Paperback: 416 pages Publisher: Doubleday Childrens (7 July 2011) Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Paranormal Source: Publisher
Rating;
My Thoughts - I browsed around and decided to read a few other reviews of this book and unfortunately it seems I'm one of the few who didn't completely fall in love with it. It's not exactly half bad I mean it’s a chunky book that although did tend to get slow at times did keep me interested enough to keep flipping through the pages until the very end.
However, our MC Silla is a little creepy to say the least. From the masks that hang around her bedroom which are worn depending on her mood and her almost near obsession with blood and cutting I felt a little weary at times. Don't get me wrong though, I was pretty excited for the book; sure it sounds a little predictable going of the synopsis but I think it was the "Magic" aspect that had me intrigued.
Silla is the one to find her parents slumped over one another covered in blood the day of their death. From there on she will realise that she was discovered just staring at them when her older brother Reese found her. People say that her father killed her mother -- then himself, but she knows better and is convinced despite her brother thinking otherwise that their father would never do such a thing.
Enters hot boy Nick. When I read the part where it mentioned the new boy in town I had to refrain from groaning because the amount of times I have read that very line is ridiculous, and I actually think it does a disservice to the book because I thought that he was more than just "the new hot boy in town" since his character had a very big part to play. He is linked to Silla in ways which she could have never imagined. Let me begin with saying that there is an awful lot of blood in the book, I mean I get that the book is called "Blood Magic" but I felt at times that blood was just splattered across every page for shock value when really by the second chapter it just got old and unnecessary.
Silla and Nick's relationship is something which I feel should be discussed. He practically peruses her shamelessly and more than anything I was left a little disappointed at how quickly their relationship progressed when they hardly knew anything about the other. If I wanted to analyse the whole situation I could say that it felt like Nick took advantage of a vulnerable Silla. The girl is not exactly in the right frame of mind -- she has lost both her parents, doesn’t exactly have friends she can talk to apart from Wendy and her self esteem is currently at an all time low. Or maybe that’s a little to harsh, perhaps seeing the perfect opportunity and taking it is more accurate. If you think logically about it all though, what she should have done instead of running into his arms was explain that she needed to heal, that she needed time to reflect. Nick should have backed off in the first place. I don't like the idea of him trying to approach her knowing what she is going through, better yet knowing the meaning of loss and pain I would think he would know better. All in all both are just at fault as the other in this situation. I also disliked how she just had to have him in order to keep it together -- to move on, to be strong and keep control she just needed a guy in her life. I wasn't all to impressed that she had to cling on to him when I would have much rather preferred if she would have got off her butt and not felt like she needed a guy in her life to feel remotely normal again.
So, another thing that annoyed me? Nick always calling her babe. Sorry if I look like I'm nit -- picking here but I seriously cringed every time he said it. I couldn’t help it, it just didn't seem natural coming out of his mouth! Not to mention their relationship seemed to be hugely based on that fact that they were both going through something terrible, that they could relate to each other at the time. The other half was mainly lust as you will notice once you've read the book for yourself Oh well, I suppose I don't know what I expected, something deep and meaningful?
A character I did quite like was her older brother Reese. He has a lot of traits of mine for one which made me shake my head with awe at how ridiculously similar they were since he was; protective, a little arrogant, cocky, but an interesting -- loving guy. Silla and Reese shared a great bond which I also really loved -- apart from that the banter that tended to go back and forth between the two was all too familiar and amusing!
I was quite shocked over time at how oblivious and unaffected this girl became to seeing dead bodies hanging from trees, and how without much thought killed a rabbit. It was just like that, I remember her noticing a dead body hanging from a tree and her being pretty dismissive about it. I wanted to say why don't you just shrug and say "oh well" while your at it? Soon enough it became apparent that I didn't like who she was becoming. The cheesy lines didn't make it any easier.
For example: "You can't have me any more-more, Josephine," he said. My heart is shielded from you."
I feel kind of bad because this is actually a sad moment. I'm sure I was supposed get emotional since this whole scenes aim is to get a strong emotional response from the reader but all I could do was refrain from laughing!
In all honesty there's not that many memorable characters and I don't really think the book is all too memorable either.
It’s a decent read that I got through pretty fast, but it didn't quite click with me -- there were too many clichés for its own good and I think overall I just expected more. Blood Magic is a book that will either work for you or it just won't and for me unfortunately it didn't.
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