Interested in a detailed summary with read-alikes?? Check out my Annotation of this book.
This review is based on an advanced review copy (ARC) received through Reedsy Discovery. Plot Summary and Personal Thoughts below have also been published on that site.
Author: Tony Fuentes and C.S. Kading
Category/Type: Adult fiction
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: September 4, 2023
Number of Pages: 173 pages of story text; includes Acknowledgements and an Afterword.
Geographical Setting: A fantasy world full of protected cities, small agricultural and mining communities and a dangerous southern kingdom.
Time Period: Present day, although and history plays an important role.
Series (if applicable): This is book 2 in the Gothic series.
Plot Summary: A gripping horror-laced fantasy about a scribe on a journey to explore the world outside her library that takes a turn for the worse.
For readers who like their fantasy embedded with horror, the story of Scribe Lyric Wax’s prueba will grab you from the start and keep you hooked to the end. Lyric Wax has always loved working with information, safely behind the walls of a well-protected city, of course. She has a library coveted role as Scribe, but to take the next step in her adult life, she must complete a prueba, or journey outside the city to experience the greater world. This quiet journey, with a driver and two protective Inquisitors, quickly becomes anything but when they happen upon a city splattered with blood and no sign of the killers. There are ghouls leftover from a gruesome war in the distant past, but this is unlike anything anyone has seen. Lyric cannot help but be drawn in as she travels with Voice of the god Hil, Esperanza Boyorquez, and Hand of Hil, Jalin Cortez, to discover the truth and hopefully save the people of the kingdom.
Fans of T. Kingfisher’s Nettle & Bone and other dark fairytales with unlikely un-heroes will enjoy Blood Tithe.
Content warnings (may containt SLIGHT SPOILERS): Gore, body horror, violence, human and animal death.
Representation:
Non-English language is used throughout the story
PERSONAL THOUGHTS
WARNING: May contain spoilers
Readers are dropped into this story with a sweet but soon-to-be horrific scene in a small town. From the first page, I needed to know how the slaughter was going to be resolved. The propulsive action is what keeps the pages turning but there’s a nice ebb and flow to the pacing, readers won’t be overwhelmed by action. After discovering the destruction of the town, the team visits a peaceful mountaintop sanctuary, and though journeys contain danger, there are always moments of character reflection to take the edge off.
The world building is well-done but doesn’t take up many pages. It’s cleverly mixed into the characters’ journey as they travel, with history, creatures, and peoples being described as maps are reviewed and side characters are consulted. There’s just enough character development, primarily via internal monologues, for the reader to connect but not take away from the plot. As a fan of plot based books, I appreciated this. One downside is the third person narration, which sometimes makes it difficult to understand which viewpoint we’re following. The changing perspectives are consistent enough that the story remains cohesive.
Readers take heed: this book includes gore, violence, and death. I found the gore and violence important to the plot and did not feel that it was done in excess.
Final resting place: My ARC was digital so this resides in my Apple Books app library.
WHAT I’M READING NOW
My annotations and reviews are always running a bit (or more than a bit) behind what I’m actually reading so here’s a little bit of a teaser, if you will, for reviews to come.
Manslaughter Park by Tirza Price