Bloodleaf by Crystal Smith
Hello Books Lovers,
How are you? I am still recovering from a long fever, cold, sore throat and so on and so forth. The only positive side of staying home for almost a week is that I managed to devour the latest fantasy published by Mondadori to start 2020 in the best possible way.
I’m talking about Crystal Smith’s Bloodleaf, released last week, and which looks good from the cover. But you have to read the content, and what content… I think it has become one of my favorite books, and it is definitely one of the best fantasy releases this year. I don’t know when the sequel will come to Italy as it comes out in the original language this June. However, it must also be said that I am very curious to know how this trilogy continues, also because in English the second volume has as its title the surname of one of the most mysterious characters in the book, Kellan.
Each page of this book has left me satisfied. Maybe I would have changed some of Aurelia’s decisions, and maybe shed more light on some unsolved mysteries, but nothing more. Aurelia is the princess of Renalt, and since her kingdom will be ruled by her little brother, since she was a child she was promised to Valentin, prince of Achlev, with poor health.
Things are now becoming difficult with the Tribunal – which tries to eliminate all traces of magic by killing the people who use it – especially since she is accused of practicing witchcraft, and therefore must leave for Achlev as soon as possible. But everything starts to go wrong, betrayal upon betrayal reigns in the narrative. Eventually she arrives at Achlev alone, with no place to go or permission to enter the city. The only thing she has left is Kellan’s mare.
I won’t do spoilers, but Aurelia eventually enters the city thanks to a mysterious boy, and is also hosted by him. She has to learn magic for a friend, she has to stay hidden to stay alive, but more importantly she has to find a way to save Achlev.
The element I thought was missing from the reading was love, but I soon realized that it only took a little while to arrive. In this book we have all the elements we could wish for, a phenomenal world-building, tenacious, courageous characters, and intrigues, secrets and a plot capable of intertwining everything with skill, without making us understand anything until the moment in which the author herself wanted to reveal crucial details.
But my favorite part… you know when you are reading, and at some point you start making theories like: but isn’t it that he is …? But without having anything concrete to confirm your theory? Well that’s always my favorite part of reading, and it’s been in this book too, and it’s been great.
They are not full 5 stars that I give to this book, I want to be even more amazed by the second book, but 4 and a half are well deserved.
Princess Aurelia is a prisoner to her crown and the heir that nobody wants. Surrounded by spirits and banned from using her blood-magic, Aurelia flees her country after a devastating assassination attempt. To escape her fate, Aurelia disguises herself as a commoner in a new land and discovers a happiness her crown has never allowed. As she forges new bonds and perfects her magic, she begins to fall for a man who is forbidden to rule beside her. But the ghosts that haunt Aurelia refuse to abandon her, and she finds herself succumbing to their call as they expose a nefarious plot that only she can defeat. Will she be forced to choose between the weight of the crown and the freedom of her new life?
