Scan barcode
A review by thehaileybirdie
Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin
5.0
I was very lucky and got an ARC for Blood & Honey off of Edelweiss and I am so thankful because this book was absolutely STUNNING. The story follows the POV’s for Lou, a Dame Rouge witch who uses patterns to trade different things for magic, and Reid, an ex-witch hunting chasseur/newly discovered witch. Overall, Blood & Honey is the perfect devil’s food cake for the dark souls out there who love interesting magic systems, complex and well developed character arcs, and a fresh take on 17th century French witch hunts. This is one of the best sequels to a fantasy series I’ve read and builds so well on top of the preceding book. It’s a bittersweet mix of saccharine sweetness and the bite of tragedy and pain. The pages are practically dripping with blood and honey by the time you reach the end.
The love story for Reid and Lou is so complex and real in this book and it goes much deeper beyond the surface level “honeymoon phase” of Serpent & Dove. Both of these characters have a bit of a reckoning with their own identities and the struggles they have independently of one another as well as their struggles as a couple. It was really refreshing to see a YA fantasy novel that isnt insta-love and they stay perfectly happy and “earth shatteringly perfect” together. They experience ups and downs and some real conflicts when it comes to their identities and ability to overcome their prejudices against one another. They both have really interesting character development that is independent from the other which I find refreshing since It makes them feel like they are their own person with motives for things outside of their relationship. Reid’s character arc I have to say is my absolute favorite. He stays true to his character but also goes through real change during this book. He doesn’t change for convenience or because someone tells him he should but because he comes to terms with this new life on his own.the only character I really wasn’t so sure about was Cosette...I can’t explain why because spoilers but I don’t think her character was handled very well or with delicacy especially as one of the only POC in this story...but more on that at a later date.
I love the magic system in this series and how it asks the question “how far can you go with your magic and not be able to come back?” by using creative restrictions and consequences. I’ve always loved magic systems that require a balance and have restrictions that go beyond an internal “well of power” that refills itself with little to no change in the user. The requirement of some kind of payment for power is really useful in this story and I love the underlying messages about how power comes at a price. I don’t feel like I get that with other medieval fantasy books that have no consequences or balance to their magic system it just feels like magic for convenience of the plot. This systems stays consistent and doesn’t make any exceptions for plot convenience. The cost remains high and the uses for it all come at a cost that I would say is actually balanced. All of the consequences for each of the characters gets explored by the end of the book.
The atmosphere continued to be very unique and intriguing. Most of their time is spent in the wilderness/more outdoorsy locales and it was a really refreshing change from the more urban setting of the first book. The survival and natural aspect made it feel like they were in the land of witches versus the city being the land of the church in the first book. The 17th century French influences were still prevalent in this book so there was some nice continuity of the world. There were introductions to new species of magical creatures like the loup garou (French werewolves) and the mention of a race of mermaids as well (don’t worry this isn’t a spoiler, Shelby herself has confirmed these things in interviews/instagram lives). There is references to tarot and other French style “magic” which was really nice since I myself am a fan of tarot. Overall I enjoyed the world and the atmosphere of this book and thought it went along nicely with the first book’s setup.
The plot and pacing was really nice it never felt slow or draggy and nothing felt superfluous to just fill up time. New characters were introduced and I loved pretty much all of the featured ones. There is representation all over this book in side roles as well as major supporting characters so I was pleased with that aspect. A lot of things actually happen and get done which I know sounds like a silly thing to mention, but bear with me. A lot of times in sequels we get a lot of buildup that is mainly there to set up the endgame for the final book and not to develop the second book as its own thing. This book didn’t have that problem for me as the endgame for this book was sufficient by itself with dropped hints throughout the novel in a particular and effective way. I looked back and I was like “Oh my gosh I remember them mentioning that thing earlier!” and seeing the payoff was really satisfying. The ending is also a huge cliffhanger and I honestly wanted to throw the book, but since I have an e-ARC I would be throwing my iPad. It was so frustrating in the absolute best way that a cliffhanger ending can be.
The writing itself was just really beautiful at times, especially at the beginnings of chapters when she sets the tone. I definitely highlighted a few lines and made a note saying “wow I really like this line” so I can find it later and add it to this review when the book actually comes out. Shelby Mahurin does a really good job of showing and not telling us how the characters are feeling and why they do the things they do. Lou is a person who uses sarcasm and inappropriate jokes to mask her fears and anxieties. This is a really common theme among YA protagonists but in this book in particular we get to actually see it from someone else’s eyes. In Serpent & Dove we didn’t get to see it as much since Reid didn’t really know the true pain that Lou was suffering but now that he does he picks up on a lot more things in his POV chapters that he wouldn’t have before. He noticed the nuance in her body language or the pain on the edges of her smiles after a big fight and shes trying to hide how hurt she is. It was honestly such a delight to see more depth to characters in this way rather than getting an internal monologue telling us how hurt and sad they are not showing us that seems to happen a lot in YA. This book wasn’t as heavy handed as the first one and I honestly loved it so much more for that. I understand why the first one was so heavy handed as the first in a series and you have a lot of ground to cover when introducing your characters and your world so in all honesty they are both incredibly well done. Blood & Honey is a perfect layer on top of the groundwork from Serpent & Dove.
The love story for Reid and Lou is so complex and real in this book and it goes much deeper beyond the surface level “honeymoon phase” of Serpent & Dove. Both of these characters have a bit of a reckoning with their own identities and the struggles they have independently of one another as well as their struggles as a couple. It was really refreshing to see a YA fantasy novel that isnt insta-love and they stay perfectly happy and “earth shatteringly perfect” together. They experience ups and downs and some real conflicts when it comes to their identities and ability to overcome their prejudices against one another. They both have really interesting character development that is independent from the other which I find refreshing since It makes them feel like they are their own person with motives for things outside of their relationship. Reid’s character arc I have to say is my absolute favorite. He stays true to his character but also goes through real change during this book. He doesn’t change for convenience or because someone tells him he should but because he comes to terms with this new life on his own.the only character I really wasn’t so sure about was Cosette...I can’t explain why because spoilers but I don’t think her character was handled very well or with delicacy especially as one of the only POC in this story...but more on that at a later date.
I love the magic system in this series and how it asks the question “how far can you go with your magic and not be able to come back?” by using creative restrictions and consequences. I’ve always loved magic systems that require a balance and have restrictions that go beyond an internal “well of power” that refills itself with little to no change in the user. The requirement of some kind of payment for power is really useful in this story and I love the underlying messages about how power comes at a price. I don’t feel like I get that with other medieval fantasy books that have no consequences or balance to their magic system it just feels like magic for convenience of the plot. This systems stays consistent and doesn’t make any exceptions for plot convenience. The cost remains high and the uses for it all come at a cost that I would say is actually balanced. All of the consequences for each of the characters gets explored by the end of the book.
The atmosphere continued to be very unique and intriguing. Most of their time is spent in the wilderness/more outdoorsy locales and it was a really refreshing change from the more urban setting of the first book. The survival and natural aspect made it feel like they were in the land of witches versus the city being the land of the church in the first book. The 17th century French influences were still prevalent in this book so there was some nice continuity of the world. There were introductions to new species of magical creatures like the loup garou (French werewolves) and the mention of a race of mermaids as well (don’t worry this isn’t a spoiler, Shelby herself has confirmed these things in interviews/instagram lives). There is references to tarot and other French style “magic” which was really nice since I myself am a fan of tarot. Overall I enjoyed the world and the atmosphere of this book and thought it went along nicely with the first book’s setup.
The plot and pacing was really nice it never felt slow or draggy and nothing felt superfluous to just fill up time. New characters were introduced and I loved pretty much all of the featured ones. There is representation all over this book in side roles as well as major supporting characters so I was pleased with that aspect. A lot of things actually happen and get done which I know sounds like a silly thing to mention, but bear with me. A lot of times in sequels we get a lot of buildup that is mainly there to set up the endgame for the final book and not to develop the second book as its own thing. This book didn’t have that problem for me as the endgame for this book was sufficient by itself with dropped hints throughout the novel in a particular and effective way. I looked back and I was like “Oh my gosh I remember them mentioning that thing earlier!” and seeing the payoff was really satisfying. The ending is also a huge cliffhanger and I honestly wanted to throw the book, but since I have an e-ARC I would be throwing my iPad. It was so frustrating in the absolute best way that a cliffhanger ending can be.
The writing itself was just really beautiful at times, especially at the beginnings of chapters when she sets the tone. I definitely highlighted a few lines and made a note saying “wow I really like this line” so I can find it later and add it to this review when the book actually comes out. Shelby Mahurin does a really good job of showing and not telling us how the characters are feeling and why they do the things they do. Lou is a person who uses sarcasm and inappropriate jokes to mask her fears and anxieties. This is a really common theme among YA protagonists but in this book in particular we get to actually see it from someone else’s eyes. In Serpent & Dove we didn’t get to see it as much since Reid didn’t really know the true pain that Lou was suffering but now that he does he picks up on a lot more things in his POV chapters that he wouldn’t have before. He noticed the nuance in her body language or the pain on the edges of her smiles after a big fight and shes trying to hide how hurt she is. It was honestly such a delight to see more depth to characters in this way rather than getting an internal monologue telling us how hurt and sad they are not showing us that seems to happen a lot in YA. This book wasn’t as heavy handed as the first one and I honestly loved it so much more for that. I understand why the first one was so heavy handed as the first in a series and you have a lot of ground to cover when introducing your characters and your world so in all honesty they are both incredibly well done. Blood & Honey is a perfect layer on top of the groundwork from Serpent & Dove.