Terry J. Benton-Walker

A very cute middle grade story blending a sort of Biblical Revelation with the small pantheon from another world, and a Black, queer tween boy intent on saving his world--starting, of course, with his little sister, possessed by the other world's god of Death. Alex is sassy in a way that suits this kind of middle grade adventure book and pleases young readers (even if some adult readers and reviewers might not really appreciate it). There's a lot going on in the story outside of the actual show more battles, such as divorce-related trauma and coming to terms with one's sexuality while accepting that the bad and hurtful behavior of others isn't a reflection of one's worth. If all of that does soften some of the impact of the violent fighting, it also adds to the relatability for young readers.

Only thing that bugged me was how casually Orim, the god of sense, trotted out that he himself is "ace and nonbinary" even though those particular words (particularly the slang term for asexual) would be highly unlikely to figure into the vocabulary of an ancient god from another world. I can't help but feel as though that dialogue could have been reworked to sound more natural, or else the word use overtly explained as part of the knowledge Orin had gleaned from Alex's mind.

Epilogue was a little light on explanation of what we were being shown. I don't know that it would have hurt anything to let us see a bit more detail that we could understand, even if the one narrating didn't grasp precisely what was happening. show less

Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker is a tricky novel to review. On the one hand, it is a story about intergenerational magic, revenge, and power that is dark, dangerous, and seductive. On the other hand, the execution of the story could be more masterful than the plot suggests. There is much to love and, unfortunately, a lot that would make a reader set it aside unfinished. What you think about the book depends on your patience and willingness to ignore some unfortunate prose for a great show more plot. Myself, I struggled until the story engrossed me enough to be able to ignore its faults.

To say that Mr. Benton-Walker’s writing style is simplistic is to understate the issue. The problem with Blood Debts is that it reads like a young teenager, still in the throes of puberty young, wrote it. No matter their age, every character sounds like a whiny teenager complaining about not getting their way. While this makes sense for Clement and Cristina, who actually are teenagers struggling to find their identities, school bullies, boyfriends, mean girls, and other high school drama, it makes less sense for the adults in their lives. Even the oldest character sounds a bit like Regina George, crowing at her power over the entire school, or in this case, the council. In addition, each sentence is as basic as you can get. While it makes for easy reading, it does not make for the best descriptions. Mr. Benton-Walker’s metaphors and similes are too prosaic and less poetic. It makes Blood Debts feel clinical, dry, and dull when the plot is anything but that.

Where Mr. Benton-Walker excels is his story. There is something magical about any story set in New Orleans, which he uses to his advantage. In Blood Debts, he takes NOLA back from Anne Rice’s vampires and brings the focus back to the true magical heart of the area, its long history of magic in the hands of its Black citizens. In this case, it is the intergenerational magic given to formerly enslaved people by their gods as a way to break free from their oppressors. With its roots in Hoodoo, Voodoo, Haitian Vodou, and European witchcraft, the magic the Trudeau family practices is unlike what we usually expect when we hear the word “witch.” Theirs is darker, more dangerous, and more prone to cause harm to the person casting the spell as much as to the intended recipient.

The other impressive aspect of Blood Debts is that Mr. Benton-Walker highlights his characters’ failings and uses them as character development tools for them to learn and grow. In Clement’s case, he must overcome his severe anxiety and the trauma he feels upon the death of his father and his mother’s failing health. While it happens more often, a novel in which a character’s mental health is not just a convenient plot device but rather an integral part of the character itself is still rare. For all his writing faults, Mr. Benton-Walker makes Clement a likable character because of his mental illness and not despite it. Through Clement, we understand what it feels like to suffer severe anxiety, and we rejoice when he stops letting it hinder his ability to obtain his goals.

I like Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker. The story is dark and bloody, and revenge stories never get old. Where I struggled, and where I see many people struggling, is with Mr. Benton-Walker’s writing style. It does not match the nuanced and complex story he builds. Every voice is too immature, and each sentence reads like a middle-grade English textbook. Given that, I am still deciding whether to continue the series. I want to discover what happens to Clement and Cristina, but I wonder if I should put myself through the writing issues again. show less

Let me start off by saying that I love the cover for Blood Debts, though it did make me think it was going to be historical fantasy rather than contemporary given how the two characters are dressed. But still, A+ cover!!

Now on to the actual review. Blood Debts is about two teens, twins Cris and Clem, whose grandmother once ruled the Generational magic council in New Orleans, but was accused of murdering a white woman and lynched thirty years ago. They grew up with their parents and a whole show more lot of aunts, but after their father died a year ago the aunts all left and neither sibling is dealing well. Cris has given up magic, thinking she is at fault for her fathers death, and Clem is lonely, anxious and depressed, and dates various guys without letting himself ever get close. But what if their grandmother was framed for the murder, and their family should still be ruling the gen magic council?? Throw in a reclusive necromancer, a showboat with some major showdowns, and an answer trapped in the mind of a girl who's been crossed, as well as the family of the new ruling queen and a serious quest for revenge, there's excitement and drama for sure.

I really liked the concept of the book, but I think it suffered a bit from trying to tackle too many intense subjects and storylines in one volume. I never felt like we learned enough about any of the various plots and subplots, as one would be dropped for a bit to focus on another, and then yet another would come up seemingly out of nowhere. This also makes the pace of the first half of the book rather slow, as various elements all have to separately develop. The pace of the second half is much better, and the main storyline is resolved at least.

The magic system was really interesting, and the setting of New Orleans was an excellent backdrop. In fact I am sorry we did not get to see more of the magic use, though that is for a reason in the book. And without spoilers there is some pretty significant magic usage during the last quarter.

One significant thing that I did not love was the relationships between most of the characters. Their family has all fallen out with each other, and I was expecting Clem and Cris especially to be learning to work together and overcome what separated them in the past. However this doesn't happen for most of the book, so mostly its two siblings who don't get along well and their dysfunctional family who also don't get along well. The villians are also pretty much one hundred percent awful without nuance, even Cris's ex-best friend, the daughter of the current gen council Queen. We get a few chapters from her perspective which I think are meant to humanize her but mostly it was like, here is an awful person who has also happened to have some bad things happen to her. There were also a couple chapters from a minor characters perspective and I am honestly unsure of their purpose at all. Perhaps that will become clear in the next book.

The end of the book is also very surprisingly violent. I was not really prepared for it to be quite that brutal. So just a heads up there for anyone who may be a little squeamish.

All in all, a decent but not amazing debut. I don't regret reading it but I probably won't remember to look out for the sequel. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. show less

Book Stats
Stars: 4 Stars
Start Date: 04/30/24
Ending Date: 06/19/24
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Form: E-Arc/ Audiobook
Page Count: 480
Publishing Date: 04/23/24
Point of View: Dual 1st Person, 3rd person
Setting: New Orleans, La

My Blog:https://tanyasreading.wordpress.com/2024/07/21/blood-justice-by-terry-benton-walker/
StoryGraph:https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/6beca938-6d81-4234-9e08-089df41b3d2a?redirect=true

Thank you Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for the E-Arc and ALC in exchange for an honest show more review.

Blood Justice follows the Trudeau Twins Nine months after the events of Blood Debts. After they successfully cleared their grandmother's name and reclaim the Gen Council Throne. A new murder mystery with the Twins Mom, Marie Traudeu ,who is the new Gen Queen and the main suspect. History is repeating itself as the Traudeu twins have to save their family yet again while trying to keep themselves together from falling apart. Old and new enemies come out as they form alliances to try and get the Gen Council Throne away from Trudeaus once again.

I loved this one but for some reason, I felt like the first one was still better. I guess it has the case of "Second Novel Syndrome" where certain things Terry did approve on but for some reason it felt longer than the first one.

So lets play a game of What Worked and What needs to be approved on

What worked for me.

Unapologetically Black- Just like the first one, this one is Blackity Black to the bone while it does tackle issues like racism and homophobia . It still feels like a love letter to the Black and LBGTQ communities.

Chris' Rage- She did what had to be done and it was justifiable to the people she did it too. You just get tired of our people being treated the way we have been treated for centuries and you just want to do something about it.

The Political Intrigue- It was better in this one with certain characters making allegiances with people.

Getting more of Valentina and her mom bonding which we got more of her heritage.

Clem feels anger and hopelessness which he feels like he has to do on his own. Clem is still my favorite so the ending had me in pieces. BRING MY BABY BOY HOME TERRY! lol

The Moon King introduction, backstory, and the upcoming war. His whole introduction at the end felt like the ending of HP and The Goblet of Fire which was a total " Oh Shit" moment .

The fourth and fifth acts of the book which is the reason why I'm giving it a four and not lower. Those two acts was a total " What the fuck is going on!!" for me.

The Body Count- Terry said it is supposed to be the Black Game of Thrones and with the political scheming, the body's dropping ,and a potential war, it's getting there.

The Narration of the audiobook was still good as hell.

What could be approved on

Chris' Rage- It went from " Chris Girl Yes!" to" Chris Girl No!" towards the end when she almost made a terrible mistake. I'm glad her grandma saved her from herself which should give her a chance for development for the 3rd book.

Mama Trudeau barely being Queen of the Gen Council- The fact that she was out of commission again for the majority of the book with her being framed for murder thus being in jail. I can forgive the first book for her being sick because of the curse on her but barely seeing her in action again? Especially the fact we know thanks to the first one that she is powerful as hell and pretty much the rock of the family. She better get part of the action in the 3rd one.

The Trudeaus need Gen-Magic allied families-The fact the Trudeaus still feel like they really don't have allies while everyone else is scheming against them. There are maybe three people I would consider allies but they need whole families now.

Where the hell did Ursula go? - There was not enough Ursula in this book which is a shame because she was one of the strongest side characters in the first book. She is my favorite aunt and I love her relationship with Clem so it's sad we really didn't get a lot of her in this book like the first one. We also need more of the sisters as a whole.

Eveline Beaumont being a villain- For some reason I just can't get behind her being a villain like Lenora was. Even if she was pulling the strings behind Lenora with her being a puppet and Eveline being the main puppeteer. I do like her scheming with Val but something about her character is missing. I guess Lenora was the grandma who kept up the mess while Eveline did her shit behind the screens. She is supposed to feel like a bigger threat with her doing what she is trying to do with Gen-Magic but she honestly doesn't.

The whole Mystery this time felt like it was solved too quickly. Like do you really believe people are going to believe what happened? I know it's a magical and spiritual community but come on!

The Third act of the book was dragging which took me forever to finish.

This is still one of my top reads of the year but first got the edge on it by a hair. Can't wait for the third one!! show less