“People actually died for the magic you’ve chosen as your latest hobby. Gen gods literally created our magic to survive colonization and slavery and lynching–all because of white people.”
Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker
Blood Debts is a story full of magic and mystery, but also important messages. It’s sprinkled full of criticism of society – well-deserved criticism – but also beatiful messages. That makes this book so incredible important today, in a time when the world can be so very cruel and the rights of BIPOC and LBGTQ+ people are questioned every day.
“I’m seizing every fucking bit of my power back. I am the granddaughter of a legendary Queen.”
Now to my favourite part: the characters. I like – no, love – characters who are layered and different shades of grey. Give me characters who fight the good fight but also have a little bit of dark in them, or villains with redeeming qualities, or grumpy, rude characters who are actually just scared of letting people in. And this book had all of them and more. And it was so much fun exploring all these different characters and unpeeling their layers.
“I swirl the contents briskly, as instructed by the spell book, and after a few moments, it transforms into azure-colored flakes that resemble ethereal blue rose petals.”
Blood Debts wasn’t quite what I was expecting. The plot was slower, less magic-focused, and more of a dark, magical mystery. Turns out, it was exactly what I didn’t know I needed. Benton-Walker finds that perfect balance between magic and mystery, and the imagery the author creates with nothing but words is truly beautiful. If you like dark mysteries with a magical twist, Blood Debts is the perfect book for you.
Blood Debts will be available for purchase on April 4th. Are you as excited about this upcoming release as I am? Let me know in the comments!
Author Moa Eriksson 
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