Blood Heir

The basic premise of Blood Heir is very familiar - a world where magical people are persecuted and controlled by people who fear them. This is not a particularly new or original concept. However, Blood Heir is an exceptionally well written example of this trope. Amelie has a very engaging writing style that draws you in a pleasant way. The world she has built is richly realised with the characters and places given some interesting depth. Whilst the story deals largely in tropes, they are all very well executed ones and together form a pleasing whole.

It's a good story. So, I read this book because of the L.L.McKinney vs. Amélie Wen Zhao issue. I read [b:A Blade So Black 36952594 A Blade So Black (Nightmare-Verse, #1) L.L. McKinney https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1524085521l/36952594.SY75.jpg 55014241] first simply because it was published first. I liked it better. They are not quite comparable, though, as that one is more urban fantasy happening in modern day USA, and this one more classic fantasy, happening in an imaginary world somewhat based on Russia. I didn't find anything racist in this book, but I also read an edited version, as Amélie held this book back about a half a year to check the racism due to the “issue”. I don't think there was any racism in that book either, one must remember that L.L.McKinney is a USonian black woman, who would naturally read any reference to slavery from the USonian black slavery POV, when Amélie Wen Zhao is a Chinese born woman, who is clearly talking about the serfdom going on in Russia and China. But, I am a white European woman from a country where there was no slavery. Anyway, this book is not racist. I think it was slightly too long. The journey from 2/3 to 3/4 was painful to read. But, I didn't DNF it.I even want to read the next book, so even though that last third was tedious and boring, it's not a bad book. I liked the concept, ideas, plot, solutions, but I have some problems with how the characters behaved and thought. The constant “I'm a monster” thinking was aggravating. OK, so you are a monster. Define what being a monster is. Use your affinity in a way that you can achieve what you want to achieve. One can use weapons in many different ways. Learn to use it, learn to control it, learn to control your own blood, and create a barrier against the poison or something. Geesh! That she can't decide whether to trust people or not, trusts everyone and then starts distrusting them and then goes back to trusting them... I hate it that she killed always the wrong people. And then there was that movie fighting, all the attacks happen one on one, orderly and everyone waits nicely until its time for them to make the move. Uh. It was just too... convenient. But - it was still a good story.Oh, and “Who is he?”“It's a long story”No, it's not. “He's a fear Affinite, working for the empress usurper and Kerlan, his name is Vladimir Sadov”. Very short story, gives enough information and explains everything.Nice that it wasn't instalove, but focused more on the friendship and other human relations instead of love. Of course they love each other, but they didn't do what they did because of that. That was just kind of bonus. I like that. I like the effort to create depth to the characters even when it didn't work too well. I have high hopes about the next book. There are some things here that remind me a lot of [b:Children of Blood and Bone 34728667 Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha, #1) Tomi Adeyemi https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516127989l/34728667.SX50.jpg 55911580], except this one is better.