Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao

I received an e-ARC of Blood Heir from Netgalley, and I'm pretty sure it was the best thing that's ever happened to me. Blood Heir was everything I was expecting and more. First of all, the cover is absolutely gorgeous, and I'm really upset that I'm not going to be able to actually hold the book until June.

Blood Heir is about Anastacya, a fugitive princess who was forced to flee the palace after being accused of murdering her father, the emperor. Ana is a blood Affinite: she can control other people's blood. Affinites are alternatively sought after as indentured servants and reviled as unnatural monsters. Even among other Affinites, Ana's power is unusual and extremely powerful.

Ana makes a deal with Ramson Quicktongue, an infamous con man, to help her find the man who really killed her father. Ramson, however, has his own motives for helping her, as well as his own tragic backstory. Oh, Ramson. He reminds me of Kaz from Six of Crows except...better? (Kaz is one of my all-time favorite characters so I can't even believe I'm saying that but...)

Ramson just needs a hug, seriously.

Ana, on the other hand...needs to be kept away from fast-moving bodies of water at all costs. (I'm trying to keep this review spoiler-free, so you'll definitely see what I mean once you read it. Ideally, after you preorder a copy and then read it.)

I would lay down my LIFE for Ana. Some people seem to think that a girl needs a sword (or some other type of stabby weapon) to be a "strong woman," but Ana has none of these things and she's so strong and inspiring. Of course, she could totally drain all the blood from your body with a thought, but she...probably wouldn't.

One of my favorite themes in the book was redemption. Ana and Ramson have both made some pretty terrible mistakes, and they both fear that they're monsters. BUT they're both so innately good, and Ramson in particular spends a lot of the book making his way back from that dark place.

Suffice it to say, the character development is just amazing.

Even the side characters were just so interesting and unique that I never felt like they were there just to further the plot. In fact, at this point, I'm dying for a prequel novel about one in particular...

I'm writing this approximately one hour after I've finished reading, and I feel like I need to just sit and think about it for a solid day or so, but I also want to write everything down so I don't forget anything. I'm absolutely in awe of this book...it's only January, but this might end up being my favorite read of the year. I normally don't highlight or write down very many quotes, but there were so many quotes I thought were too wonderful to risk forgetting.

I can't recommend Blood Heir enough to anyone who likes any of the following: agonizingly slow-burn romance, witty sailors, really freaking cool magic systems, loooots of very suspenseful near-misses, and strong women who don't take crap from anyone.