Blood Like Magic, Book 1
by Liselle Sambury
Published June 15, 2021
★★★★☆
Voya descends from a long line of witches. As she reaches her Coming-of-Age, she receives her Calling - a trial issued by an ancestor that she must pass in order to be bestowed with her power - and she fails.
However, she is granted a second chance. Here's the catch: She must accept the challenge without knowing the terms. If she fails, her whole lineage will be stripped of their magic and her younger sister will die. The task? To sacrifice her first love to save her family's magic. The problem? Voya has never been in love.
I was absolutely ecstatic to receive approval for this novel for multiple reasons:
It is written by a Canadian author, and as a fellow Canadian, I want to support and promote the HECK out of a fellow Canuck!
DIVERSITY. Liselle includes every piece of diversity under the sun. LGBTQ? Check! Own Voices? Check! Exposure of class systems issues? Check! Body diversity acceptance? Check!
Magic. MAGIC. And not the wave-your-fingers-and-have-something-happen kind. I'm talking about the deep and dirty magic that is born of blood and intention. Magic that needs work and effort to come to fruition. As a witch, it was so breathtaking to see a more realistic approach to magic work in a novel that wasn't pure fantasy.
I do think it's important to list some of the trigger and content warnings provided by the author, as she exposes a lot of raw and sometimes disturbing information that is instrumental to her characters and her story:
TW/CW: whipping scene within the context of slavery, gun/police violence, discussion of and character with an eating disorder, blood/gore/violence, death, substance abuse/addiction, mentions of child neglect.
This fantastic blend of urban fantasy and science-fiction is set in futuristic Toronto. Voya is a member of a lively and close knit family, living with her grandmother, cousins, parents, step-mother and little sister. Liselle does an excellent job at highlighting and portraying the continued societal divide in Toronto - identifying that though things have shifted over the decades, there is still a undertone of caution around the Black community and an unspoken neglect of the lower class. The rich still profit in their tight circles and there is a direct correlation in the access to education and internships with companies to get anywhere within society.
The author highlights Voya's culture: her Trinidadian roots, her family's history through slavery in the 1700s, and the continued racism that affects them. She does an excellent job of making her characters relatable as she expresses their struggles with body image, sexuality, identity and the need to honour family tradition and duty.
I did find there were a lot of layers in this story. Her Calling, her Task, NuGene, finding Keis an internship, her cooking competition, the backstory of Justin. It's a lot to follow. The beginning of the book is a little slow, and it did take me a bit to get invested, but once I passed some of the establishing backstories it flowed really nicely.
I think this book is a great addition to Canadian fiction. It carries a lot of important messages regarding body positivity, self discovery, and acceptance of others. Though it did contain some tough conversations surrounding the history of Black Canadians, I believe that it was written in such an elegant way that it perfectly targets Teen and Young Adult readers - and beyond!
I am looking forward to the second book (which is set to release in 2022!)
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