The story was vivid and I could see everything that was happening. The characters were well rounded and the author does a wonderful job in world building. The turmoil that Ana felt with using her affinity for blood and trying to be good made the character believable and sympathetic.

Blood Heir is a story presented as an epic fantasy that I just could not get enough of. Laced with intrigue, details and amazing world building, I found myself completed hooked and left wanting more. You know a book-cation is amazing when you turn the last page, shocked that the adventure is over and you have to wait for the next in the series.

This was my first read by Amelie Wen Zhao but it won't be my last. Her imagination, originality and twist on everything I desire in my chosen read.

I received this ARC copy of Blood Heir from Random House Children's - Delacorte Press. This is my honest and voluntary review. Blood Heir is set for publication June 04, 2019.

My Rating: 5 stars
Written by: Amelie Wen Zhao
Age Range: 12 and up
Grade Level: 7 - 9
Lexile Measure: 0820
Series: Blood Heir (Book 1)
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: November 19, 2019
ISBN-10: 0525707794
ISBN-13: 978-0525707790
Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Heir-Amé...
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bloo...
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I am super excited to hear that the book is being revised a little and will be published anyway!!! I was super disappointed when I heard that as an own voices writer the author was put under pressure to pull the book. I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy of the published version.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Please note: this is a review of the original ARC before the subsequent pull and re-publication of the novel.

Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao follows Anastacya Mikhailov, the crown princess of the Cyrilian Empire, who is presumed dead and in hiding after being framed for the murder of her father, the Emperor. To clear her name and find the real killer, Ana enlists the help of notorious con man Ramson Quicktongue, who has dark ambitions of his own. However, Ramson's ulterior motives aren't Ana's only concern. She is an Affinite, a person with a particular gift at controlling the world around them, but Ana's affinity isn't earth, wind, the mind, or even flesh--it's blood, and it comes with deadly intent. As Ana learns more about the dark side of her country--particularly how rampant the human trafficking trade for Affinites truly is--she must face what she is willing to do to change it, including embracing herself and her own power.

I was deeply intrigued by Blood Heir ever since I read an excerpt for it on NetGalley, and I'm happy to say that the ARC as a whole did not disappoint. While there are a few things here and there that I would've changed or wanted to be expounded upon, Blood Heir proved to be a remarkably strong start to a series as well as a debut novel.

From the beginning, I was moved by Zhao's letter to the reader where she explains why she decided to write this story, that since she moved to the United States during the height of Trump's America, she has been targeted for her Otherness. Comments about her identity as an immigrant and a woman of color, slurs like "Get out of my country, communist!"--each has contributed to the narrative of Blood Heir, showing how Otherness can be demonized in a society. Even more so, it shows how those deemed "Other" in this Us vs. Them mindset can internalize this fear of not belonging and learn how to hate who you are.

Ultimately, though, Blood Heir also shows that there's a path toward light and hope, of self-acceptance, of embracing who you are and all the things that make you different. That you can use what you have to fight for a better tomorrow.

That isn't to say that the journey there is clear-cut and easy. Ana wrestles with many uncertainties as she tries to find the alchemist responsible for killing her father. From a young age, she's been taught to fear and hate her own power, has internalized that she is a monster and therefore can be monstrous because a "teacher" of hers drilled that belief into her head. At the same time, she is confronted for the first time by how deeply the corruption runs in her country, that soldiers meant to protect the people accept bribes and turn a blind eye to the illegal Affinite trafficking happening right in front of their noses.

Modern-day slavery and human trafficking are huge societal problems explored in this fantastical world. Even though the Cyrilian Empire resembles Eastern Europe and Russia, Zhao has drawn on her experiences from living in China to tackle this issue that truly isn't commonly discussed. It was this book that got me thinking how strange it is that we don't talk about modern-day slavery very often.

Sure, topics like sex trafficking can be a one-episode plot line on The Blacklist, and human trafficking itself is a touched-upon issue in my home city of Atlanta, but it's not exactly an issue of U.S. national concern, is it? Perhaps that's because it's cracked down upon in the background, starting with the FBI all the way down to the local law enforcement level---but that's in the U.S. What must this issue be like in other parts of the world? Who is protecting the people caught up in human trafficking and arresting the perpetrators?

In the case of Blood Heir, the targets for human trafficking and indentured servitude aren't based on age, race, or even necessarily for sexual favors---it's based on whether you're an Affinite and how rare your affinity is, and yes, it's the Superhuman Trafficking trope.

I'm sure if you've read Children of Blood and Bone, experienced X-Men in any form or fashion, or exposed yourself to literally the hundreds of media that use the tropes Fantastic Racism, Muggle Power, and Have You Tried Not Being a Monster?, you know what Zhao is doing by creating Affinites for her fantasy story.

Affinites are of all different races and I'd also wager sexualities, and having them be the oppressed party in a fantasy setting is an entertaining but also thought-provoking way to get readers to talk about how we treat people in real life who we view as being different from us (Muggle Power), whether it's in the form of race (Fantastic Racism) or gender/sexuality/disabilities, etc. (Have You Tried Not Being a Monster?).

By making Ana a blood Affinite, readers get to experience her wrestling with all of these issues, with her Otherness while also learning how to accept herself, figuring out how to use her powers for the good of her kingdom (even if that means inflicting harm on the bad guys), and being in a position to actually create and cause change.

Her journey was definitely the one that I enjoyed the most, and I fell in love with her dark side as well as her light. Like Katniss before her, I suspect that she, too, is potentially of mixed race given her mother's "rich russet" skin and her own "dusky olive" skin and "dark chestnut" hair. Ana is likewise described as "a mix of the pale-skinned Northern Cyrillians and the tawny-skinned Southern Cyrillians who dwelled in the Dzhyvekha Mountains on the borders of the Cyrillian Empire and the Nandjian Crown." At the very least, she shares the darker complexions of many Eastern Europeans. Her brother Luka, meanwhile, has emerald eyes and blond hair, making me think he inherited those traits from their father while also backing up the latter claim.

Ramson Quicktongue was easily another favorite character of mine because smooth-talking con men who say "darling" and "love" are just a type for me. Plus, I love characters who are willing to get their hands dirty to get what they want. He undergoes his own journey throughout the novel, and the scenes between he and Ana are top-tier as each of them struggles to work together and contends with their own ambitions and brands of gray morality. Also, the relationship is a slow-burning one, fraught with complications and obstacles, and that is unequivocally the best kind of relationship.

All of those scenes with Ramson's past, his father, and Jonah, though? Ouch. Hit me right in the heart, but what good storytelling. The same can be said with the scenes between him and Alaric Kerlan. A well-written torture scene? Zhao, are you flirting with me right now? I'm so proud of you for not being afraid to go there in a YA book.

For those wanting some character descriptions, Ramson is brown-haired and hazel-eyed. He is from Bregon, a country known for its navy and for sea-faring. I mention this because of accusations against the author for being anti-black with her narrative due to the fate of another character, a young girl named May.

So here is May, described in Ramson's POV:

"She was Bregonian. South Bregonian, it seemed, judging from the tawny color of her skin, a shade darker than Ramson's own North Bregonian complexion. Her eyes were a brilliant turquoise, the color of the southern seas, and her brown curls rippled like the waters of the Moon Lagoon. [...] He brushed it away, but his eyes stayed on the little girl, drinking in the familiarity of her complexion that hit a little too close to home."

With that, I can't honestly say one way or another if May is black. I'm honestly leaning towards no both because of the continuous description of her "ocean-green eyes" and "the silk of her curls" and because of Ramson's own identification with her. Given Bregon's emphasis on the sea, they may both be closer to resembling Filipinos or a similar islander ethnicity. The ARC didn't come with a map, so I can't say for sure.

What I can say for sure is how much the gun was jumped on assuming Zhao was anti-black or racist of any kind, particularly since May ultimately has agency over her fate (aka it wasn't an accident or "plot-furthering" device; she has a choice and she makes it herself), and her fate is shared by others of different ethnicities throughout the book.

That being said, I do wish May had been a more fleshed-out character with more page time than what I got. While it was obvious that May and Ana were fond of each other, that relationship had developed before Blood Heir started, and I don't feel that it grew or progressed in any way.

Nevertheless, the scene after the auction with the Affinite children in cages? I don't know if Zhao wrote that before or after the news broke in the U.S. about the Trump Administration's migration separation policy. You know, the one where migrant children were forcibly separated from their parents at the border and detained in chain-link boxes, cells, cages, whatever you want to call them. Whether Zhao did this intentionally or not, it's a well-timed reminder, and the narrative's commentary on the matter is suitably condemning:

"There was nothing, absolutely nothing, forgivable about human beings who chose to put children in cages."

For freeing them alone, May is an absolute hero and worth every bit of love and remembrance she receives.

Ana and Yuri's relationship in comparison was depicted better, simply because Ana remembered more of what Yuri was like with her in the palace versus the Affinite revolutionary he grew up to be.

Additionally, while the first and second act was highly enjoyable, action-packed, character-focused, and generally solid, the third act fell a little short. I wasn't wowed by who the true villain turned out to be, and the confrontation scene felt more like reading a dramatic stage play than something natural.

However, the presence of Linn, a Kemeiran girl with "dark-moon eyes" and "black hair," implying a Chinese-inspired race, held the ending together long enough for Blood Heir and I to make a strong finish together. Her duel with the Hound was incredible, and I don't know what may develop between them--be it a rivalry or something else--but I am deeply intrigued.

Zhao explored many nuances of the Cyrilian Empire to form a sturdy foundation of her novel, but now I am eager to explore the rest of this world. I'm eager to see Bregon, to experience how differently Kemeira treats Affinites by making them Temple Masters, to learn more about ice spirits and the greater spiritual world, and to discover how people are born with an affinity and what determines their powers.

And of course, I'm dying to see where Ana and Ramson's relationship goes, whether Ramson will run into his father, how Linn will repay her debt and find her destiny in the world, and what role Yuri will play in Ana's rise to power.

Like Ramson realizing the truth about his dark path, I also really want Ana to realize that the Affinites' oppression came to a head under her father's rule because I don't think she ever made the connection? I mean, sure, Affinite auctions and indenturements were made illegal in her father's time, I believe, but what did the Emperor ever do to stop them or prevent his own Imperial Patrols from taking bribes? I just doubt he was oblivious to them. So I'd like her to connect the dots, grapple with it a bit, make a judgment call, and then do something about it.

I also don't feel like we've seen the last of the dark side to Ana's blood affinity--not by a long shot--and I'll be simultaneously wanting and dreading to see how it will potentially damage Ana's credibility and intentions.

So well done, Amélie Wen Zhao! With Blood Heir, I've been given a host of complicated, flesh-and-blood characters who are trying to find their way in a broken yet well-conceived world full of both magic and darkness. I'm definitely pre-ordering this book and will hope that any rewrites won't change too much narratively-speaking because the narrative is fantastic. Regardless, I'm looking forward to what's to come!

Don't feel like I am able to review this book under the current circumstances surrendering it. Thank you for the review copy and the chance though.

I would like to thank Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book exactly how it is, I am a little bummed that the author has been pressured into rewriting it. I felt like it hit pretty close to home as to the struggles we still deal with today, prejudices and human trafficking. I understand that these subjects can be difficult for some people to deal with but it is not as though the author is suggesting these things are OK. This is the first book of the series so you can't really expect all the problems to be solved by the end, but there is definitely progression in correcting the horrible treatment of many characters in this book.

I loved the characters, in particular Ana and Ramson who were especially fierce and cunning. This book had everything I love about fantasy beyond the amazing characters. The world building was excellent and unique, it was fairly fast paced with plenty of action, the dual third person perspective was done very well.

I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who enjoys fantasy, one of the best reads so far this year!

Blood Heir is a solid YA fantasy with roots in Russian history (specifically, a take on Anastasia Romanov and Rasputin). The story flowed smoothly and the characters were nicely nuanced. The magic system was interesting enough to keep me invested to the end.

Story: Ana has a very deadly and reviled magical ability to control blood. It is something her royal family has hidden from the public - until the night her father is murdered and she is framed. On the run, avoiding both her own people and the traitorous magician behind her father's murder, she has no choice but to work with/trust Ramson Quicktongue to help her find revenge and exoneration. The problem is that Ramson trusts no one - and certainly not a person with the power Ana wields.

What I liked about the story is that there were no solidly good or evil people - each were driven by their own desires and needs. Especially Ramson was just as likely to dump the heroine from being too much trouble as to help her - she has to discover and then meet his wants to even get him to give her a bit of his time to help. And even then, he was just as likely to trick or jeopardize her if she proved to be too much trouble. It was a welcome relief from the countless over-idealized YA heroes who are too good to be true. In this story, the two main characters have to come to a truce before they can even begin to discover if they can stand each other.

On the other hand, the tired cliche of "girl with super power, no one told her how to use it, she is feared for it, and it can change the world if she uses it right' got old fast. At least it didn't spring up suddenly - but I still would have preferred her to be actually terrified of using it. As well, it's another case where there is a magic that should have been well known/documented in the world yet everyone treats it like it is something new and completely unknown.

But those are quibbles as I otherwise enjoyed the story. Both hero and heroine were not stereotypes and so felt more nuanced as a result. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Book pulled from publication. Rating does not reflect my opinions, three stars selected simply because it is in the middle of the rating scale.

I was a little wary to start this book. I had heard soooo much about it, both good and bad. I also knew that there was a lot of conflict around this book, to the point that the author ended up pulling it from the shelves.
That is actually one of my biggest fears as an author, putting my work out there and being torn apart for a world I created.
After going into this book with an open mind, ready to form my own opinions about the book, I am extremely sad that it was pulled from the shelf. I loved this book, I was looking foreword to being able to pre order and get this debut author's name out there.

There is so many great aspects to this book it is hard to narrow down where I want to talk about without giving much away but I think the best part is the complex characters that were so easy to relate to. They were so real, it felt like their struggles where my own.

I received a E-ARC from Netgalley for my honest review. I want to say thank you Netgally for letting me read this book.

This book was amazing. I need more of this story!!!

Blood Heir is about a girl that has a amazing power and a Con man that need a way out.
Ana is dry my to find the man that killed her father. She gets framed as her father's killer and is locked up. Ana has some help with escaping the place. After she leaves her home she is out to find the man that changed her world. The only way for her to find him is with a very well known .com man named Ramson.
Rams on helps her get out of the prison they both are in and makes a trade with Ana. She doesn't know his intention with the trade but she will do anything to find her dad's killer.

This story is thrilling and actin packed with a little bit of a love story. If you would like to call it that.

In really enjoyed reading this book. I look forward to the publication of this book and I really hope that it happens.

I wound highly recommend this book.

3 STARS

Though Blood Heir at this point has been removed from publication, I still wanted to review it. However, this review will not be posted on The Words Gremlin or any other site, as that seems counter-intuitive to a pulled book.

Overall, I found Blood Heir to be at best okay. It wasn't terribly written or weakly plotted, but it didn't absolutely shine in a way I might have hoped for either. Sometimes, the plot felt repetitive (how many times was Ana poisoned so she couldn't couldn't use her Affinity to get out of danger?), and I wasn't keen on the characters either. Ramson was a rare example of a con man I didn't have much love for (I found it difficult to sympathize with him, especially once the romantic element was introduced since he seems much older than Ana), and Ana was just, again, okay.

I did appreciate, though, that this book addressed the evil inherent in accepting a neutral position in the face of oppression. Standing by and doing nothing while being cognizant of injustice is an evil in itself, and Ana's anger at such a thing, whether it's her anger with Ramson or her angry disbelief that her father did nothing, was well handled.

That said, I also see why people were upset about the treatment of Black coded characters, particularly May. The current of slavery and the heavy parallels to the American slave trade in particular are highly visible, and May seems to exist more as a plot device for Ana to grasp the severity of the situation rather than existing as a character in her own right.

On the whole, the world was interesting, especially the concept of Affinities, but I think the way it was explored was not handled well, and I would have liked a little more ingenuity of plot and vibrancy of character. This was a middle of the road book, neither amazing nor disastrously awful, with the exception of the issues regarding Black characters. Since I am not Black, and folks who are have shared their thoughts, and since we are long past the point of controversy and in the realm of the book being pulled from publication, I think it is more helpful to let what Black folks have said stand rather than attempting to add anything to the conversation.

Will wait to give feedback until after the author finishes fixing her book. I wish her the best of luck.

Since the title was pushed back I chose not to review it at this moment. I'm looking forward to the revised version. Thank you for taking this step

It is a really well written story, stunning actually, but it is mean. Pretty much everyone is mean, bordering on being evil, and that is simply not something I enjoy. I'm more of a peace'n love type.

To all the haters and the self-proclaimed book police out there:
FUCK YOU ALL! You are a disease that the world should be vaccinated against.
There is absolutely nothing racist in this book! It's just a story. How in the world can you be offended by this?

So I have stumbled across some controversy about this book. I got an ARC and have been stuck in the same page for the past 23 days. I haven't gotten to the part which seems to be the topic of contention. The reason I haven't gotten there yet is because I find this book boring. Be that as it may, I thought to add my self to the conversation. Something I don't usually do.

From my understanding, the main issue is that a black character was killed. From what i've read I don't think the black character was a main character for there to be such an uproar about it,still I didn't read the book so maybe I'm missing something in the narrative. The thing is Who cares if a black character was killed, it's a book! It's not like the author is going out and killing black people. She can kill whomever she wants. Killing a black character does not equate to racism.

There were also some mention of slavery which I honestly could not fully understand but I'll say this. Almost every race has been subject to slavery, it is a fact. As it happens, Black people still have to struggle for the same opportunities given to other races especially Whites, so I can understand why mention of slavery and such might rub many wrong.

I had a discussion with a friend after watching Stephen fry's debate on political correctness and this conversation seem apt in relation to the hoopla about this book. Political correctness and censorship are the two things I am almost certain will be the downfall of society. Everyone is so sensitive, we all want to be angry about something because we know someone angry about it but we never really ask our self if it's something to be angry about. If you want to be angry then do so because you want to, not because the masses are angry. Do you own thinking.

I once had an argument with someone complaining about rape and infidelity in a book. This book was set in the 1700s. This person, a friend, had wanted to stop reading this author's work because of the rape issue and I couldn't understand it. It is a book, if she wants to write about rape she can. I know I'm not one to talk because I have some reviews like this so yes I am party to this as well. But the issue I had was that this was the 1700s , people were raped like crazy, some men viewed women as chattel and it was acceptable then because women had not been as vocal or quite ready as they were during the suffrage so it's easy to understand why women can be raped willy nilly in a book set in that time period.

But I digress, I understand that it is painful when a loved character dies. I myself have cussed many authors for killing a character I loved but I don't raise an uproar and call the author a murderer. If I thought it unfair I can always learn the intricacies of writing and create the characters I want.

I feel I have to say this before someone comes and says I don't understand the issue because I'm not black but as it happens I am black so yea. Again I shouldn't really comment based on the barest of information I have but if there is some undertone in the book which might show that the author was trying to be blatantly or subtly racist , please let me know so that I can decide for myself.

Unfortunately, this book has been pulled for publication. If it ever gets a second shot, I will happily review, but I think it is unfair to do so now given the change in circumstances.

I enjoyed Blood Heir very much, & don’t understand why the release was postponed. I heard some complained about the slavery aspects but so much fantasy includes that. This was a well done YA fantasy! Yes, there were some bumps typical of a debut book, but overall it was very good. Looking forward to reading the next installment.

Derivative and unimaginative, ultimately. Action packed with no real impact. I thought this book had potential conceptually, but most of the characters were archetypes and stock and the world felt flat. Uninspired.

I am a huge fan of Anastasia retellings and have read many of them. However, I found this to be the most creative. Ana has been framed for the murder of her father. She teams up with a conman to clear her name and find her father’s killer. I really like Ana. It is clear that she is a survivor for she goes through many hardships. She was also very resourceful. The world-building is well done. It shows how corrupt the kingdom is. The story is fast-paced and captivates you from the first page. I recommend this fans of Shadow and Bone.

I only realized when I went to add this to my Goodreads shelf that the author had decided not to publish this in its current form due to issues raised on some of the themes. I'm not going to comment on whether the concerns raised were valid (I'm not the right person) but I will say that I hope at some point this author does get her writing out there as she's really good.

This book is not perfect but I very much enjoyed it. It's roughly based on Anastasia with a princess, Ana, forced to flee the palace when she's blamed for her father's murder. To prove her innocence and save her brother she's forced to work with a conman to find the real killer and make her way back to the palace. The highlight of the story is very much the Russia inspired setting, the descriptions and world building are wonderful, but I also really liked the characters.

There are a few of the usual stereotypes but there are also a few who are a little more unique. Ramson in particularly really stood out to me and I loved his redemption arc. He starts the story as a genuinely horrible person but grows and changes over the course of the book..I really loved the relationship between him and Ana. It's thankfully not an insta love but instead insta hate which grows into a kind of grudging appreciation and trust. I very much enjoyed their constant bickering and threats.

There are quite a few of the usual YA tropes, special snowflake with magical powers she has to use to save the world, betrayal, loss, an evil tyrant and the suggestion of a future love triangle which do make it a little on the predictable side but it's still an enjoyable journey. There are also enough little surprises and twists to keep you hooked and there is plenty of action and just the right pacing.

It was intended to be the first in a trilogy so the ending is left fairly open for more and I really hope the author does continue with it even if it means some re working of Blood Heir..I'll definitely be looking out for whatever she does next.