Book Review + Blog Tour | The Blood Race

01 August 2017

I have been following Kate Emmons on her blog The Goodness Revolt for a long time. She never ceases to amaze me with her beautiful, insightful writing and poetry. I always knew that someday she was going to go somewhere with her writing, and when I heard that she was releasing her debut novel, The Blood Race, I was so incredibly proud and excited for her. 
Today I am beyond honored to be a part of her launch team and to contribute a post to the awesome blog tour hosted by Kate's sister, Abbie, from her blog Abbiee, and Grace Anne from Totally Graced
You should go and give these ladies all the love because they deserve it!


He’s spent his life running from who he is. She’s been trying to escape her past for 100 years… 
Born with unexplainable abilities he struggles to control, college student Ion tries desperately to integrate into his new school and finally put his dark past behind him. But after making a serious enemy, which leads to an accidental rendezvous with the mysterious old man next door— and his hauntingly beautiful but troubled young protégée Hawk, Ion realizes his life will never be normal again.
Late one evening, Hawk drags him by the hand into a closet-turned-rabbit-hole to an extra dimension, and Ion finds himself stumbling involuntarily into a secret society of training for “anomalies,” teenagers with a special set of abilities. Just like him.
As they train to become Protectors of future Earth, battling each other as well as their own demons, both Ion and Hawk begin to realize that they are far more alike than they realized. Unsettlingly so.
When the Dimension is shaken by an unthinkable betrayal, will an ancient prophecy bring Hawk and Ion together—or will a deadly threat hidden in plain sight cost them both their powers… and their lives?
Trust is a superlative. The result is never lukewarm: it is either an extreme producer of life, or death.
-K.A. Emmons, The Blood Race
I love stories like this one. Fresh stories about superhumans and different worlds are undoubtably the best, and K.A. Emmons was able to execute it so well in The Blood Race. I got so many X-men/Miss Peregrine vibes while I was reading, but not in a bad way at all. The author was able to take the familiar concepts and make them her own flawlessly.

I could tell that great care and detail were put in developing the universe of dimensions and Sliders, but I still found myself confused from time to time, trying to keep up with explanations or new, complicated aspects of the world. But that's pretty usual for me when starting a new fantasy series. I was able to catch on to what was going on eventually.

I really enjoyed learning about and immersing myself in this new world. This is definitely a first book in a series though, because, while there was a plot, much of the story was spent world-building and explaining how the system works instead of following a lot of action.

This book is very fast paced and filled to the brim with beautifully written descriptions and great characters.

I really loved Hawk. I don't usually care for the dark and mysterious type of characters, but I found that I was more intrigued with her chapters than Ion's. Ion got extremely frustrating sometimes. I didn't hate him necessarily, I just really wanted to lock him up in a basement somewhere so that he would stop messing things up. The secondary characters were also memorable. I adored Fin so much! And I became interested in Sensei as well. I would love to read a book about his backstory.

There are incredible themes of trust and redemption woven throughout the whole story that were amazing! It wasn't until the exciting climax of the book hit that I realized it was an allegory. There were some crazy powerful scenes towards the end --especially between Hawk and Sensei-- that made the reader reflect on their own life without being preachy. It reminded me of a modern, sci-fi, teenage Narnia in a way.

I'm so excited to see where the series will go from here and how K.A. Emmons will grow in her writing and story telling. After that cliff hanger I'm dying for more!


I received a free ARC from the author in exchange for an honest, unbiased review

GET THE BLOOD RACE

Be sure to get yourself in on the action. Buy a copy of The Blood Race on Amazon out today and add it on Goodreads!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

When she's not hermiting away in her colorfully-painted home office writing her next science fiction, passionate story-teller and adventurer Kate Emmons is probably on the road for a surf or hiking trip, listening to vinyls, or going for a power run. Emmons lives in the often-snowy hills of rugged Vermont with her husband and dog named Rocket.

Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

6 comments

  1. Thank you so much for being a part of this blog tour, Hannah!! I LOVE THE AESTHETICS OMG <333 and your review was splendid! *hugs*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ahhh thanks for having me Abbie!! It was a blast. :)

      Delete
  2. Aren't Hawk and Fin the best? I love them so much. <3 And those aesthetics are so gorgeous!

    This book is so gorgeous, and I love the allegorical nature of it. This was such a fantastic post, Hannah! I loved reading all of your thoughts on The Blood Race!

    ReplyDelete
  3. EEEPPPP THE AESTHETICS THO!!! <3 You captured the story-world perfectly... TBH I kinda want to marry Fin XD but I LOVED all of the characters <333

    xoxo
    Lizzy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Like can there just be a Fin for all of us to marry? That would be great. XD

      Delete