Review: We are Blood and Thunder

We are Blood and Thunder by Kesia Lupo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lena has grown up as a cryptling in Duke's Forest, tending to the revered dead and forbidden from venturing above ground. A pestilence has been attacking the town for several years, and the people fear magic. When a body Lena is tending moves, the brutish Justice has her flung from the city to be hunted down by his dogs.

As Lena is desperately trying to escape, Constance is trying to get in. Having fled the city years before, she's now returning, determined to find the source of the spell that holds Duke's Forest in its grip. Although they don't know it, these two women and their strange connection hold the future of Duke's Forest in their hands.


This is a good, but not great, story. I enjoyed it, but I feel like a lot of Lena's storyline was basically just passing time until Constance caught up. However, I didn't think that while I was reading, only when I got to the end and looked back. There was a twist that looked like it was going one way but then went the complete opposite way, which I appreciated. I'm not sure if this is a series; I thought my copy said 'trilogy' but when I looked again it didn't, but I'd gladly read more titles set in this world. It's an intriguing place and we've only just scratched the surface of it.

Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in any way.

'He is not like us, Lena. He could never understand.'
'What?'
'We are not like other people,' Constance said softly, her glowing cane hovering over Lena's heart, ready to continue her work. 'Other people are flesh and bone and sinew, and they wander through life like cattle or sheep, aimless and happy. But we are different.' She smiled a hidden smile. 'We are blood and thunder.'

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