Book Details
Title: Snowblooded
Author: Emma Sterner-Radley
Publisher: Solaris
Publication Date: May 9, 2024
Genre(s): Adult, LGBT, Fantasy, Historical
Pages: 400
Title: Snowblooded
Author: Emma Sterner-Radley
Publisher: Solaris
Publication Date: May 9, 2024
Genre(s): Adult, LGBT, Fantasy, Historical
Pages: 400
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Reading Details
Finish Date: April 22, 2024
Format: Physical
Representation: Sapphic, Achillean, Asexual
Trigger/Content Warnings: Violence, Death, Murder, Child Abuse
Finish Date: April 22, 2024
Format: Physical
Representation: Sapphic, Achillean, Asexual
Trigger/Content Warnings: Violence, Death, Murder, Child Abuse
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Rating: 5⭐
Favorite Quote/Scene:
"Snowblooded means you can be useful. That you can thaw."
Review:
I am very, very thankful that I got to read this book. Queer fantasy has been my main genre recently and this title seriously interested me. I will admit that I have a soft spot for badass female characters and an assassin definitely fits the bill. I didn’t want to put the book down once I got to the meat of the story. It just had me entranced.
The best part about this book, to me, are the characters. There are two main characters that we follow throughout the book, Petrichor and Valour. The two were raised together and they are both assassins. The two do not get along, picking and prodding at each other constantly. The two are quite different in how they approach life and see the world around them, but they also have similarities that they discover as time goes along. Valour curses like a sailor while Petrichor likes things to be a certain way. They are both assassins but have different approaches to how they behave while on a mission. As the book goes on, the two are forced to work in close leagues and discover that they do have similarities.
The action scenes in this book were amazing!! Typically, I cannot picture fight scenes and don’t always give them my attention because of that. I just don’t get engaged with them if I can’t imagine them. Emma wrote scenes that I was able to picture even if I couldn’t picture the entire fight. The action scenes were well-paced. Enough energy in them to keep me engaged in the fight, but not too much energy that everything felt rushed or unrealistic. The characters knew how to fight, they are assassins after all, but that didn’t mean that they were wiping the floor with everyone. It was a fine balance, but Emma did a great job of walking that line.
The plot of this book was probably my second favorite part of this book. Petrichor and Valour are given the order to assassinate the ‘ness tonic dealer in the area. The only thing is that they don’t know who that is. They go on a search to find information about the dealer and they stumble into more than they could have expected. The investigation and action scenes were exciting and I was hooked to the story to discover what was happening to these characters. The characters were given some downtime scenes that didn’t feel like they dragged the story on, but rather that they were allowing time for things to cool down/build up in the background. Even when the characters weren’t explicitly on an investigation, there was always an undercurrent of things happening in the background. One of my favorite scenes in the entire book was when the characters weren’t fighting a physical enemy or investigating the drug ring, but rather trudging to their home in the snow. It was viscerally described so that you could feel their emotions and the chill of the wind. It was also a real and tender moment between the two characters that typically only fight.
I also thought that the twists and turns of this book were well-written. There were hints as to what was the truth, but there were still reveals that I hadn’t expected. It was a nice balance of things that I was guessing towards and reveals that I could not have predicted.
I’m going to include this next part behind a spoiler tag because it may spoil some of the ending. Read at your own risk. SPOILER: One of the other things I enjoyed about this book was the harsh reality of it. There were talks of people freezing to death because they didn’t have a home or things to keep them warm. There was talk of a Pestilence area where people had been shoved and left to die when a disease went around. At the end of the book, once all the secrets had been uncovered, the author also didn’t shy away from the punishments the characters received. None of the characters, whether we liked them or not, were given a fully free pass from paying for their crimes. It was harsh and brutal and I loved it! I love when people, even people I love, are punished for their crimes.
This book was a stunning read. Between characters I loved that were rough around the edges and slowly revealed more honesty and softness throughout the story to action scenes that were exciting and had me on edge. From a stunning setting to worldbuilding that had me wanting more. There were so many elements that I absolutely loved in this book that it was no surprise to me when I ended up adoring the book by the time I read the last page. This author has other fantasy books and I will be reading them at some point in the future. If this book was any indication, I’m going to enjoy them.
Favorite Quote/Scene:
"Snowblooded means you can be useful. That you can thaw."
Review:
I am very, very thankful that I got to read this book. Queer fantasy has been my main genre recently and this title seriously interested me. I will admit that I have a soft spot for badass female characters and an assassin definitely fits the bill. I didn’t want to put the book down once I got to the meat of the story. It just had me entranced.
The best part about this book, to me, are the characters. There are two main characters that we follow throughout the book, Petrichor and Valour. The two were raised together and they are both assassins. The two do not get along, picking and prodding at each other constantly. The two are quite different in how they approach life and see the world around them, but they also have similarities that they discover as time goes along. Valour curses like a sailor while Petrichor likes things to be a certain way. They are both assassins but have different approaches to how they behave while on a mission. As the book goes on, the two are forced to work in close leagues and discover that they do have similarities.
The action scenes in this book were amazing!! Typically, I cannot picture fight scenes and don’t always give them my attention because of that. I just don’t get engaged with them if I can’t imagine them. Emma wrote scenes that I was able to picture even if I couldn’t picture the entire fight. The action scenes were well-paced. Enough energy in them to keep me engaged in the fight, but not too much energy that everything felt rushed or unrealistic. The characters knew how to fight, they are assassins after all, but that didn’t mean that they were wiping the floor with everyone. It was a fine balance, but Emma did a great job of walking that line.
The plot of this book was probably my second favorite part of this book. Petrichor and Valour are given the order to assassinate the ‘ness tonic dealer in the area. The only thing is that they don’t know who that is. They go on a search to find information about the dealer and they stumble into more than they could have expected. The investigation and action scenes were exciting and I was hooked to the story to discover what was happening to these characters. The characters were given some downtime scenes that didn’t feel like they dragged the story on, but rather that they were allowing time for things to cool down/build up in the background. Even when the characters weren’t explicitly on an investigation, there was always an undercurrent of things happening in the background. One of my favorite scenes in the entire book was when the characters weren’t fighting a physical enemy or investigating the drug ring, but rather trudging to their home in the snow. It was viscerally described so that you could feel their emotions and the chill of the wind. It was also a real and tender moment between the two characters that typically only fight.
I also thought that the twists and turns of this book were well-written. There were hints as to what was the truth, but there were still reveals that I hadn’t expected. It was a nice balance of things that I was guessing towards and reveals that I could not have predicted.
I’m going to include this next part behind a spoiler tag because it may spoil some of the ending. Read at your own risk. SPOILER: One of the other things I enjoyed about this book was the harsh reality of it. There were talks of people freezing to death because they didn’t have a home or things to keep them warm. There was talk of a Pestilence area where people had been shoved and left to die when a disease went around. At the end of the book, once all the secrets had been uncovered, the author also didn’t shy away from the punishments the characters received. None of the characters, whether we liked them or not, were given a fully free pass from paying for their crimes. It was harsh and brutal and I loved it! I love when people, even people I love, are punished for their crimes.
This book was a stunning read. Between characters I loved that were rough around the edges and slowly revealed more honesty and softness throughout the story to action scenes that were exciting and had me on edge. From a stunning setting to worldbuilding that had me wanting more. There were so many elements that I absolutely loved in this book that it was no surprise to me when I ended up adoring the book by the time I read the last page. This author has other fantasy books and I will be reading them at some point in the future. If this book was any indication, I’m going to enjoy them.
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