I thought I was impressed by Blood Debts, but this sequel blew it out of the water. The ending somehow managed to walk the precarious line between inevitable and surprising. I screamed, I cried, I threw my kindle across the room, and I preordered my own copy so I can do it all over again when the final book in the trilogy comes out.
I have always loved stories of witches and struggle, and the magic system didn't disappoint-but it was the real life issues that truly had me bound to the book. Magic is the setting, the story is one of oppression, resilience, regret, and consequences.
Terry J Benton Walker takes a no-nonsense yet nuanced view on the insidious ways that daily rhetoric, legislature, law enforcement, and cultural genocide all take part in oppressing communities of color every day-AND Walker manages to do it in such a way that young adults can understand, and empathize with. Taking on institutional racism in YA literature is a massive task, and TJBW rose to it. He treated every topic with both the care and brutality that it deserved, pulling no punches and acknowledging biases as he went with ease and grace,

When I was a child, I read too many books that were mirrors. Little girls who looked like me and thought like me. I wish I had more windows to look at the lives of other children and the struggles they had. This book series threads that needle, not bothering to disney-fy real life issues, all while keeping you riveted to your seat and frankly stressed for the fate of our characters.

I will be recommending this to ALL of my friends, regardless of demographic or preferred genre.
Thank you, Terry J Benton Walker.

Thank you to netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Blood Justice begins nine months after the events of Blood Debt. Clem and Cris Trudeau did the impossible and got their mom, Marie, onto the throne. But a happily ever after is still beyond their reach. Valentina lost everything and wants revenge, and anti-magic protestors are trying to sabotage Marie's reign. Clem is also dealing with the fallout of Yves's soul being split, while Cris is consumed with anger and a desire for justice.

What I liked:
- Clem's entire storyline. He wasn't as prevalent in Blood Justice as he was in Blood Debts, and I often found myself missing his POV. Despite not being in the story as much, he had a solid arc and served as the lone voice of reason throughout the book. My heart broke for what he was going through. His choices fit the story well and pushed the narrative further along. I can't wait to continue with his journey.
- The world-building. Benton-Walker has crafted such an interesting, intricate world. I liked that he expanded on that in this book.
- The mystery. I love the way he wove mystery with fantasy.
- The inclusion of Valentina's POV. Look, did Valentina commit some horrendous acts in the first book? Yes. Is she a bad friend? Also yes. However, I appreciated getting her POV and found myself feeling sympathetic for her. She's been through pretty significant trauma like Clem and Cris, but unlike Clem and Cris, she doesn't have the kind of family they have - that was taken from her by the Trudeau's. That being said, I loved the scenes where Valentina connected more with her mom's side of the family and explored her heritage. It helped humanize her in a way that we didn't get to see in the first book.

What I didn't like:
- Cris. *SPOILER WARNING* I liked that the author gave her space to be angry and it's incredibly unfair when people are expected to constantly turn the other cheek. At the same time, I found her POV difficult to stomach. Cris was so cavalier about murder. While most of the characters she targeted were awful, I'm personally against the death penalty even when someone is convicted of something heinous. So, I'm never going to find vigilante murder to be justified. Cris also started going after anyone she perceived as wronging her even if they didn't do anything wrong. In one scene, she got super paranoid and wouldn't even give the accused character a chance to explain it before attempting to murder them. Cris kept framing it as a sense of righteous justice but girly embraced being a serial killer. Who's to say their families wouldn't be entitled to justice against her? The Trudeau family had the throne - they could've used their position of power to enact justice in a balanced way as opposed to a trial-less vigilante method. While the book later dismissed Cris's actions as her being under the influence of an evil god, she still chose to go down that path at the outset and embraced it. Also, some characters were pleased with the murders, which again, I'm just someone who is never okay with a life being taken, no matter how awful the person was. Also, despite desperately wanting to be named queen regent, she was annoyed whenever she had to actually do the work and only seemed interested in the title and the idea of power. I'm glad someone tried to point that out to her. At this point, bring democracy to the magical community of New Orleans.

As a sequel, this book picks up 9 months after the events of Blood Debts. Clem and Chris are living with the outcomes of the events at the end of that book, both positive and negative.

I really appreciated the growth that each character has in this book. Clem is struggling under the pressure of his commitment to help Yves and Auguste, and Chris is letting her anger and desire for justice overwhelm her. They continue to be teenagers and they make a lot of mistakes, but I found their stories to be compelling because of this.

The expansion of our understanding of the gods and magical community was fascinating and I can't wait to see how that continues in the next book.

There were a few scenes that felt unnecessarily long and I thought could have been edited to be shorter without losing the impact. I also wished we'd seen more of some of the side characters but based on the ending suspect they will have larger roles in the next book.

Second in series books can sometimes be less compelling but this did not suffer from that. I could not put this down. Can't wait for the next book!

Thank you Netgalley and Tor Teen for the opportunity to read and review this book prior to publication.

Blood Justice the sequel to the amazing debut Blood Debts comes out swinging without missing a punch to the oppressive system that affects the twin siblings and their community. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 Its raw examination of the issues affecting the black community was so nuanced and it blew me away. Benton-Walker has wormed his way to my list of must read anything they publish list. There were so many lines I highlighted though it's an arc so they won't save, but I just couldn't keep reading without taking a moment of appreciation. Like the debut the sequel focuses on Cris and Clem's relationship and that of their family. There's also a great focus on community. The magic was just as wonderful but we do get more depth and world building. The fallout from the first book's ending is felt by both Clem and Cris. They must deal with new threats while still dealing with high school. I cannot recommend this series enough!!! If you like books that read like a CW teen drama please check out this series like now!

Blood Justice was a good sequel to Blood Debts. And based on this book, the story is definitely not over. Lots of messy loose ends. I felt this story had way more cussing and the kids are disrespectful to the adults, who do nothing. Why?! But I loved how they were all searching for something and going about it in their own ways. Not the best, but still they had autonomy. I loved the expression of oppression, homophobia, and vengeance. At times, the book did take on an essayish quality though. So why I enjoyed this story, I didn’t love it and will end the series for me right here. It has great promise for a continued good time though. Oh, and I love “sometimes violence is the answer.” Facts.

The story is grounded and powerful. Every character has an unique perspective for what they bring to the book. That made for a more well-rounded story because there are a few characters.

This series is so fun! I was just as invested in this book as the last, and I think TJBW really improved with this novel. The writing flows so well, the characters are fully fleshed out, and I was pulled in from start to finish. This would be a great Hulu tv show!

I loved how social justice issues were incorporated into the story, and I found all the characters to be interesting, despite the cast being quite big. I think I'll be rereading this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Awesome sequel to the first book blood debts!

This book picks up 9 months after blood debts ended and the twins are still coming to terms with the events of the first book


The sequel is dark and brilliant it touches on some dark subjects including racism and the oppression of black witches

I love the unique magic system terry has created!

Thank you for the ARC #torpublishing and #netgalley

I absolutely love this story! The characters, the drama, the black people with magic!!! Amazing! This family is a a vault of secrets, which is frustrating, but man the feels were absolutely there

I was given an early copy of this book for an honest review.

TLDR: I absolutely loved this book.

Let me start by saying I am biased because I loved Blood Debts so much and could not wait for the sequel. So I went into the book loving it. I am not really a fantasy girlie and I am definitely afraid of my shadow so horror is not for me. But somehow this author has become an auto-buy author for me. I have a physical ARC and an e-ARC but I just pre-ordered the finished copy.

For a new fantasy girlie like me, this book had A LOT of characters. I needed a list or something. But that’s normal for me because when I watched Game of Thrones I had to have my husband tell me a million times who people were because I kept forgetting LMBO. But what was cool about it was that it really reminded me of the format of a soap opera. By that I mean that there are several storylines with all of these different characters but each storyline is equally important and interconnected. And like soaps, there are favorite storylines that you want to get to and want more of (for me it’s always gonna be Clem). I am impressed that this author was able to so effectively fully develop so many characters. A soap opera has a lot of writers. This author did this alone. Wow!

My absolute favorite character is still Clem. I loved him in Blood Debts and really started to understand him more in this book. But the way Cris entered her villain era in this book has me singing Monica songs. Cris was giving that “kick down your door and smack your chick” energy. Cris was NOT with the $h!ts in this book and I love that for her. Now the necromancy stuff is out of my scope cuz now I’m in the sixth sense talking about I see dead people every time I go to sleep and I’m sure my husband is annoyed that I’m sleeping with the light on yet here we are.

And even after all that, I am still first in line for Book 3. In the meantime, this book is written perfectly for a series on television or a streaming service. Somebody needs to call Jordan Peele immediately.

SN: a book that can make me cry even if it wasn’t the author’s intent is an automatic 5 stars. It was probably a solid 4.5 and then something I really wanted to happen actually happened. Waterworks!!!!

“Real family are the people who show up for you when you need them most.”

I absolutely adored this second book! Twists everywhere you see! And the ending had so much action-didn’t want it to end at all. But that cliffhanger. 100% invested now!

Blood Justice is a book that takes you on the ride of your life and still has you reaching for more. The way the author spoke of Blackness in spectrum of Anger and Pain while understanding that this is a Black experience/ way of life was genius. This book is dark, but gives empowerment without overly doing it. This is definitely a story that can continue to build for several books…

Thank you to Netgalley and the Tor Teen for providing me with an eARC of this novel, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Okay, I have a confession to make. I thought this was going to be the last part of a duology. I got to about the last 100 pages and I was wondering how everything was going to come together in a satisfactory way. Well, I guess the good news is, I was worrying for nothing. The bad news is that I went into this with a last book in a duology mindset, not a middle book mindset. That being said, I think that fans of Blood Debts are going to love this.

There is so much drama and plotting and they come together in a complex and rich way. I love the magic and world-building. Clem continues to be my favorite character and I can't wait to see how his arc turns out in the next book. Cris and Valentina are so wrapped up in revenge and rage, but they are devious. They're both fighting for justice. At times just for themselves, because the system is failing them, but also for their communities because the system is also failing them. I would love to see Cris and Valentina come together. Their enemies would be taken down in the most spectacular fashion.

Overall, I would recommend this for fans of the first book, but also readers looking for Queer Black representation, drama, and magic. This is building up to be an amazing series and I just have to sit back and trust the author.

I received this book as an early review from the publisher and Netgally in exchange for my honest review.

This was an AWESOME book. I love how the author presented her characters, I love how flawed they were. The author did a masterful job of combining race, magic, and politics into an incredibly interesting and compelling story!

Oh my goddddddddd this book. I LOVED “Blood Debts” but somehow this one surpassed it — because the world and magic building was established in the first book, this book was able to focus on character development and it is vengeful and delicious. Though this is YA, Cristina and Clement don’t read as teenagers; don’t let the YA label fool you! The politics of the magical worlds and the lengths Cris and Valentina go to secure their roles keep you on your toes waiting for their next manipulation. I can’t wait for the next book (which I know is crazy to say because I got this as an ARC from NetGalley so it’s not even out yet but I want an Oompa Loompa noooooow)!!!

First and foremost, I want to give the biggest of thank yous to the publisher and Netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.
I really liked the first book in this series, and I have very murky and confusing feelings on this one. Overall, I liked it, but I did have some issues.
I also want to make it clear that I am by no means an authority, and as a white, cis, straight woman, I do not wish to overstep my bounds. I will raise some questions here, but I don't have the answers.

A continuation of Blood Debts, Blood Justice gets dark very quickly and raises many, many questions and discussion points. Some more heavy-handed and conspicuous than others, but many are handled in a way that lets the reader learn through the lenses of Cristina and Clement. But it's written beautifully and the plot, while slow and tedious at times, is engaging

My issues were the telling and not showing of important social/racial issues, slow pacing and lack of action in the plot. I did slog through this, and while it picked up at the end, you have to be really invested to want to finish it. I didn't really know what to make of Valentina's chapters, as they don't give too too much about her other than solidifying her as a villain with a tragic past™. I know that there were valid criticisms of Benton-Walker's last book regarding sexism and misogynistic tendencies regarding female characters, and I do think there were attempts to rectify that here, the success of which I'm not qualified to state. However, I do wonder if a queer Black man is the right person to write about Black women's trauma? Again, not a definitive yes or no question, but one I thought about throughout the book.

Overall, a good read, but verrrry dense and tried to do too much in terms of informing about social issues while also doing not enough in terms of development

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Blood Justice. Thank you to Terry for doing the damn thing again!!

This book was….INSANE and had me hooked the entire time (as did Blood Debts!) Terry is one of the best authors/storytellers I’ve come across. Blood Justice surpassed my expectations, I cannot wait for more books to follow! I love the intensity of the storyline, the multiple perspectives and of course, the twin MC’s. If you love those badass, magical, family over everything, YA Fantasy stories that take place in New Orleans, baby this is for YOU!

Im always worried that a second book in a duology or series isn't going to be as strong as the first book. That is completely not the case when it comes to this book. Terry J. Benton-Walker is a master of writing a real message within the confines of an amazing story. In this book we follow up from book one Blood Debts. Twins Clem and Cris have avenged their family and restored their birthright, but why aren't they happy. Both twins are grieving experiences and loved ones, Also they are coming to grips with the strength they have come to realize from using magic together and individually. This book really brings to light how using magic comes with a price. Not all prices can be paid and not consequences of magic and justice have a positive outcome . Again we see both clem and Cris trying to save their family before it's too late. Also we see that the people are still plotting on the Trudeau family completely. I loved this book just as much as the first. I felt the story was engaging and well thought out . I look forward to reading more from Mr. Benton-Walker. I would recommend anyone who loves fantasy series based in New Orleans, with magic and black folks, to read this series. its amazing and so easy to attach to the characters, Job well done, Thank you Netgalley and Terry J. Benton-Walker

All opinions are honest and my own.

This was such a great continuation of Blood Debts! I love this author's writing style, and the story was so engaging. The character and plot development were both stellar as well!