This book has all the earmarks of a great story.. a family steeped in tragedy, rich culture, a regional setting that always draws my attention, and plenty of societal intrigue. Well-written and moderately-paced, it moves well without leaving the reader behind.

Cris and Clem, the twins at the forefront of the Trudeau family, are both likable, easily relatable characters. Though they have strongly differing opinions at times and tend to bicker like only a brother and sister can, it's easy to see the bond between them. Their priorities align. Family comes first.

Both of the siblings have something they're struggling with and I found them to be sympathetic, but never weak.

The magic system is well thought out, inspired obviously by known ritual magics, but presented in an interesting way. Generational magic is a gift, not a guarantee by birthright. Not everyone can conjure and certainly not as strongly as everyone else, which leaves for some very vengeful rivalries.

The familial warmth is honestly my favorite part of the story. I had really hoped for more of that New Orleans feel, but what little ambience of the fabled city existed.. was a little late to the party for me and not a frequent enough visitor. Though it resulted in me being less immersed and invested, it was still enjoyable.

While I appreciate the opportunity to read this, unfortunately it's going to be a DNF for me. I can't seem to get past the 20% mark.

Thirty years ago, a woman was murdered and a family was lynched. New Orleans saw the worst magical massacre in it’s history.

Clement and Cristina are mourning their father and caring for their sick mother. Until they realized their mother isn’t just sick, she was cursed. Now they are on the hunt to figure out who cursed their mother and what killed their father before New Orleans sees yet another massacre.

I really enjoyed the setting of this book. I love any book set in New Orleans and has magic. The characters were good. Some of them I couldn’t stand but overall, I really liked them. We do get the read from multiple POV’s which made the book even more interesting. Honestly, I have nothing negative to say about this book. I enjoyed my time reading it!

If you love books set in New Orleans, dark magic and a murder mystery, I highly recommend picking this one up on April 4th!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor Teen for the e-arc!

a lovely read that I wasn't expecting to enjoy as much as I did, would deffo recommend to people who love SJM!

Blood Debts is atmospheric with great characters and an intriguing mystery that'll make you want to keep reading way past your bedtime. Even though it's a contemporary YA novel I think it's also a great choice for adults who love the genre because it's beautifully written and while it's entertaining it also deals with more adult themes and social issues that make the story richer and more meaningful.

* Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy. =)

"'What is a blood debt?' 'Blood for blood.'"

Genre: Young adult fantasy

Writing: 4.5/5
Pace: 5/5
Plot: 4.5/5
Character: 4/5
Enjoyability: 5/5
Ending: 5/5
Overall: 4.5/5

This book was so much fun to read. The writing flowed from character to character so well that every time you'd switch, it was seamless. I loved how even though Clem and Cris were twins, they were written alike but not the same. It showed how they were truly different people yet raised by the same parents and experienced similar things in their lives. I also loved how the Savant family got chapters and how different they writing style changed to show how they are different in not just the family life but also how they view magic.

Clem and Cris both faced obstacles in a short amount of time that showed by the end. Cris was more of the focal character in this book. Her journey with magic and power and love was absolutely perfect. And I loved that Clem, even though he wasn't the main protagonist of this story, we really did get to see him in a light similar to Cris and understand that he was starting his own journey while supporting his twin.

Overall, the layout and fast pace of this book kept me captivated from start to finish. The mystery that Cris focused on to bring her back to magic while Clem was healing from past trauma was paced appropriately. The only criticism I have is about Oz. I wish we got more of a story from him, why he did what he did.

I loved the ending, and I truly hope in the next book we get more Valentina and Clem and they both get to heal and finish their journeys. I also hope that Jean-Louise and Ursula get their 'happily ever after' cause I loved these two characters.

Thank you so much to Macmillan Publishers for giving me an ARC of this book

Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker sounded like it was going to be right up my alley and the concept is fantastic. Unfortunately, it never quite worked out for me. I know that this is a contemporary YA fantasy novel, but I had to constantly remind myself that it wasn't a historical fantasy. I mean, sometimes I'd forget and find myself surprised by something simple. I don't know if this was just me, or not.

Loved this read! Cris's and Clem's arcs were wonderful to get immersed into, and the multi-POV narration from them (as well as the handful of side characters) was accessible and entertaining. I thought the ending might have benefited from slightly different pacing, as it felt a bit rushed and undercut the reveal with Clem's decision a bit. But regardless, super excited for the sequel that Terry is working on (according to his social)!

I love the magical aspect of this story and how it blends the mystery of magic practiced by Black people. I also feel like the story had very compelling characters you wanted to root for. I also love the way family history is interwoven into the plot! My only critique it is boggled down by the writing in my opinion. I really struggled to get into the story because it teetered on the beam for its target audience.

Cristina & Clem Trudeau are pure magic, pure Gen magic. As the youngest heirs to an usurped magical throne they are dealing with a lot. Among the other tragic events that have been circling these twins lives, they discover their mother has been cursed. This takes us down an intense rabbit hole on discovering who has it out for the Trudeau family? And it seems that answer lies in the past.

There's a special place in my heart for books that are set in Nola. Benton-Walker described the streets of Nola perfectly and I could see the characters walking in Jackson Square, by St. Louis Cathedral, etc. I love the world building Benton-Walker created along with the Pantheon, I'm dying to know more about Generational Magic and all things related to it. I especially love when authors write the Gods in as characters and can we talk about that art show?! How do I get a ticket to go see it for myself?!

Thank you Netgalley for giving me this ARC, I'll be on the lookout for the next installment!

Blood Debts is an ambitious debut that exceeded my expectations. I didn't want into this book expecting to be as blown away as I was, much less to experience one of the most well-written debuts I've ever read.

This book has a lot to accomplish as the first part of a planned series, especially as a book that feels like high fantasy in a contemporary setting (al la Game of Thrones) -- and I think it does so expertly while doing the unexpected. We have more than just one or even two POVs, but the characters are so distinct that it's easy to tell the characters apart. We see a shift from first to third person with some POVs, but it makes sense and fits with the narrative being told to us -- this is Clem and Cris's story, so it only makes sense for us to see it from their POV. In other books where this might be jarring, it felt natural to me, while expanding the book's world.

I thought the prose was enjoyable and very well-written. I wish I could quote particular lines because there were some EXTRA fantastic ones that made my heart just filled with emotion. There were just *little* details that if you were paying attention, gave hints about later parts of the book -- and I'd guess later events to come in future books. Additionally, the teens SOUND like teens, they're messy like teens. I found these characters, the teens, in particular, extremely relatable despite the fact that I'm not even a teenager (nor am I a person of color -- I am queer though). Blood Debts brings some great, well-developed, Black characters (some who are also queer, neurodivergent, etc) to the table while creating a world with magic similar to our own -- in both our world's negatives and positives.

This debut is something really special and I feel in my gut that Terry Benton Walker is an author to look out for. I know I can't wait for the next books in this series. I really hope this series blows up and finds its audience. Wake me up when book two is out please, I'd rather hibernate until then.

loved the book, would definitely hand-sell and want to get copies into the bookstore that i work at. unfortunately it took me a little while to properly get into the book, which was annoying but once i started i was hooked and wanted to finish it as fast as possible. it was the type of book that i couldn't put down. just because it took me some time, i rated it 4 stars, but otherwise the book was amazing.

Who doesn't want to read about magic, mystery and family dynamics in New Orleans? I am so happy I came across this book while scrolling through Netgalley, thank you so much for allowing me to review it.

The book begins by introducing us to the events of a thirty-year-old murder case which involves the relatives of this book's main character. When a murder is committed it brings out the bigotry that is woven into certain groups and a mob is sent to the house of the suspected culprits, who are then lynched as a warning. This is where the magic comes in, in New Orleans. Gen magic which is used by the majority of the characters in this book is a magic type which was gifted to Black slaves by moon gods and then passed through the generations. There are also Witch Witches who draw magic from the sun and vamps. The story is set alongside socio- political unreset against magic use, a fire which was fed by the murder thirty years before.

The main characters of this tale are Chris and Clem, twins who deal with their family's losses in different ways. Clem stays strongly connected to their magical roots while Chris begins to move away. Both have their secrets but must put their differences aside when they discover that their mother is not simply ill, but cursed. Now the family have to reunite and combat the people that began to destroy their family thirty years before but are still attempting to finish the job.

Told from multiple points of view this book captures the very simple idea that everyone has their own agenda. By giving a voice to Chris's main antagonist the writer gives us two sides of an argument that has been going on for generations but comes to a head through the hands of two young women. The family dynamics are clearly set out, and I look forward to learning more about all the characters in future books. The book explores deep socio-political differences that exist in the modern period as well as being scattered throughout history.

This is a fantastic YA book which will appeal to those interested in magical realism while exploring common issues
that many face daily, such as oppression, homophobia and death. I am definitely looking forward to reading more works by this author.

Be sure to check trigger warnings before picking up this book as it does deal with some difficult and upsetting subjects.

I was really excited for this arc. The cover photo and the description are right up my alley of what I enjoy. The first chapter had me even more hopeful I was going to enjoy this story. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the biggest fan and there were several things I didn’t enjoy.

I typically love multiple POV’s, I think it brings more depth to other characters because you can see more of their thoughts and actions. Zac and Valentina’s POV’s didn’t bring that. Their chapters didn’t really add anything substantial. There were things that you learned from their chapters but it wasn’t anything that the twins didn’t learn quickly themselves. They were unnecessary in my opinion.

The flow of the story got muddied a bit. Thirty percent in and you’re only on day two of the story happening. At seventy percent you’re finally at day five and then at eighty percent you’re suddenly two weeks in. It was a slow progress just to have it suddenly sped up.

Clems development started out really strong just to have his character get ignored towards the end. I understand that there will be a sequel so of course there’s going to be ambiguous endings. Those answers will possibly be answered in the sequel. My problem was we got no information about Yves until the end and even then it was something that was already assumed. We know absolutely nothing of what happened in that house. Yves sister is described as extremely protective, yet Yves go missing and no one is talking about it? It doesn’t make sense. And if Clem had done something to make it seem like all is fine why wasn’t that talked about. Details like that add more information and helps the reader grasp more of the situation.

The sex scene between Clem and Yves was a lot for YA. I was unprepared for the details about that moment. It’s more common for scenes to fade to black and I think that’s what the story should’ve done. It was too explicit for YA. I’m a huge supporter for having sex positivity in YA books. You just have to remember who the audience is when you write sex scenes. In this situation the demographic of who this book is aimed at got ignored.

Overall, the story had a lot of potential. At the end I just couldn’t ignore all the development and world building problems. The magic aspect was interesting, confusing at times but really interesting. Clem was a strong character and I truly wish we had gotten more from him at the end.

“For every child of color who was denied the justice they deserved.”

This was a captivating queer, debut ya novel about magic and revenge shrouded in mystery set in the modern world New Orleans. The twins, Cris and Clement are tied up in a long, twisted history of stolen power and injustice, and they’re onto seeking the truth and reclaiming what was rightfully theirs.

This book had an interesting premise as a ya urban fantasy book and greatly delved into stigmas surrounding mental health and queer representation and societal issues such as generational trauma, systemic racism, and injustice. It was eye-opening and very informative about the pressing realities of what POC and minority communities experience. The world building was unique, and the plot was written well and kept me engaged. The addition of fluff and romance of young love was so overwhelmingly familiar and made the book better than it already was. And even though I feel conflicted as I found this book to be incredibly slow paced and a bit predictable, I would recommend it!

This book was a riot! I loved the magic system and found it so interesting. I loved the relationship between clem and cris, it was always so obvious how much they loved each other even when they were arguing or fighting. I found the relationships between cris and clems mothers and all of the aunts confusing, I wanted to love them but was just confused more that anything.
.'
overall this was an enjoyable read, I just struggle with understanding different fantastic world, or magic systems sometimes.

This book is so good. I didn’t really know what to expect going in but wow. I cannot express in adequate words how much I loved this book.

I was pulled in from the first page and couldn’t read it fast enough. It tugs the heartstrings and is also a little terrifying but in a good way. This is EXACTLY the type of book I’m wanting when I say I want more LGBTQIA+ representation in books. The storyline is so solid without using the representation as a crutch to check boxes. So well done.

The cliffhanger though! I wasn’t expecting a cliffhanger ending.

"Blood Debts" by Terry J. Benton-Walker is a fantasy novel that explores themes of magic as an allegory for generational trauma. Unfortunately I couldn't get into this book as much as I wanted to. At the beginning, it can be slow as the author introduces a lot of plot points and characters. However, as the story progresses, these elements come together to a satisfying ending, with plenty of loose ends left for a sequel. I look forward to reading the sequel when it becomes available.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fantastic work of YA fantasy. I liked how this felt like a comfortable bridge between YA and adult, too--it definitely felt like an older YA novel. The New Orleans magic and mythos weaved a story of generational magic, an interesting commentary on oppression, and crime. I thought that all the pieces connected together in such an interesting and engrossing way. I liked the messages and commentary present in this work, as well as the characters and setting. I really liked this! I can't wait for more in this world and more from this author!

I was so excited to read this book as the description and concept of the book sounded really interesting but unfortunately, the book was just not for me. One of the first things I struggled with was the multiple point of views. We have our two main characters that have POV‘s but then there’s multiple side characters that also get their own POV throughout the book and the main problem with that was that the perspectives will constantly change so the MC’s POV would be in first person, present tense, and then some of the side characters would either be in third person or past tense, and that would constantly take me out of the story and would be jarring. This also made it confusing to follow, which character was witch, and the relationship between the characters. I also did not like it because we have so many characters involved with the stories. The relationship was not properly flushed out, and there was no room for the characters to have proper development. So many things are thrown at you so many life altering event in a matter of days that the characters really did not have a lot of time to properly communicate, despite the length of the book.

I had to keep in mind that the characters are teenagers, so they had very strong feelings for the people that they were meeting and their relationship towards each other. However, the adults in the book were completely ridiculous at times, and there was a lot of inconsistencies between their relationships at points they would not trust their family members because of something that they did in the past, but then would go and completely trust a random stranger that was just introduced to the book.

I really enjoyed how there was great queer and mental health representation throughout the book. The author challenges, a lot of heavy topics throughout the book, such as homophobia, lynching, violence and complicated relationships. The author constructed a great magic system but I found that the execution was not there. I ended up giving the book 2.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor for providing me with an ARC.