The Blood Keeper ~ Tessa Gratton (earc) review

The Blood Keeper (The Blood Journals #2)
Random House Books for Young Readers
August 28, 2012
432 pages
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Mab Prowd's grown up on a secluded farm in Kansas. For her, having no friends (outside the family) and not attending school is no sacrifice as living there also means learning the blood magic they've practiced for generations. With only her crows as companions, Mab loves being able to practice her magic freely, without constraint or condemnation.

One day, though, a spell, quite literally, gets away from her.

And to Will.

Will who's trying to get rid of some of his own kind of demons: nightmares. Thrust into an experience - with Mab and her magic - he's nowhere near ready to comprehend or believe, Will's happy to forget about it.

But the encounter - and things kept from Mab - may bring them together again.


I have to admit that if The Blood Keeper wasn't being offered by Random House as a digital galley, I might not have read - or reviewed - it as soon. I would have been missing out. And so will any of you who wait on this one.

While I did very much enjoy Blood Magic (see my review), it wasn't so much so that it automatically put the sequel at the top of my to-read list. Then I saw an the synopsis (I have a thing for books - especially paranormal ones - set on Midwestern farms) and an excerpt and had to request it.

Everything that I loved about Blood Magic (The Blood Journals #1) was back here, in this second book. It may have just been my association, but the barn and the land around the farm all but compensated for the lake of a cemetery setting this go-round. We still have the darkness, the magic that is not only real but more than just poof'ing yourself into a pretty dress. The Blood Magic is back.

As the blood magic is back, so is the blood. This is, again, not exactly a book for anyone with issues with blood or cutting (your arm/wrist/hand open).

While The Blood Keeper kept everything about Blood Magic that made it a book I very much liked, it also improved on the things that kept me from loving it.

I liked the characters of Nick and Silla, loved how they were parallels of each in many ways but also so similar, too. I just didn''t feel there was quite enough development. The Blood Keeper focuses on two different characters: Will and Mab. Gratton again tells the novel from their two perspectives (interspersed with chapters from an old diary, as in Blood Magic)  but gives them more time on their won, more time for readers to learn who they are. They still interact, there's still a story between the two characters, but the whole story isn't between the two characters.

Where I would say Blood Magic was more of a plot book, The Blood Keeper is much more a character book - without losing any of its great plot.


Rating: 8/10


Other books you might also enjoy: The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff and The Hollow (series) by Jessica Verday