Blood Oath: The Book That Broke the Slump

I came to this book through a recommendation, and didn’t really have any idea what to expect other than a lot of fantasy (which I love) and some kind of dragon action. So, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying it.

Blood Oath is advertised as a YA fantasy, and follows 17 year old Ryn, a girl living in a famine ridden kingdom ruled over by an evil King, and his magical dragon-shifter servant, Lord Irrek. Ryn, who describes herself as unremarkable, finds herself entangled in a world of darkness, magic, and fear, after encountering the dark Drae Lord in person, and learns that everything she believed her entire life, has been a lie.

Before reading Blood Oath, I’d been in a serious reading slump, but after the first few exposition-heavy pages of the book – and let’s face it I think with fantasy we all expect a little exposition up front – I found myself completely sucked in, hooked to the point I couldn’t put it down, and finished reading it in one night.

I think one of the things I enjoyed most, was how quickly the authors catapulted you into the plot. I’ve seen so many fantasy novels that spend chapters and chapters world building before ever actually introducing the main catalyst for their story. Not the case here; by the start of chapter 6, the MC, Ryn, has already met the King’s Drae, Lord Irrek, and very shortly after ends up being taken prisoner by the evil dictatorial (emphasis on dick) King Irdelron.

Having said that, this book does have pacing issues. I knew, from having seen some reviews already, that there would be torture in this book, but I wasn’t anticipating it would take up roughly 30-40% of the text. Don’t get me wrong, I like dark fantasy as much as the next person. Even so, some of the scenes were just were too much for me. Like the thing with the bugs…I’m sorry but nah. No. Just a hard NOPE. This isn’t I’m A Celebrity.

I mean, I get it. I know these things were in there to MAKE the reader uncomfortable. I know they were meant to give you more sympathy for Ryn. And in that sense, the writing did exactly what it was meant to do. But damn… It’s hard to read about someone being systematically broken until they’re not even sure who they are anymore. At a certain point it’s just taxing to slog through.

But then the magic, literally, happens. And the payoff is worth the time it takes to get there. So, let’s get to the nitty gritty, spoiler filled section.

Why I loved this book so much:

. The characters – Almost every single character here made me feel things. For Ryn, it was sympathy, sorrow, eye-rolling irritation… Irrek made me feel anger, mild swooniness, regret… Even Jotun and King Irdelron made me feel something, even if it was just the desire to see them get their long awaited and violent comeuppance. It’s been a long time since I so strongly had the feeling to jump inside the pages of a book and verbally shout my emotions out at the characters involved.

. The magic – It took a while but once we got there, I personally enjoyed the magic system and watching Ryn learn how to use her Phaetyn powers. Yes, it was basically just making fertilizer out of her own bodily fluids, but I liked how simple it was. And the parts of the book where she was running around giddy over making huge potatoes felt like fun light relief after all the torture.

. The romance – I’m a huge fan of a slow burn, and this book gave me the very slowest of burns. Part of me expected after their first meeting, Ryn and Irrek would immediately fall into each other’s arms, so I was glad to see much more grey area in their relationship. I liked that we got to see Irrek as a flawed character, and how we watched Ryn struggle with whether she could trust him, before even considering giving him her heart.

. World building – Like I said earlier, some authors go over the top bloating their text with details about their world. Blood Oath, on the other hand, gave me just enough to understand what I had to, while leaving scope for the other two books to expand on it. I appreciated the avoidance of straight up info-dumping.

Things stopping me from giving 5 stars:

. The cover – I’m sorry, I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, but this one is just misleading. Look at that cover, with a half-naked man on it, and tell me you didn’t think this book was going to include sex. Because I did. Every time there was even a hint of romance my brain kept going ‘heeeeeeere comes the smuuuuuut’. There. Was. Never. Any. Smut.

. The naming system – I honestly would have given my right hand for a pronunciation guide here. I know it’s basically law that nobody in fantasy novels can be called something normal, but please, PLEASE, stop with the unnecessary addition of the letter Y in almost every name. Also why are they all so similar? Ty, Tyr, Tyrrek… ok so they turned out to be the same person, but this just felt lazy.

. The twist – It was obvious from a mile away that Tyr was Irrek in disguise, the text basically gave the game away at least 3 times. I think the only thing that surprised me was that he was also Ty, because I just didn’t expect it to be that easy, and because I’m sure I remember a dungeon scene where Irrek and Ty talk to each other. And now I’m just picturing Irrek talking at an empty jail cell, like Gollum mid-breakdown.

. Arnik – I’m sorry, but did anyone care about him? He was barely in it, his death was written like it was a huge event, and then even his father doesn’t seem to mourn him. R.I.P Arnik - the most interesting thing about you was your name, and the fact it’s the only one that doesn’t match someone else’s.

Things I want from book 2:

. More magic – I want to see more about the Drae, and see how Ryn will handle her new powers on top of the ones she’s still learning to use.

. The nectar – I genuinely hope they explain what this is in the next book, although no matter what they say I still think Ryn was an idiot for drinking an unknown substance while in captivity. Like girl, didn’t anybody ever tell you not to accept drinks from strange dragon men?

. Romance – Slow burns are good, but I’m ready for a little bit of love in the next one. I hope this frustration Ryn has against Tyrrek doesn’t last the whole book.

All in all a solid 4/5 for me. Bring on book 2.

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