“We decide who we are, not the magic we practice.”

Blood Like Magic is a futuristic (sci-fi), dark urban fantasy about a family of witches. The magic in this book is summed up as being about blood and intent. Blood is required to cast the spell and intent is the spell. Voya lives with her family that consists of Granny the Matriarch, her mom, her uncle, and her cousins. Her family plays a huge role in this book. When she bleeds her first time, she starts her rite of passage called the Calling where she receives a task from an ancestor. Her task comes from Mama Jova and her task is to destroy her first love. Voya interprets this as meaning she’ll need to murder her first love—the problem is she’s never been in love. She does however have a genetic romantic match, Luc, who she feels she is called to woo and destroy. Luc is an intern at Nugene (the genetic matching tech company) and his Sponsor dad, Justin, is the owner of Nugene.

Voya’s task and her connection with Luc opens up mystery after mystery about Justin and Voya’s Aunt Elaine. Somehow the two are tied together and while trying to complete her task she’s also trying to discover secrets long since buried.

I’ve never experienced a setting like this one. It has a beautiful blend of science fiction and dark urban fantasy. Voya’s family was so well developed that you’ll see the complexity of each character and how each family member plays a role in shaping the family and how being a Matriarch can become a test of morality. I wanted way more Luc scenes. The way he resists and then is drawn and changed by Voya’s warmth is so irresistible. Voya also loves to cook which I thought gave the story, and her character, even more depth because she is more than a witch and a part of her family.

I had some issues with the breakdown of magic between pure and impure and how that tied into the story. Also, Voya is such a beautiful person and struggles with decisions (which I get) but the one decision that she makes and is almost proud of herself for I just can’t understand or stand behind. One other thing is that we spent SO much time getting to know Keis and then she just falls into the background at around the halfway point which I get because that happens when love interests come into play but I really enjoyed her character and wanted her around more.

Overall I’m so happy to have read this book and I absolutely loved Voya. Sambury has written a game-changer that I know will inspire more books like it. We need more black heroes and more women of color who are in the spotlight as the main character. Voya is unapologetic about her curves, her hair, her family, her magic, and I’m 100% here for it.

Blood Like Magic is a fantasy and sci-fi driven novel focusing on magic and technology and how these two may clash or work together in the future. It also concentrates on family dynamics and the lengths people will go to in order for their loved ones. This is definitely a must read for fantasy lovers looking for something new and binge-worthy, plus fact that this is part of a series makes me only more curious as you can read it as a standalone!

Blood Like Magic follows the story of Voya, who is meant to receive her Calling to become an official witch. Every witch must complete a task given to them from an ancestor and if successful, they’ll receive their gift that will or will not benefit the family. Voya has been dreaming of this moment and is prepared for whatever task will be given to her, that is, until Mama Jova shows up and says she has a month to destroy her first love.

The worldbuilding is fascinating to read and follow throughout the novel. Readers get a sense of the magic system and how gifts are given throughout the family. Gifts benefit the witches not only spiritually, but financially as well, so it’s imperative to receive a useful gift. Everyone is hanging on by a thread, wondering what gift Voya will receive since Mama Jova has drawn her task out so long. It might seem the novel is somewhat dragging given the deadline, but time surely goes fast.

Keis, Voya’s best friend and cousin, has the gift of reading minds but she doesn’t want to rely on it all the time and that’s why she wants to get an internship at NuGene, the biggest tech company citizens rely on nowadays, especially when they release a beta version of matching people up using genetics. Voya is one of the beta testers and is paired with Luc, a sponsored intern.

Voya’s task becomes one step easier as she has found a love interest, but the trouble is falling in love with him and then killing him. Luc isn’t your outgoing, arrogant guy, so it’s up to Voya to break down his walls and get close to him.

Voya is such a caring character who puts her family first. She’s known as the chef in the family and loves to spoil them with treats. It’s very contrasting to see the type of task she receives. According to her Granny, who’s the matriarch of the family, no one has received such a vivid task before. The longer Voya drags out the task, the less hope the rest of the family has in her. They also wonder how she’s actually going to complete the task and get away with murder. The stakes are high because if Voya fails then her baby sister will die and the magic will soon run out in the family.

Ha, no pressure Voya! When she goes to find help from distant relatives, she only finds out more of her family, including how a certain ancestor was wiped from memory and how the family fears the CEO of NuGene. Voya feels the tug at all the connections to her task, but can she achieve everything before time runs out?

This review remains spoiler free, that’s why it isn’t a thorough. Yet I gave enough information to persuade you to add this book to your TBR and read it when it comes out. Hopefully, it will receive the hype it deserves! I enjoyed this book so much. I can picture it as a miniseries or movie franchise one day!

to gain her powers, voya must complete an unusual task: find her first love and kill them. even though that’s already shocking, the stakes get higher and higher as family secrets are uncovered, and i LOVED it.

literally the plot was so exciting, i was never bored and was always on the edge of my seat waiting to see how this would end. there’s a perfect balance of seriousness, humor, and surprises!

also, the characters were so vibrant and realistic. a lot of this book centers around voya's love for her family, and i loved learning about each of them!

this entire book just felt so refreshing. it has tons of representation, diverse characters, a unique plot, doesn’t shy away from struggles many face, and constantly had positive ideals woven in.

this book has all the elements i wish other fantasies had and i HIGHLY recommend to everyone!!

thank you to netgalley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the plot of this book was really original and interesting! Dystopian sci-fi mixed with fantasy?? Sign me up!

Voya has been waiting for her calling which means she will finally learn if she has witch powers or not. Every calling means an ancestor comes to visit and gives the witch a task which will determine whether she will be given a gift. As a pure family, meaning no blood sacrificing, Voya's ancestor gives her an impossible task: kill her first love within a month.

I really enjoyed the first portion of this book, the plot was super interesting, and it had a lot of diverse characters including a trans character. The last half of the book began to feel a little dragged out as I kept reading and there was a lot going on with the characters. I would still recommend this to my students though. It does have a lot of violence towards the end so I would keep it for Mature students.

Magic born or magic earned? Well how about both?

First things first, I absolutely loved this book. I was hooked from page one and was hard pressed to put it down. It's fast paced and full of twists and turns.

The story is set in the near future in Canada, with tons of diversity. I loved the blend of science fiction and fantasy. Robots and magic! There is a huge emphasis on family and how a big loving family, doesn't equal to a big happy functioning family. Every family has fissures and cracks, but ultimately family can be there for you.

There are tons of different cultural food mentioned that will make your mouth drool so warning, don't read on an empty stomach. You will get hungry. However, do not mistake all the food mentioning that this is a light happy read. There is plenty of bloody imagery through-out the book.

Voya is a very lovable and frustrating protagonist that you never know if you want to hug or smack up side the head. I saw myself in many parts of her, so even in the frustrating parts, I still wanted to hug her.

I highly recommend this book and cannot wait for the next book to be released!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc to read and review.

Disclaimer : I got this copy in exchange for media coverage on pop-culturalist.com.

If you liked Wings of Ebony you’ll love Blood Like Magic!! I adored this book and can’t wait to share my thoughts in my article which will be released on the publication date so July 28th.

This was such an exhilarating ride full of magic, deception and gripping relationships.

I really loved the world-within-a-world created here. I found it captivating and full of realized magic and even more realized places.

Pick this up!

This is my favorite book so far this year. This book was such a gem. It was futuristic, Witches, black girl magic. The while story just flowed gracefully. I loved all the characters, everyone in Voya's family, the ancestry and family ties throughout the book and the characters were totally relatable even if you don't identify with what they're going through. It was just such a good book. Hope there will be a sequel ♡

All I have to start this review is: Wow. This book is absolutely fantastic, and I want to shout it from the rooftops! Liselle Sambury not only created a beautiful urban fantasy but mixed it in with that dash of sci-fi that makes it seem like it COULD be real. Really, the only thing that isn't realistic about it is the magic. Sambury not only goes into a tale about a black family, their ancestors, their past, and their connections with one another but she delves deeper into the problems with the future. With poor and minority communities struggling to keep up with the technological advancements. With the ideas that big companies could afford to allow its citizens to go through transitions as transgender folk but wouldn't remove that little X or Y next to their name. And with the idea of making decisions that put so many at risk during a time that should be a celebration. It's not the ending you expect, but it's certainly the ending that will keep me reading this series (or duology, whichever it becomes!!) as well as make me recommend this to everyone that I can. As someone who is very much not a minority, I love reading books like these. Not only because everyone deserves to have their stories told, and deserves to see themselves in fantasy and sci-fi especially, but because it gives me perspective on things that I would never have otherwise. And I believe this book will be an extremely important part of the book world, especially for YA. I look forward to seeing it on the shelves in my store and having the ability to recommend it to readers. The connections these characters have to one another are so real, and so deep, even if sometimes they make the hardest decisions it's always selfless. Because magic must have a pure purpose.
My only gist would be the pacing in the beginning, although it's not awful it had me wondering where the action and events would start to come in but it was a necessary buildup to a fantastic middle and end. Besides, I'm a very fast paced kind of person, for others it may be very different.
I absolutely loved it! And I cannot wait to see what's in store next!

This is a great fantasy novel with a dash of romance, sci-fi, multi-generational family drama and mystery thrown in. There are some very memorable characters! Voya’s family is complex, messy, diverse and amazingly entertaining. It did take me a bit to keep them all straight, but they are all very well developed. A myriad of issues are discussed from gender identity to economic divide to racial issues. I felt like the racial issues were some of the strongest parts of the novel, from the micro aggressions Voya deals with to the heart wrenching past of some of her ancestors. I really appreciate that the author included content warnings in the front of the book - there are some heavy subjects addressed and I love that she took time to make sure the reader was aware of them.

There were some pacing issues for me - the first 25% of the book got a bit bogged down in worldbuilding. It also had a lot of repetitiveness in trying to make us all aware of Voya’s decision making problems. It felt unnecessary to focus on it in the beginning that many times as it is addressed frequently throughout the book as well. As things began to progress, I enjoyed the plot and it surprised me and took a much different route than I had expected. This is book 1 in a new series and I absolutely will keep reading to see where the author takes us next!

Thank you to Margaret K. McElderry Books for providing me with an electronic advanced copy of this book. Blood Like Magic will be available on June 15th.

‘Woah’ was the word that escaped my mouth when I finished this. Because holy smokes, Blood Like Magic is truly unlike any book that I have read before. With its fascinating take on a not-so-distant futurism blended with witches, a story that explores how far you would go to save your family, the price we pay for love, and the looming question of ‘if you had to sacrifice your first love to save your family, would you?’, Blood Like Magic is undeniably compelling and fascinating. I had such a wonderful time with this book, and I’m excited to share with you all my thoughts on this book.

Set in 2049’s Toronto, Blood Like Magic follows Black-Canadian teen Voya who belongs to a long line and history of witches. When Voya receives her Calling, a test from her ancestor in order to receive a gift, she unexpectedly fails. However, her ancestor gives her another chance: destroy her first love (who she will need to find and fall in love with). If she fails, she risks stripping away her whole family’s magic forever.

I enjoyed the portrayal of witches in Blood Like Magic, particularly since the story takes place in the future where technology has permeated every aspect of society. Readers who enjoy rich lore and magic that comes with rules and consequences will enjoy the depiction of witches in this book. For instance, there are pure (witches who use their own blood to cast magic) versus impure witch families (that use the blood of another human being), and the morality of this duality and dynamic between them are subtly and brilliantly explored.

But what struck me about the witches in Blood Like Magic is the importance of the witches’ connection to history and their ancestors. Blood Like Magic examines how, particularly for people in African diaspora, family histories have been erased and lost as a consequence of violent colonial history and slavery. Power and magic in Blood Like Magic are intimately tied with belonging and connection to family and community, and losing such connections can consequently sever ties with magic and history forever. This was such a poignant and creative way of intertwining magic of the story’s world with African diaspora identity, and I enjoyed the ways that this duality is explored and developed across the story.

The primary conflict in the story – kill your first love or forfeit your entire family’s magic forever – was incredibly compelling, and the ending will not disappoint either. I was utterly captivated, oscillating between feelings of anticipation for what Voya would do next and then feelings of dread of knowing what she has to do. The direction and complexity of how this conflict develops across the story is unexpected yet fantastic. The stakes are high, and they are stacked even higher as Voya ,meets Luc, a Mexican trans boy who she discovers is 92 percent compatible with her, and a tentative friendship and mutual trust starts to grow between them. In addition, Voya faces a tangible and a heavy burden from her family to complete her task. Voya’s family are very much present in her life, and I liked how her family has a huge influence on her life – for better or for worse.

Voya was a fantastic protagonist, one that I really empathised and connected with. Some readers may find her frustrating, with how indecisive she is and how she finds it challenging to commit to a decision, but I actually really enjoyed that aspect of her character. In YA, we read a lot of stories with ‘strong female characters’, and Black teens and women are doubly expected to be ‘strong’. I liked that Voya was not; I liked that Voya responded to the conflicts and challenges in her life as most people would: with a lot of doubt and uncertainty. Because what I liked was that her ‘indecisiveness’ grounds her character in a way that felt realistic. She has to kill someone! And such a task weighs on her heavily and she feels incredibly conflicted about it. I actually found it refreshing to have a main character that questioned and doubted, and in that doubt, showed a lot of resolute strength and bravery to question what lies before her.

The story is unflinchingly dark at times. However, the story is never dark for the sake of being dark, but rather accurately and plainly reflects the dire circumstances of Voya’s circumstances and journey. The storytelling in this was wonderful; a multitude of threads in Voya’s life come together, creating a complex and comprehensive illustration of Voya’s life. On top of grappling with her task and finding a way to fall in love with Luc as quickly yet authentically as she can, she also has to figure out what she wants to do with her life, wrestle with her family’s heavy expectations on her, and also unravel the mystery of her friend’s disappearance, family secrets, and a terrifying conspiracy.

At its core though, Blood Like Magic is a story that is inherently about love; it’s about how far we will go to save the ones we will love, it’s about holding the weight of a life against another in both hands and having to decide which is heavier and worth saving, and it’s also about how, no matter how dysfunctional and imperfect family can be, family can be all we have and there is no price to saving one’s family.

Blood Like Magic is the kind of young adult book that breaks the mould; unique in its vision of witches and family, compelling in its high-stakes conflict, and memorable with its setting. Refreshing, unique, and brilliant, Blood Like Magic is one spectacular debut that I foresee forging new paths for storytelling, and I cannot wait to see what Liselle Sambury writes next.