Blood and Breath - Review

*I received a digital copy from Page Street YA for the Toppling Stacks Book Tours via NetGalley. All reviews are my own.*

The next book I can scratch off the Read List is Blood & Breath by debut author Qurratulayn. I had seen the striking cover floating around early on, but at the time, I wasn't entirely sold on the blurb. There was something about it that made me hesitant to pick it up. I don't remember what made me give it a chance, but it was a curious read that, unfortunately, didn't hit the mark for me.

"Evan Wilde is a poor working-class girl. She writes contracts on behalf of wealthier folks who want to exchange a bit of their life for minor deals with devils. It’s not until she is bleeding out, the unwilling victim of an outlawed contract sacrifice, that Evan draws a contract for A devil can take the last of her life—all she wants is revenge.

With the help of a devil named Jack, Evan infiltrates the upper class by posing as one of their own to bring them down from the inside.

For the first time, Evan finds friends and maybe even love. And with time she realizes that for all their corruption, the upper class’s magic is what keeps the devils at bay. Can she condemn the world to ruin to satisfy her need for vengeance?

But a contract cannot be broken, except at a devil’s mercy. And Jack has none."

I should've DNFed this book. The story just wasn't fully there for me to grasp. Between the pacing issues, the lack of action, and the underdevelopment of the overall story, I'm shocked I didn't close the book earlier. But let's talk about what made me stay. Set in the Roaring Twenties, the time of The Great Gatsby, New Orleans felt like the right setting for this story. We learn there are three classes of people: The Duns (lower-class citizens), The Necros (upper-class citizens), and The Magis (I guess the in-between). And of course, the devils. The Magis have a special connection to devils. They can create contracts to conjure them from their realm and make deals for people, for whatever they request. But of course, there's always a cost. One bad deal between a Necro and Magi ended up persecuting the entire Magi class, outlawing their ability, and forcing them into hiding for fear of being an unwilling blood sacrifice for illegal contracts. Evan, the main character, is half Dun and Magi, who has an uncanny ability to create near-perfect contracts for rich Necros. She lives with her head down and out of the way until she becomes a random victim of an attempted sacrifice. In her last breaths, she draws a desperate contract for revenge, conjuring up the meanest and baddest devil of them all, Jack.

I really liked the background for the Magi class. It gave season 2 of Legend of Korra, when it came to explaining the connections between the Magis, Necros, and devils. But I really wish we had gotten more explanation about the devil's side of things. While it was explained why some devils were connected to the Necro families, I wanted to see more of their world and how it crumbled. Jack is hell bent on killing all the Necros, per agreement with Evan, but there's a clear sinister agenda Jack has in store, which we won't see until the sequel comes out. While reading Blood & Breath, I became more interested in Jack's story than Evan's plot for revenge. Unfortunately, Evan's character didn't resonate with me, and I found myself disconnected from her journey.

Aside from the lore and the cover, that's all that kept me engaged with the book. There were severe pacing issues in the text that almost made me DNF a few times. The story, the characters, and even scene transitions felt underdeveloped. I wanted to see more gore, more action towards the injustice, more revenge! I mean, come on! We're dealing with devils. The creatures beyond comprehension. How do you live in a world with an entity that can end your life with the snap of a finger?

Overall, I'm rating this book 2.5 stars. I was bored. I liked the concept, but the execution lacked. I can see where the author was trying to go with the story, but it fell completely flat. I mentioned that there will be a sequel, since the book ended in a cliffhanger, but I won't be returning to the series to find out the conclusion. If you still want to check out the book, it also falls in line with I Feed Her to the Beast, and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea, and The Changing Man by Tomi Oyemakinde.

Blood & Breath is available now!

#TheLittLibrarian #YoungAdult #Fantasy