Books 1-2
Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Thanks to netgalley for the arc which in no way influenced my review. I was torn what to rate this because it's about a 3.5 for me so I rounded up. It's good but it's also overstuffed. It's also going to be tough to review without spoiling why it overstuffing was an issue.
So to that let me say it honestly felt like two separate stories sewn together, like one of them absolutely could have waited for book two and carried a whole novel, that's how overstuffed it was. We have Clement and Cristina's family drama (and drama is underselling how much trauma and backstabbing going on there is) and then there is Clem's side story with his new boyfriend and the darker side of magic. (this is the one that I felt could have been book two. It just seemed like they were hedging their bets on not getting book two and shoved it all here).
Clem and Cris are very engaging characters even when you want to slap them silly for the shit they do. they are twins from a magic family (magic here is different depending on ethnicity, definitely not my favorite construct but in this story it makes sense as it is being used to highlight racism) In the past year they have lost a lot, their father has been killed (and Cris blames herself. You're going to hear a lot about that) and their family is under attack) 30 years ago, their grandmother was blamed for killing the mayor's (white) daughter. She and her husband were murdered by a mob and the twin's mother lost her position as queen of the New Orleans moon magic group (i.e. the one borrowing heavily from African culture and voo doo) to a power grasping woman whose granddaughter was Cris's best friend until she wasn't. Now they're best enemies.
The magic system is well drawn and the mystery to who tried to kill Mom and who set up their grandmother (and by extension who killed their father) is done very well as well. You can see who will betray them coming a mile away though and that was disappointing. There is a third side plot that is left dangling (so I'm sure we'll see that coming in book two and in a way that will probably disappoint because it's so obvious)
Their investigation takes them to a former friend of their grandmother who is practicing necromancy which is forbidden to all whether they're white or black. This will be a major plot point (and again no doubt for book two). Cris's former friend will do anything to grab the throne of power so there is a lot of ugly there (we have a few chapters from her pov but mostly it's in either Clem or Cris's pov) There is a crap ton of Machiavellian plotting and there is no way of reviewing that without revealing/ruining them so just enjoy the journey there.
There is plenty of LGBTQ rep here. Clem is gay (actually almost every man in this is) one of his aunts is as well. There are trigger warnings for this too, one chapter with homophobia, racism and lots of violence. I liked this book a lot but I do hope book two is a little less overstuffed (because it is definitely set up for a second book).
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A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What can you say? We all know this story but this is the first time I've read it. I have finally found the holy grail of movie adaptations: it follows the book! Friends in the biz have always said novellas/short stories are the easiest thing to adapt and this proves it. Most shows I've seen (George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart) are nearly word for word. How refreshing.
I was also thinking for its time, it made very good points, ones that would have people screaming about nowadays. Giving to the poor? Helping others? We've always needed those reminders which is in a way a shame but Dickens crafted a way of showing why having a giving heart is so important and will continue to do so long after me.
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