Kelly A. Harmon

A Truly Enjoyable Read That You'll Want to Finish In One Sitting:

When Queen Piacenza's nurse reads the bones, they tell her only one thing: "A girl child must rule or the kingdom will fall to ruin." But Queen Piacenza's husband King Theodicar finds such a thing completely unacceptable - and the kingdom in question is his. When Piacenza's child is finally born, Theodicar must make a decision that will affect his kingdom for decades to come.

Kelly Harmon has written a story with richly-drawn show more characters who are neither good nor evil, but completely human. With careful attention to detail, she brings to life the country of Borgund through its economy, the choices of its rulers and the careful dance of politics between Borgund and her neighbors. The end result: "Blood Soup" is a delicious mix of political intrigue, magic, dark personal secrets and deep emotion that's so good you'll want seconds. show less

Salvagia give the feel of magic to the story with her fortune telling bones mixed with blood. When overly pregnant Queen Piacenza asks, again, to cast the bones to answer her question - What will this child need to rule wisely and justly? The bones cast the same answer, over and over again. Piacenza is convinced by the answer she will have a girl child, but King Theodicar wants a boy. A boy is always the one to rule the kingdom, not girls. A boy is born - Amalric, but at a cost...

Blood Soup show more was a quick read for me with only 79 pages. The story touches on different point of views in Amalric's and Theodicar's lifes, as Amalric grows up and takes the thrown. In these short snippets you see what kind of person Amalric is and did with the crown. And you see how Theodicar rethinks his decisions. Is there any way for King Theodicar to correct his wrong that set his kingdom down the path its on?

I enjoyed this quick read. There was a dark feel to the magic of Blood Soup to me... the blood. I had a moment of getting use to the transition of Amalric suddenly being older, as I didn't know what to expect while reading when I started the book. This is a great start for Kelly. I am looking forward to reading novels by her in the future. show less

I don't know if Blood Soup just wasn't my type of book, but I really wasn't into it and glad it was a short read. I must have misread the synopsis because it wasn't what I expected in the slightest (I more expected a woman overthrowing a thrown with some action, since that's what the cover implies as well). In my opinion, it was just overly feminist with the main male characters having the personalities of complete and utter turds -- including the main "bad guy" practically announcing that show more women are just punching bags while beating his pregnant wife. Although it was visually well-written, it skipped too much and the ending was too sudden and would leave most readers bewildered because of the lack of resolution. show less

A quickie. I loved the time frame and the dark setting. The characters were well written even though the story was so short. A great book for the lunch break reader.