Of Wicked Blood

Olivia Wildenstein and Katie Hayoz

Slate has lived a difficult life, shuffled from one horrible foster home to another, earning a living as a con man an thief. When someone offers him a full scholarship in Brume if he claims his inheritance, he doesn't see the harm in swindling one more person. Until he puts on a ring that won't come off, setting off a series of tasks that will result in his death if he or his crew fails. Cadence has spent her entire life in Brume and knows all the stories, but she's never been sure whether magic is real. Until a mysterious boy shows up with the ring he stole from her mother's grave. If she doesn't help him, magic will be lost forever. Is she willing to take that risk?

Let me start by saying that I really did like this book and am looking forward to the next one. However, it was incredibly difficult to read. It took a long time to get to the heart of the story. While the descriptions are excellent, they are also plentiful and distract from the story. They interrupt dialogue, making it difficult for me to follow the story. There are also many times when things are explained or summarized instead of shown. I would have liked to have seen more dialogue and have things told to me a little less.

This book also receives an inkspot for the excessive amount of swearing. I understand that there is a warning in the description, but I still did not feel that the swearing was necessary. While I understand Slate's anger, I found his swearing excessive and offputting. It is one of the many reasons I had trouble reading the book. I noticed that the area where I became more engaged was when he started swearing less.

That said, there were a lot of things I liked about this book. I enjoyed the quest for magic and watching the characters grow. The end of the book left me with many questions, so I will have to read the next book to find my answers.
Overall, I would rate this story three and a half quills and place it on my bottom shelf.