Book two, the finale of the Ashlord series, is okay but doesn't win a lot of interest. This book again changes POV depending on which character you're reading, and I'm sure there was some reason for this, but it just makes it confusing to me.

The Phoenixes are not as involved in this story as we're only focused on the upcoming war and the war going on between the gods. Like the first book, there is a lot of build-up to the big event, but it's not that exciting. The characters aren't that interesting either. The writing is very nice and I liked the style (minus the constantly changing POV). A strange fantasy adventure that concludes the Ashlords' world.

I couldn't get into this book at all, which was really upsetting since I was actually kind of looking forward to this one.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Overall

I whipped through the first book and absolutely could not wait to pick this one up. I knew that’d happen, so I’m kind of glad I waited until I had both to read them together.

Blood Sworn is an absolute roller coaster of emotions, with action and plot twists that’ll have you on the edge of your seat. It’s an all-out war of strategy and one-upmanship with squad vibes, found family, and brutal gods.

The way the first book ended meant this could pick up with a bang, and it carried through with that rush and excitement all the way until the very end. I don’t even have words to tell you how much I absolutely loved this duology! I’m already looking forward to a re-read.

My Thoughts

- Gone are the young, naive characters from the first book who thought all they had to do was win a race. Ha, as if things would be that easy! I loved the character growth in the first book, but Imelda, Adrian, and Pippa find themselves in a whole other world in this one. Literally, but also figuratively. During Ashlords, Pippa viewed The Races as almost her birthright, Imelda as a way out of poverty and servitude to the upper classes, and Adrian as a chance to reclaim the honor for his people. In so many ways, these are actually the same perspectives they take about the war, too.

Remember that storm metaphor from the first book? Well, don’t worry, it’s still here, and the storm becomes both literal and figurative at the same time, and our three protagonists are swept up and sometimes overwhelmed by it. The plot of this book speeds forward at break-neck speed, so it’d be easy to get overwhelmed, but I thought this really highlighted the stress and chaos of war. There was so much urgency in this book, from three different perspectives, each with three different goals, but when the three points of view eventually meet up? Perfection.

- The world-building in this book is absolutely *chef’s kiss* and I just can’t get enough of it. In some ways, it puts the dark in dark fantasy, because this time around, readers get to experience the Underworld and the gods. There are brief mentions of the gods in Ashlords, and I did say I wanted more focus on the world outside the races, and boy does Blood Sworn provide that! This world is dark and unyielding, forged on so many layers of secrets that hardly anyone remembers the truth anymore.

If you were curious about the taste of the gods we get from the first book, you’ll be happy to know that we get to learn about the gods in depth in this book. Or maybe not, because these gods are … not exactly someone I’d want to meet in a dark alley. Or a light alley. Or at all, if I’m honest. The gods live in the Underworld, and in previous wars, they turned the tide of wars in favor of the Ashlords. So of course it’s expected they’ll do the same in this war. But even gods have secrets and ulterior motives, and war is raging in the Underworld, too.

- There are so many moral dilemmas in this book, and I appreciated each and every one of them. You might know by now that some of my favorite books are ones that make you really think. The theme of this book is really learning to question what you assume to be truths. After all, history is written by the victors, right? I think that’s a sentiment we can relate to because it happens in the real world, sometimes to similarly devastating results.

Our three young protagonists are really forced to question what they assume to be true and right and come into themselves as far as what they want their world to become. I’m going to admit, I’m not always one for the teens saving the world trope because it feels overblown a lot to me, but in this particular world and setting? It makes perfect sense. These are teens who have been groomed for war, taught how to fight, told not to question anything and do their duty. As you can imagine, the realities of war aren’t as neat and easy as studying strategies on paper, and Imelda, Adrian, and Pippa are forced to come to grips with the realities of their world and what that means for each of them.

- There are plot twists galore in this book. So. Many. I squeed more than once because of how perfect some of the reveals were! The way the world is fleshed out in this is just wonderful. Ashlords provides the readers a limited glimpse of the world, but it sets the stage perfectly for Blood Sworn to come in and sweep you away. Every time I thought I understood An Important Fact™ about this world, it was challenged. I was kept on my toes the entire time, trying to unravel what was real and what was fabricated.

As you might imagine, the gods and even the underworld itself are not as they seem. There were some pretty heavy hints about this in the first book, and they really come to fruition here. Untangling the truth is anything but easy, though, and gods are hard to topple … right? Combine all the secrets with the fact that this is war and our point-of-view characters are not only leaders but strategists and it’s easy to see why some of these plot twists might catch a reader by surprise! Even the ones I semi-expected, I didn’t completely predict, and I for one absolutely love not knowing exactly how something will end.

I would read Scott's grocery lists. He is a phenomenal storyteller and I love everything he releases.

Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher, the author for an ARC of Bloodsworn in exchange for an honest review.

This was an action packed adventure and conclusion to Ashlords. This was full of drama, excitement, plot twists, and a little bit of romance. Hold on as you enter in to the world of Ashlords because you will be blown away.

Unfortunately, something about this duology didn't resonate with me. I couldn't really immerse myself in it. It was a depply detailed story, just not for me.

Blood Sworn is the second book in the Ashlords duology and friends, it did not disappoint. It starts shortly after the first book in a world at war. I loved diving deeper into each of these characters and see their stories becoming increasingly intertwined. We get a lot of backstory on the gods which was super interesting. There was a twist that was absolutely fantastic and overall my hopeful idealistic heart is so happy. This is incredible YA fantasy with so much heart and nuanced with commentary on our world today. Be last half was binge worthy. Totally satisfying conclusion.

I loved this sequel to Ashlords! Still loving the world and the characters! Loved what a unique story these were!

I’ve had this book for a few months now, but every time I went to pick it up, I knew that I wouldn’t be in the right mindset to read it. Finally, I felt ready to read it, and I’m so glad I waited. This book was good. I felt like everything came together and I feel satisfied with the ending.

I actually grew to love Pippa more in this book than the first one. About halfway through the book, I came to enjoy reading her perspective from third person, which I didn’t like in the first book. Adrian's character grew so much in this book and enjoyed his character more in this one as well. I think the author did a great job developing Pippa and Adrian’s relationship. I don’t feel like Imelda wasn't as much of a main character in this one, but I still enjoyed her perspective and it gave a great insight once all the characters came together.

While I did love this book and thought the ending was good, I would still love to see a spin-off. Maybe something from the characters’ children in the future. It doesn’t have to be a war or anything that they fight, but maybe an adventure they go on.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. I thought it would be a difficult read since I don't remember much from the first book but it turns out that you don't really need to remember much as the author does a great job writing the past events fluently as the story itself continued and expanded. The second half of the novel was a whirlwind of plot twists and drama. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I finished the last few hundred pages in one sitting. Enjoyed this thoroughly.
Full review to come on my YouTube channel.

He did it again! I love the adventure of these books and alchemy horses! This was a series that I picked up because of the gorgeous covers first and foremost. Then, I found out they were about horses and my equestrian self screamed in excitement! I loved having multiple characters to follow to avoid monotony, and the 3rd person pov was a fresh take on reading. While it was hard to read at first, I barely noticed by the end!

Can I please have another Reintgen book right now?
This was amazing! It's such a good conclusion to the series and even though the story is over, I could always read more books set in this series. Bow to you, mr Reintgen.

After the races ended, Pippa, Adrian and Imelda each one of them took the roles they were born for. Pippa became the winner of the races and the leader of the Ashlords war, Adrian came the 2nd on the races and is the leader of Longhands war and Imelda, all she wanted was to “win” the races on her own, stealing the powders for rebirths and escaping the races and hiding in the mountains together with the Dividians rebels.

During the war, things start to change, Quinn the spirit that was gifted to Pippa during the races, is summoning Pippa to the underworld and shows her the plans she has for her world and this is when everything starts to unfold. Their gods are dropping dead, one by one, first one killed by Quinn, the second by Pippa and that’s when they find dark secrets and

The Bloodsworn for me has been a nice read, the half of the book I found it to be a little bit boring because it contained a lot of war elements, things that I felt were dragging a little bit too much and I am not a fan of war tactics so all of that for me wasn’t very interesting.

However, when their gods started dropping dead and they started finding a lot of secrets about their past, that’s when things started to get very interesting for me. I adored the fact that all 3 of them, even if they were born and raised to hate each other, they all came together and fought the same war – against their gods, against the oppression they went through and for a better world that was no more ruled by the greedy gods.

I felt like this book has really found the perfect balance for a normal world that everyone should live in, where no more should be richer than the other, and everyone should be equal, the book didn’t felt just as a fantasy book for me, but also as a political lesson on how things can be improved so everyone in this world can have a normal life and not feel in inferiority than the neighbor.

The book for sure doesn’t let you know what the outcome is, because if at the beginning they all hate each other, towards the end things change, and they’re so involved into their common ground that they are ready to fight everyone who doesn’t have the same perspective as theirs. I can’t say the book had a lot of plot twists, there are some but I think that’s what made the book interesting, the lack of multitude of plot twists and just the ongoing development of the story. The book is still being told the same way as the 1st book which means from Pippa’s perspective, Imelda and Adrian’s which helps you see their thoughts and their struggles and their opinions about the war and what they find.

This was a very nice conclusion to a very original duology.
I would've loved more horses info since that was what brought me at first to this story, but the gods and all the point of views really give the plot the action and mystery I like.

As an avid equestrian of over 25 years, I've always adored books with horses. I also know exactly when someone has done at justice to them, and has thoroughly researched their characteristics.

With that being said, I love the magic system in this series as well as the steampunkness of the magic and combined technology. It feels as though this is just one or two dimensions beyond earth, and I want to go be a rider!

4/5 stars

POV: Pippa, Adrian, Imelda
Pacing: bit slow in the beginning but picked up at 25%

Overall:
I really loved the sequel and final story in this fun, adventurous, YA fantasy duology. The story starts where the race left off and switches gears a bit to focus on the war between the Ashlords, Longhand and Dividians while following Pippa, Adrian and Imelda in their adventures. I really enjoyed how this story came together and how even though there wasn't a horse race, the reader still got to see a few horses and plenty of magic along the way. There was also a bit of romance here in there for a few couples which I loved. Overall, I would recommend this series to any YA fantasy or horse race lover.

*Thank you so much to Random House Children's, Crown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I had to DNF Bloodsworn at about 1/3rd in at this time. I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Ashlords, mostly due to the Hunger Game type race elements of the Phoenix horses. I loved the concept of the magic of how the Phoenix horses die each night and are brought back to life each morning from their ashes.

The Phoenix horses were what kept me interested. In Bloodsworn, the same items from Ashlords, I.e., the race, the Phoenix horses talents and changes from day to day, are not present in this second book.

I’m unable to stay interested and it’s just another Revolution/fantasy book with characters I’m not that into.

I think that this book would be amazing to those who are fantasy lovers, but it’s just not my cup of tea.

*Thank you so much to Random House and NetGalley for the advance copy!”

I received this book from netgalley for review. i really loved this magical series and really enjoyed feeling like i was there. I highly recommend this series, and if you're a fan of the hunger games this is a great series for you. Thank you to netgalley for letting me read this amazing book.

This is a story about a fight against the gods.

I really enjoyed this story, but found I didn't love it quite as much as the first book. It was well written, and engaging; however, I was hoping for more battle sequences. I did really enjoy the characters, and I felt like it was a very solid ending!

Thank you so much Netgalley and Random House Children's!