.) Her brand of magic means many people think she's a monster, while she hopes she is not. However, her struggle here is also not as nuanced as it could be. Other characters in the book repeatedly mention that Ana is good, inspirational, etc.--but all I could see is how many people she kills, viciously, violently, and occasionally with some satisfaction because they "deserve" it. She mentions repeatedly that it's your choices that define you, but she kills dozens of people in horrendous ways over the course of the book, and I don't think her regret or struggle to come to terms with whether it was unfortunate but "necessary" is delved into enough.

Yet I did like the book. It has a sweeping scope and takes a thoughtful look at a nation that has become corrupt and is perpetuating terrible human rights violations through legalized indentured servitude (or what we as readers would recognize as modern-day slavery). Arguably this, recognizing the slavery and then finding ways to end (revolution? politically? something else?) it is truly the premise of the book, more so than the plot line about Ana searching for the man who murdered her father, which is mentioned in the official summary. Ana grew up shut up in the palace (because of her own Affinity), but now that she is out in the world, she begins to see the signs and the effects of this slavery everywhere--in the people selling food her at a festival who have bad contracts and aren't allowed to leave, in the back rooms of "reputable" places where work contracts are bought and sold, in the turned backs of the national guard who are supposed to protect the vulnerable but are willing to exploit them for the right amount of money. Injustice is everywhere, and she and her friends realize they cannot turn away.

Overall, this is a fascinating story that takes the basic story of Anastasia and turns it into something new. That something isn't always pretty because the world and the characters are dark, but it's compelling, and I think many readers will be gripped by the story if they give it a chance.