“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!

Did I spend almost the entire book thinking this was a duology? Yes. Was I shocked but also happy it isn't? Also yes. I don't know how/why I got it into my head that this was a duology but I'm so glad it isn't- I'm not ready to leave this world or these characters.

Blood Justice definitely feels a lot darker than Blood Debts and I was here for it! Cris spends the book learning how to deal with her desire for revenge against the people that have wronged her and her family while Clem tries to figure out how to save Yves and also keep what happened to him a secret from Yves' sister. An attack at a soft opening of a club throws Clem and Cris's lives into turmoil when their mother is accused of murder. They spend the book dealing with the fallout while trying to prove her innocence.

I always feel a tiny bit disappointed when I get to Valentina's chapters because her thought process/decisions really frustrate me but I do like that we have points of view from both sides of this "fight" so I can't complain too much about her chapters. I feel so bad for Sophia and I really hope she finds a better friend than Valentina.

Terry J. Benton-Walker is a phenomenal author and I can't wait for the next book in this series.

I was hoping to love this book after enjoying the first in the series, Blood Debts. By the end of the book I got that wish, but it took a while for this book to pick up. The pacing in the first half made it difficult to get into it and I found myself putting the book down frequently. The second half did not have this problem and I breezed through Parts III-V!
The book picks up where the previous one left off regarding Cris and Clem’s darkness. The author did a great job making those moments believable and not feeling like their actions were out of character. While the ending was predictable, the way it was written was so good it made up for it not being a surprise.
Overall, I did found myself liking the book by the ending, it just took a while for the story to take off. The ending and cliffhanger is something you’re going to want to read and worth the slower start. If you liked the first book, you’ll want to read this!
(This was a solid 3.5. I rounded up because you can’t do half stars and this book was definitely closer to a 4 star than a 3 star.)

Blood Justice had the same amount of charm, love, and magic as Blood Debts without as many of its pitfalls. It was a compelling mystery with twists and turns that left me on the edge of my seat. The character arcs of the twins are a natural continuation of the first book, and speak to their own feelings around fairness and justice that raised interesting conversations.

The mystery in Blood Justice was just as captivating and page-turning as the one in Blood Debts, without as much of the second act clutter that felt hard to track. While not necessarily straightforward, the mystery didn’t feel nearly as overwhelming as the one in the first book, which I appreciate. I also appreciate how much the mystery tied in with the character arcs of our main characters, and how the pressures felt ratcheted up from the first novel (ie. solving a thirty-year-old murder vs solving a present-day murder).

Like its former, Blood Justice suffers from a large cast of characters. While the problem is less jarring as we had the entirety of the first book to get used to most of the characters, the new characters introduced like Ayden or Detective Sommers felt underdeveloped and ultimately not wholly necessary to the plot. Additionally, I was left wishing in both books that New Orleans played a larger role, or at least added more flavour text and description to the book. There were also a few lines that felt clunky and stilted, like the author didn’t trust the reader enough and instead went ahead and stated the obvious; however, since I was granted an advanced copy, I can only assume these lines will be ironed out and tried not to give them too much weight.

While I’m never a fan of a cliffhanger story ending, I can understand that the story told within this novel was wrapped up to the best of its ability, and can only wait with bated breath for the next book in the series.

Blood Justice was such a good read. The amount of anger, grief, and pain in this book was a rollercoaster, but it never felt like too much.

Cris was on a RIGHTEOUS warpath and I loved every second of it. Her journey to getting justice for her and her family while trying not to lose herself to the anger was quite the read. Clem & Yves in the prom scene was so heartwarming and made me so emotional.

This book focuses more on Clem and Cris, but we do still get POVs from Valentina and Zachary. Valentina is such a great complex character. We learn more about the politics and power dynamics of the magical community.

Overall, I loved this book more than the first. This was an excellent sequel and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next one. Thank you NetGalley and Tor Teen for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I thought blood debts was good but oh my God this book absolutely blew my mind. I absolutely love the nitty gritty gory way that Terry J Benton Walker writes and describes things. It is absolutely impossible to read his books and not be able to imagine a full scene of what he is writing out in his head despite the fact that pretty much most of the stuff is never going to happen in real life. I fell in love with the way that he point blank describes his characters, with the petty dramatic relationships between some of the characters but also the death defying and soul achingly loving relationship between Yves and Clem. I honestly thought that this was going to be the finale in a dulogy but about 44 pages from the end I was sitting there thinking to myself there is no way that all of this is going to wrap up in the next 44 pages. and by the time I got to the epilogue I was absolutely flabbergasted and obviously knew without a doubt that there was going to be another one. This book doesn't even come out until April and I am eagerly awaiting the day that I can request the third book on Netgalley because I truly do not know how I am going to sit there and wait to be able to find out what happens to everybody in the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC.
Onward and upward with this spoiler free review. Currently in Blood Justice the family is moving forward after taking their place. It’s still unclear who Cristina and Clement can trust. Everyone has alternative motives and everyone is hiding secrets. The twins are maturing and growing in their own way and creating their own path. I honestly wished they would be different from their mother and auntie. I felt so many of their issues could have been avoid with a simple conversation. Yet everyone in this story has a secret. When I tell you everyone in this story made me mad and upset, I mean all of them. Valentina with her annoying self girl please leave Cris alone. Zachary please go get some help young man. Clearly you are battling with your true identity. Osward you are a creep. Mom and sisters grow up are you the child? The way they allow these kids to run around and do what they want is insane to me. All of the aunties are still selfish and care nothing about none but themselves. But when I tell you here for all of the drama, all of the disagreements, all of the conversations to move forward. I love this book. All of it!

I love this series! I love the idea of reclaiming justice and fighting systemic racism in this magical world of dysfunctional family dynamics mixing with spiritualism and navigating relationships. This book was much slower for me than the first and made me less invested in reading, but being YA it was also easy to keep reading when I did pick it up. After that ending I’m excited to read the next one!

This is a great book to introduce young readers to the ideas of systemic discrimination and how it impacts generations of people through initial harm to sustained harmful methods of operation.

Again, this book is fantastic! If you are not normally a YA reader you do have to keep that in mind. But the storyljne, the characters and representation is so beautiful and the themes very important. If I was a teacher or librarian I would most definitely be putting this in the classroom for teenagers.

I thought "Blood Debts" was an okay book and was honestly on the fence about reading this sequel. But I'm glad I did, because "Blood Justice" was pretty great and left me wanting more. It dealt with the fallouts from the first book really well, and had a nice balance of mystery, thrills, and emotional beats. The author doesn't shy away from taking the main characters in morally grey or downright dark directions, and the book presents some poignant philosophical questions around social justice, dealing with oppression, dealing with loss and grief, and other heavy topics that aren't always handled as deftly in YA fiction. There's a wonderful cast of characters (at times, maybe too many to keep track of) and enough resolution to feel satisfying while still setting up a third book. The last bit felt a little rushed, and I would have liked a final check in with certain characters before closing. But the epilogue was beautiful and I'm excited to see what comes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this advanced copy!

Thank you tor teen publishing and netgalley for giving me this eARC

I am so upset that I have not heard about the author terry j. Benton walker before reading this book. But since reading blood justice I have to read everything by him, it was so captivating and exciting. It has so much power struggles and magical elements the dynamic between Cris and clem, is so powerful its crazy. It has everything that a YA fantasy should have to keep you hooked its has magical elements, personal vendetta, suspense, danger, magical protestors, and a brutal god. I do have to go back and read the first book but honestly I didn't know what I was getting myself into reading this book but I am more than happy with the outcome.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author of this book.

I want to start by saying in no way do I think this is a bad book, I think it’s written remarkably well, but it’s just not a book that was for me. I read the first book because I got it from Bookish Box and I liked it enough that when I saw the second book on here I thought I would read it but it just fell flat for me. They way that it was hyped and talked about I was expecting to get a similar vibe to The Originals TV Show with the magic in New Orleans but imo it was VERY political and didn’t focus so much on the magic itself but making magic political. If I had known that it was so politics heavy I probably would not have picked it up. The one storyline I kind of stuck with just to see how it ended was Yves and Clem. Maybe if I wait till the hype settles down and try separating it from what it was compared with I might like it but for now I will put it on the back burner.