Thursday, June 2, 2011

BLOOD MAGIC by Tessa Gratton

Okay, so today's bookanista post delves back into the fantastical. The magical. The bloody.

That's right. Bloody. BLOOD MAGIC by Tessa Gratton, to be exact. There were a lot of reasons I liked this book, but the first was the magic.

Let it be known that I love magic. I love thinking about magic, and I wish I could do magic. For real. But without having to cut myself and drip blood onto stuff.


See, that's what happens in BLOOD MAGIC. Here's a little synop: Everywhere Silla Kennicott turns she sees blood. She can't stop thinking about her parents alleged murder-suicide. She is consumed by a book filled with spells that arrives mysteriously in the mail. The spells share one common ingredient: blood, and Silla is more than willing to cast a few. What's a little spilled blood if she can uncover the truth? And then there's Nick—the new guy at school who makes her pulse race. He has a few secrets of his own and is all too familiar with the lure of blood magic. Drawn together by a combination of fate and chemistry, Silla and Nick must find out who else in their small Missouri town knows their secret and will do anything to take the book and magic from Silla.

So there's blood and there's magic. I could take one without the other, but Tessa does a good job of not making it too gory.

The reason I loved this story was because of the characters and the relationships they have. Let's examine.

Silla. I liked Silla a lot. If you know me at all, you know I like broken characters. And Silla is busted into a million pieces, what with the death of her parents and all. I won't spoil anything, but there's another death that is just fantastic. That came out wrong. But it's real and perfect, and I'm glad that it happened, even though I didn't like it when this person died.

Nicholas. I liked Nick too, he's just not as fragile as Silla. He narrates too, so it gives an interesting perspective, and the two stories are expertly interwined, and I enjoyed that too.

Reese. He's Silla's brother, and I loved their relationship. It was at times messy and complicated, at times very sibling-ish, and at other times best friend-ish. In short, it was very well done.

The villain. I won't tell you who it is, because that would spoil the whole mystery of it. Let me just say that there were 3 possible suspects for me, and just when I thought I had it figured out, I was wrong. And that, my friends, is some darn fine mystery storytelling right there.

So if you haven't heard of BLOOD MAGIC yet, add it to your list. You won't be sorry.

And spill. Do you like bloody books?


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25 comments:

Natalie Aguirre said...

Ooh, I just won Blood Magic and it should be here any day now. I can't wait to read it.

Elodie said...

I can't wait to read this book now !! These characters sound awesome !
Thanks ;)

Kelly Hashway said...

I love a good mystery. Especially one that I can't figure out. I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for this one.

Matthew MacNish said...

I'm not into blood, per se, but this actually sounds like something I could get into. Because, yaknow, I am totally into magic.

Kristi said...

Love the review and just added it to my list! Thanks Elena!!!

Shannon O'Donnell said...

This one is already on my wish list! I'm dying to read it. :-)

Kristin Rae said...

Glad to hear it was good! It's been on my list for a while now :)

Canda said...

Love the cover on this one. I've been visiting it in the books story for a while but always seem to take something else to the register. I'll have to move it up the want list a bit.

Stacy Henrie said...

Nope, I can't read bloody books. I have to skip most decriptions of it or I start to feel queamish. Like in Twilight when they had to prick their fingers in science (yeah, just typing this is making me feel ill) I had to completely skip over that part.

Anonymous said...

Wow, sounds like a great book!

Carolyn V said...

I already want it! Must get book!

Thanks Elana. =)

Lola Sharp said...

I love bloody books/movies, etc. And magic.

I too enjoyed Blood Magic. She did a great job with the mystery part of it. :)

Huggles,
Lola

Liesl Shurtliff said...

I'm not sure if I like "bloody" books, but I know I love magic so maybe I'll have to give this a shot. It sounds intriguing.

Unknown said...

I finished reading it yesterday - <3<3<3!!! Such a great book!

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

OMG, you crack me up: "wish I could do magic. For real. But without having to cut myself and drip blood onto stuff." Ha! Great review. I loved the brokenness of Silla, too.

Carrie Harris said...

I'm so itching to read this. And of course I like bloody books, although you probably could have figured that yourself. :)

Eric said...

You know me, Elana. I love creeptastic books. And I don't mind a little blood here and there, as long as it's not straight out of a B movie. I will have to check this one out. Thanks for letting us know about it.

Christina Lee said...

SO very excited for this one--thx!

Belle Wong said...

I love magic, too. Blood Magic sounds like it's not too gory, despite the blood part of things - looks like a great read!

Theresa Milstein said...

I love magic, and wish I could do magic too. I don't think I'd be thrilled about needing blood to perform magic. I'll look it up anyway.

(What wrong with a nice, old fashioned wand?)

Unknown said...

I love freaky magic so this sounds great:-) I'll have to check it out!

Jeff King said...

Nice info... sounds like a good read.

thx for shaing it.

RaShelle Workman said...

This book sounds great. Thanks for sharing. I'm not a big fan of bloody books... but that doesn't mean I don't write about it. LOL

Leslie S. Rose said...

I worked in a lab during high school. I'm immune to blood. Bring it! ...in a great story of course.

Anonymous said...

Ooh. That's a gorgeous cover! Sounds awesome!

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