the queen of blood

4 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It starts off a bit slow, but eventually picks up and roars to a satisfying ending.

Humans share their world with spirits. The spirits control the air, earth, fire, ice, water and wood. The spirits help build the villages and cities, make food grow, feed the animals. Humans need the spirits to survive. But spirits hate humans and want nothing more than to kill every human alive. In the kingdom of Renthia the people are protected from the spirits by their Queen. She controls the spirits and prevents them from harming humans. Because the Queen is vital to human’s survival, young girls that can control the spirits are trained to be the new queen (an heir) so that there is always a potential queen available if, and when, the queen dies.

Lately, however, it seems like the Queen’s power is slipping. Spirits have started attacking outer villages. Daleina’s village is destroyed in a spirit attack. She discovers she has power to control the spirits when she scares them away to save her family. Afterwards she makes her way to the academy to train to become an heir. She vows to learn to control spirits better so she can always protect her family and people. Daleina is not the strongest candidate at the academy, but her heart is true and she works hard. When Ven, a disgraced champion, decides to train her to become an heir, her real education starts.

The worldbuilding is pretty good in this book and the characters are well written. The story is fresh and fast-paced. This is the first book in the series, but wraps up a lot of storylines at the end. I will definitely read the next book in this series.