Review: The Queen of Blood

The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book. It felt a little like a mix between young adult and adult fantasy. After a horrific attack on her village, Daleina, who has an affinity with the spirits, decides to become a queen of Renthia. She wants to protect the people and make sure no one has to live through what she did in her village.

The world created in this book reminds me a little of the spirits in some of Miyazaki's films. However, the spirits are not kind in this world. They are bound not to hurt the humans, but they desire to hurt them and sometimes they do.

Ven is a disgraced Champion of the realm and he is in Daleina's village after the attack happens. Later he picks her as his candidate for Queen. Ven also recruits Hamon, a healer, to travel with them. There was a little romance, but it didn't take over the story the way it does in some novels. This was a story about the conflict between spirits and humans, and the romance helped develop the characters but it did not become the story. I appreciated that. I'm looking forward to reading the next in this series.

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