Author: Kaitlyn Legaspi
Released: February 19, 2021
Received: Review Request

Red Blood is Kaitlyn Legaspi’s latest novel and the first one I have been lucky enough to read. It’s a fantasy novel with several unique takes worth checking out.

Neela Blydes lives in a world where everyone falls into one of two categories. Either they are bound, or they are unbound. Those with magical abilities are known as the unbound. And while they are looked down upon, they also play an important role in society.

Now Neela, unbound, must participate in a tournament to find out if she will be the next unbound to take control of her domain. It’s not a tournament Neela wanted to join, but she didn’t have much choice in the matter, and now her life is on the line.

“I just wanted to go to a place where people accepted others for who they were.”

Red Blood is a solid fantasy novel, one that I am so happy that I took the time to read. I was immediately transported into a world full of duels and competitions. A world where magic was essential – and yet still looked down upon.

When I first read the description of Red Blood, I was expecting it to have very heavy Red Queen vibes. You can imagine my surprise when I actually found something entirely different! (Though I do believe that fans of the series would still enjoy this one, of course).

I really enjoyed the way Legaspi set up this world – it was so fascinating, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Luckily for me, this is the first in a series, so more will come! Likewise, the whole magical system – unbound versus bound – is compelling. Some of these elements were more familiar, but that actually made the whole thing feel very intuitive.

I’m also desperately looking forward to seeing what happens next in Neela’s story! The ending is not what I would call a cliffhanger, but it did leave this reader eager for more, which is always nice.

Long story short: go read Red Blood; you won’t regret it!

Thanks to Kaitlyn Legaspi for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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