I had a thousand high hopes for Blood Debts due to the premise and featured cover. However; I could not get into the story and felt the chapter lengths were very long for a young adult read. I did enjoy the three character arc stories and wanted to know more about them however; this would have been done better with shorter chapters and quick pacing moments. While I had to “DNF” this book at twenty four percent, I have high hopes for this author and look forward to trying another book that he puts out.

This is a great contemporary YA with magical elements that pave the way for lots of intrigue. The main character points of view are the two siblings and I appreciated how their narratives and perspectives differed. The mystery and the overall plot kept me hooked until the end, and the writing style was highly engaging. All in all this was a great read and I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a contemporary YA fantasy. A huge thank you to the author, publisher, and B2Weird tours for organizing a tour and providing me a free copy of this arc in exchange for participation and review!

This book has a ton of characters to keep track of and is fairly repetitive. I wish some plot/backstory aspects were mentioned just a few times rather than anything associated witj them was brought up (the purported reason behind the father's passing for example). The book overall isn't for me, but I know it will be for folks that enjoy contemporary fantasy set in real, rich locations like New Orleans.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC! I loved the prose in this one, and the characters and plot were both very intricately woven! I especially enjoyed the nuance of the different characters, especially Cristina. They weren't anywhere close to perfect but I loved rooting for them! The middle fell a little flat for me action-wise, but other than that I really enjoyed this and I can't wait to recommend it to customers and look out for more books from this author!

What a great story! I loved how different this book was compared to the other YA fantasy books I've ready. I could not stop reading.

I chose to DNF at 38%. While I loved the events happening, the magic, and themes. I struggled greatly with the monotony in each of the character’s thoughts, actions, etc. Not only that, but a lot of the internal and external dialogue was the same/similar each time we met the character. There wasn’t any development for them. The repetition could easily have been mitigated if each character hadn’t been in a constant state of ‘woe is me.’ Through the almost 40% of the book I read, I was struggling to get the same voice from the author that we got in his author’s note.
2/5 stars

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Blood Debts releases April 4, 2023

2.5

This is a multi-pov story set in modern day New Orleans, where we uncover the (predictable) truths behind a stolen legacy from 30 years ago within the Gen Council.

Part of me feels like this would have been much stronger written as a historical fantasy. This came across as less fantasy, and more so a subdued mystery with a sliver of magic/voodoo/necromancy.

The writing often shifted between first and third narration, and I wish they chose to stick with just one to keep it cohesive.

The reveals were spotted miles away, and the only thing I found remotely interesting was the identity of Jacquelyn’s baby daddy.

I would have wished for more of an on page rivalry directly tied to the gen council between the Savant’s and the Trudeau’s to make this more high stakes and engaging of a read.
Perhaps utilizing a past/present style with flashbacks of the murder from 30 years ago would allow the reader to feel more connected and invested.

Some character pov’s weren’t necessary at all in the grand scheme of things, like Zachary’s, whereas it probably would have been beneficial to further develop others, like Oz’s, since he was directly in the middle of both rivaling families.
I also think that the descriptive sex scene could have had the same overall effect if it was written more fade to black, because as it stands now, it really sticks out from the story as a whole since the rest of the writing had a more YA tone.

Unsure if this will have a sequel… right now, there’s definitely an open opportunity for that in regards to Yves’ plotline. If that’s the case, I would hope for richer and complex world building and deeper developed characters.

Thirty years ago the matriarch of New Orleans magical community was lynched along with her husband. Now, twin heirs to her legacy, Clement and Cristina Trudeau, are trying to cope with the sudden death of their own father and equally sudden illness of their mother. Except neither event could be blamed on chance or natural causes, instead someone has cursed the family. As the twins work to unravel what is happening it becomes more and more clear that the events surrounding their grandmother's murder are playing a direct role in their current losses.

Benton-Walker creates a phenomenally lived in magic system and world with this book. It is messy and painful and still filled with the potential of love and growth. This magic system mirrors the way that Benton-Walker writes about family in a fascinating way. The ambition and loyalty that is attributed to each character within that context drove the plot and my enjoyment of the book. The nature of that ambition played so well who the reader was meant to cheer for while being perfectly mirrored in others, offering a complex understanding of how real people move through the world.The mystery of the book wasn't particularly complicated but it never needed to be. The goal was more to understand how far someone would go for power, for family, for a second chance. That goal is what made this book a fun read.

3 🌟

Blood debts had all the elements to be a complete hit for me. It brought fantasy, supernatural, witches, magic, friendship and love. What I wasn’t expecting was the underlying strong sense of racial tension that was very much a main part of the storyline.

Blood debts in some ways reminded me of beautiful creatures, but I quite enjoyed the beautiful creatures series a bit better.

The characters through this book were quite busy getting themselves and others in all the predicaments they could muster and some never felt quite concluded.

Unless you enjoy being pitted against other races, I wouldn’t recommend this book.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Blood Debts is an intriguing YA contemporary fantasy debut, weaving Black history and social justice into a magical story. I was immediately intrigued by the magic system, which is inspired by voodoo, and how it ties into Black heritage and community. And while I’ve never been to New Orleans, I felt I got a sense of the landscape and scope of the place, albeit with an infusion of magic.
The family dynamics form a central part of the narrative, from that between co-protagonists, twins Clement and Cristina to the rest of the Dupart family. They’re a bit messy and chaotic, but endearing all the same. I also enjoyed seeing Clem and Cris come into their own, both individually and together, especially as they faced some of the magical and societal challenges life threw at them. Cristina’s arc in particular struck me, as she is dating a white boy, and he is one of many white people who express a bit too much covetous interest in their magic. But Clem also won me over, as he’s also navigating his own misadventures in love as a Black queer teen boy.
There’s a lot of unrest and intrigue, and myriad twists and turns, so there’s pretty much always something going on. Sometimes the story feels a little too intricate, but I managed to follow it, from the murder mystery to the “smaller” situations, fairly well. The pacing does take time to build, but the intrigue is there early on, and picks up steam gradually before really hitting at around the halfway point.
This is a solid debut, and I am interested to see what Benton-Walker writes next. If you’re interested in contemporary fantasy set in New Orleans and/or following Black leads, I recommend checking this out!

As a Louisiana native, it's very easy to find books set in New Orleans, but much less so to find ones that portray the city (and voodoo especially) with respect. I was shocked to learn Terry wasn't from here, as this is the most respectful rendition of New Orleans magic fantasy I've ever seen.
Blood Debts follows a Black family who have had their rightful place as leaders in the magical world taken away from them. When their mother almost dies from a curse, twins Cris and Clem decide to find out once and for all who has it out for their family. The web of hate and lies they uncover is bigger than they imagined.
The story itself was enchanting, and the characters endearing. But I was always especially impressed by the author's depiction of magic in New Orleans.
I'm absolutely snatching up the sequel when it comes out.

I really struggled through this one. I felt like my attention was being pulled in a hundred different directions at once in this story. This is interesting, and it's entertaining, but I think I would have loved this a lot more if each point of interest was given enough space to really be thorough with these ideas.

Thank you, NetGalley for this ARC of Blood Debts. I, for the most part, enjoyed my time reading.

Blood Debts takes you into the magical world of Cristina and Clem, two twin siblings in New Orleans, Louisiana. I found the strongest part of this book was the lore behind it and the way the magic system in the story worked. I found myself itching to know more as I made my way through the book. The mystery involved in the book was also quite interesting, and I felt the setting created the perfect backdrop.

I do wish that we had more time with Cristina and Clem, our two main characters. The story is told in multiple POVs, but I felt as though not all of them were needed to tell this story. I would've loved to solely have a dual POV between Cristina and Clem, as they are the driving force of the story. I also would've loved a slightly faster pace, as for me, I felt the plot really only started to pick up in the latter half of the book.

There were a couple of loose ends I'm still left asking questions about, so I'm hoping that this becomes a series and we can delve deeper into this world.

In spite of my few small critiques, this was a joyous experience and I would definitely recommend picking up this book once it comes out.

I loved the themes of reparations, justice and magic but overall, the book felt very underdeveloped. From the description, this book had a lot of potential but I think the many different plot points distract from the overall story and lead to underdeveloped plots and characters.

Even still, I liked some of the characters and finished the book. I just wish the writing had been a bit more substantial and shown rather than told.

An interesting premise that Benton-Walker delivered on. The characters felt realistic and whole, individual with their own identities, wants, and opinions. I liked that they weren't on the same page always and that I could predict how Clem and Cris would respond to each other's actions. It showed me that the author had a clear grasp of the characters, enough that I did too.

This is a great story for fans of sprawling fantasies with intricate worldbuilding. I didn't particularly love the large cast and complex history, but I don't think they were poorly executed at all. I definitely started to get the hang of it toward the end.

Cris's romantic storyline felt a little rushed towards the 75% mark. While the subplot with her boyfriend Oz was great from a worldbuilding perspective as it showed me the dynamic of magic among different communities and how that can affect interpersonal relationships, I don't think it had much value for Cris as a character, and while I appreciated where it was trying to go, the reveal came too late and so her emotional arc in response to it felt too rushed. There were a few lines that felt dramatic considering how quickly the revelation went by, so we didn't get the full breadth of what was supposed to be her betrayal.

Still, an excellent debut that surpasses some of its contemporaries and I highly recommend!

So, I definitely thought that this would be a book that I would rate so much higher than I did, however this just did not hit the mark for me whatsoever.

Let's start from the beginning. I definitely thought that they were much older than they were and then I found out this was YA, which made sense because that is definitely what it sounded like. I think what didn't hit the mark for me was that there was not a lot of interiority and the emotionality that was given was just not believable to me. All of their conversations lacked emotion and the emotions that would seem to be important are explained more through exposition rather than shown.

The side characters were not humanized enough for me to care. There is a scene where Cris is talking about her aunt and about why they felt the family, but there's no emotion that we gather from her dialogue. Same thing when Cris has to burn her journal later in the novel, a journal that meant a lot to her because her dad gave it to her and there is literally 0 emotions or interiority on how she's having to part with something so dear to her. And this is annoying because she lost her journal at the beginning of the novel and was a little irate about having lost it and now it's nothing to her because she has to burn it. It was just a plot device that we needed to be aware of at the beginning of the novel.

There are witty lines in the novel that hit for me and a lot that missed for me. Some were dialogue and others were slight interiority.

There is a lot thrown at you in the first part of the novel (Cristina's guilt, their moms' sickness, -- which isn't a sickness, but a hex -- their family drama, -- which was definitely muddled and confusing -- the magical drama, the killing of the mayor's daughter, etc. I also felt like at the beginning of the novel, the kids were trying to figure out what was going on and the adults were dancing around the subject for SO LONG. Like this novel could have been so much shorter than it was.

Let's talk about characters.

All of them are so dramatic it is unreal. I literally skimmed through a lot of their "Arguments" even though that's not really what they were. Scenes went from 0-10 so fast, I was like ?? where did the problem even arise. I think Clem was a dramatic character and I also feel like he's unneeded. His character development throughout the story really did lack for me and I wasn't entertained by his chapters or his romance.

I think Cris has a strong goal and I think the novel, as a whole, would have strongly benefitted by just making her the only point of view instead of giving us the five we had.

In some cases, I felt as though Cris & Clem (mainly Clem) were forcing their existence and problems into peoples' lives that have nothing to do with them and it amounts to -- not a lot. For example, when Clem approaches John-Louise's mom and then being like "We should have just gone straight to the source" bc then after that, we literally never hear about her again. Like ??

At many points, I felt like I was losing sight of the plot because there were a lot of scenes that had nothing to do with what was being explored. There were a lot of things that needed to be explained more at the beginning of the novel because towards the middle, I was confused on certain dynamics and what was deemed to be important.

The romance... not believable. It was a kind of insta-love after one date. I was SO disappointed. The romance moved so so so fast. And what was worse is that when Yves is shot, Clem didn't even TAKE HIM TO THE HOSPITAL. He took him to the freakin necromancer who animated his boyfriend back to life and he's a hollow man. So, yes, we expected Yves to turn into a hollow man too. I'm sure they're setting this up for book 2 and how Clem is going to dive into his necromancy, but I hated this story line. Speaking of Yves, why has his sister not asked about him??? It's been like a week since she's supposedly heard of him?? And doesn't he run errands for her? Wouldn't she have missed him?

Anyway, there's like a ton of things I didn't like. I also didn't like the ending at all. Like nothing really sat for me at all. I didn't care at all. I just felt like there was not enough tension or stakes that kept me invested and it took forever for me to get through.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Teen for the arc!

Blood Debts is the gripping, magical debut from Terry J. Benton-Walker. This is a story filled with emotion, multi-generational family, and strong ancestors. I appreciated the way that mental health is highlighted and de-stigmatized, especially with the use of medication and therapy when needed. There is excellent LGBTQ+ rep throughout the story and not just with the main characters. There is a large cast of secondary characters, who felt richly fleshed-out and meaningful to the main story. The tangled bonds and broken relationships in their family seemed very realistic and also really made me curious about what had caused the rifts between the sisters. Benton-Walker does a masterful job of bringing all the threads together as the story reaches a crescendo.

Blood Debts incorporates real-life legends and traditions, while always honoring where they came from. The magic system is built with complexity and care. Cris was one of my favorite characters! I loved her relationship with Clem because I knew they would always be there for each other no matter what. Cris goes on an intense and at times painful journey in this book; I really enjoyed watching her step back into her power and reclaim her voice. Cris, Clem, and their family are faced with difficult choices when it comes to reclaiming the power they’ve lost and must make morally gray choices.

Benton-Walker does an incredible job with pacing, whenever I had to pause in the story, I could not stop thinking about it and wondering what might come next. I cannot wait for the story to continue!! I would recommend Blood Debts for fans of Liselle Sambury (Blood Like Magic), Tracy Deonn (Legendborn), and Kalynn Bayron (This Poison Heart). Readers who enjoy urban fantasy, complex magic systems, and bewitching characters will love this book.

Blood Debts is available April 4, 2023. Thank you to Terry J. Benton-Walker, Tor Teen, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc

This is a wonderful YA contemporary fantasy set in New Orleans featuring both LGBTQ+ and BIPOC representation. There's a wide cast of unique characters, but the two central siblings do a great job of leading you throughout the plot of the story. Thank you NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC!

The things I loved about the book, is that every character felt very real. They all had their flaws, and reasoning for why they made certain choices in their lives, whether it was right or wrong, for family or for selfish reasons. The magic system was very easy to grasp for someone who doesn't know a lot about Voodoo, which the system is heavily inspired from.

The last few chapters, sadly for me, is where I have to knock off one star. The ending felt a bit on the rushed side. There were also a lot of smaller side characters that got reintroduced that were only briefly mentioned near the beginning of the book that left me feeling, "Wait, who is this character again?"

Overall I really loved this story, and I hope we can get more follow-up books within the same world, and really expand on these characters.

A sweeping contemporary fantasy that balances commentary with the character's personal desires deftly and carefully! This is a great read both for teens and adults.

I had extremely high hopes for this story - the description of the plot, the LGBTQ representation, and the representation of people of color throughout the cast had me very excited for the story. But from almost the first chapter I was lost - I felt that I needed a prologue and a list of characters to keep who was who straight, and the chapters were so dense that a lot of information was given and hard to keep up with. For me this was a DNF at around 33%.

Saying that - I do believe this book was simply not for me, and that in the hands of the right person, they will greatly enjoy this book. I DNF’d more out of my own ability to follow the plot and less out of the story - the writing is well done, the world building (while I was confused) was there, and I do think this book will go on to do great things.