Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye    ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com )

HarperTeen, 2022

ISBN-13: ‏ :978-0062954046

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Blood Scion  is horrific but I don’t know if I would call it horror– it is African fantasy.

Sloane Shade is a Scion– a blood descendant of an Orisha, a child of the gods that ruled over ancient kingdoms. As the descendant of the fire Orisha, she has power over fire, but she has hidden it because the colonizers of her country, the Lucis, punish Scions by execution. At 15, she is drafted into the army to fight the Shadow Rebels and Scions, and it is extraordinarily brutal, and hard to read about her training and the compromises she makes with her humanity for her survival.

Sloane wants to find out what happened to her mother, who disappeared, by breaking into the archives and consulting the official Book of Records. Her findings are a complete surprise. She decides to seize an upcoming opportunity to see the queen to assassinate her and the heads of all the royal families.

This is a brutal book that the author intended to reflect the experiences of child soldiers. There are scenes of sexual assault, children forced to murder loved ones, brutal and violent murders committed by the protagonist, and torture. Watching Sloane attempt to hang on to her humanity while also surviving is difficult but it is a compelling book with surprising twists. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski