Daughter of the Blood

I'll start this review by saying I was mistakenly under the impression that this was a romance novel. It is not. In fact, it's quite dark and unapologetically fantasy. Once I got over the fact this wasn't the fantasy romance I expected, I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would.

This is a book that desperately needed a map. And maybe some family trees complete with who is alive, dead, and demon dead (because of course these people become quasi-vampires). I eventually made peace with the fact I would have to be vaguely confused by this story if I was going to enjoy it.

I found the first half quite slow as a veritable horde of different characters and povs were introduced. It starts getting good when Daemon is sent to Chaillot and he finally meets Jaenelle. Since we do not get Jaenelle's pov at all during this book, we get to learn more about what she's like through Daemon's interactions with her.

I really don't quite understand how most of the magic mechanics in this world work. Whatever Daemon does at the end to get Jaenelle back is definitely lost on me. However, I do understand that Daemon and Jaenelle are separated and I'm eager to experience that delicious angst in the next book.

In general, I'm interested in seeing how Jaenelle comes into her power and how she creates her court in the future books. It would also be interesting to see how all of the trauma these characters experience will affect them.

It starts out slow. I didn't really become invested in the story until about 100 pages into the book. You're given a lot of characters in the beginning which is hard to keep track of and their past stories which seems heavy at first but all characters mentioned in the book has a purpose. Be warned this twisted, violent world has many physical, psychological torture with abusive, and forced sexuality that every person in this world has undergone. Other than that this is a very well written and thought out book. If you like dark fantasy then you will most likely like this.

I was so disappointed by this book, and it truly made me sad because I was hoping for another kink-friendly fantasy series to bring into my life. While the writing was decent, I found the character development to be astoundingly mediocre, and while the general concept of the fantasy universe was interesting, it was poorly done IMO. Actually, it kind of felt like a bunch of fanfic tropes thrown into a blender, but instead of resulting in a delicious smoothie, it came out as tasteless syrup with lumps of interesting magic and occasional innovative ideas. But I did read all of it, so I guess I can't complain too much. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I can.

I was content with the book, but I would not read it again.
My opinion of this book depends solely upon my life experience and frame of mind while reading it.

Other reviews here quite thoroughly cover the failings of the story, the prose, the characters.
Most tragic of all the failings are the repetitive and poorly executed ideas.

What held my attention were the snippets of my own life's truths scattered through the book.
To borrow from the Vorkosigan saga regarding total surrender: “When you give each other everything, it becomes an even trade. Each wins all.”

Yup, I'm done. That was squicky. I could have gone without any of that.

I was right when I reviewed at the half way point. The oversexualization didn't improve. The disturbing relationship between the main guy and the 12 year old girl didn't improve. The violence against children got worse and the Mary Sue ness of the young girl was sustained. Will not continue the series.

Это, наверное, первая книга за долгое время, к которой я не знаю как отнестись. С первых страниц ясно, что написана она для женщин. Сюжет, закручивающийся вокруг всеми ожидаемой Ведьмы и полюбившего ее “израненного монстра”, интересен и так. Тогда зачем его наполнять педофилами, картинами кастрации и инцеста, садизма и прочей “прелести”? Неужели мы настолько пресытились хорошими книгами, что нужно писать что-то подобное? Грязььььььь.....