Note: This series is recommended for mature YA+ readers due to thematic elements throughout the series.

 

Blood Oath is the first novel in the Darkest Drae, a new dark epic fantasy series by authors Raye Wagner and Kelly St Clare. (SPOILERS)

​

I give Blood Oath 3.5 Stars.

 

Click here to read the Goodreads synopsis of Blood Oath.

 

The novel begins in a tavern where a rebel meeting takes place. Ryn, the heroine, is not at all interested in the rebels’ war against Ireldon, King of Verald, but she is quite partial to the gossip floating around the tavern about a certain rebel prince. The kingdom’s night curfew arrives and the rebels scurry home, avoiding arrest as news arrives that the King’s Drae is “hunting in Zone Seven”. The kingdom of Verald is split into twelve Harvest Zones – imagine a pie chart cut into twelve pieces – and Ryn lives in Harvest Zone Seven. The Drae are a race of dragons that can shift between their human and drae forms easily.

Sworn by his blood oath, Lord Irrik – the King’s Drae – scouts the Zone Seven for rebels. Unfortunately for Ryn, she gets caught and mistaken for a rebel.

 

Up until that point in the novel Blood Oath has a slow build up. I’ve read reviews that criticise the novel for a slow start, but I think it works fairly well. Every scene prior to this is completely relevant to the plot and the readers’ understanding of the world. As with all fantasy novels, the first one hundred pages are full of information to anchor the reader. By the end of this first third of the novel you understand why there is a rebellion, why the people of Verald are starving, and why this world is so cruel.

 

I mentioned at the start of this review in the ‘Note’, that this series is recommended for mature YA+ readers. One reason for this is that after Ryn is captured, she is subjected to torture and this goes on for several chapters before the novel’s focus changes and even then the torture scenes make an appearance now and again. These torture scenes are not written in great detail – something you can expect from Grimdark Fantasy – but the scenes are enough to make you wince. Not only is Ryn put through physical abuse at the hands of disgustingly sadistic men, she is emotionally abused.

         I didn’t like this aspect of the novel. I understand that that is the world Ryn inhabits, that her abuse is used to degrade her, weaken her, but it is not enjoyable to read. Of course I found myself hoping to see Ryn free and at times readers are given a break from the onslaught, but too often we are pushed back to watch Ryn suffer. I found myself questioning why this had to happen for the story to progress.

         The power games played between King Ireldon and Lord Irrik ultimately keep Ryn alive. Blood Oath does not handle these scenes well, in my opinion, and passes up opportunities to break Ryn in a way that develops her character further. Instead, it appears Ryn’s torture is irrelevant when it does not cause any significant trauma since she has the ability to heal fast.

          A possible feminist approach will perceive Ryn as both strong and soft, but placed in to a position of weakness by the males around her (which seems to be a common trope of fantasy, sigh). In addition, of the few women that feature in Blood Oath, two are killed in the first one hundred pages, while others dislike Ryn for no apparent reason. There is no reason for there to be so few female characters, and their absence strikes me as problematic. Especially when the main female character is tortured by men, and the only two women who were nice to her end up dead. It carries a silent, possibly not intended suggestion (but one that is present) that women are still subject to the patriarchy. I just think the authors could have handled this subject better.

 

Lord Irrik is a difficult character to pin down. He is an abuser as a result of his blood oath to the king forces him to do as Ireldon commands. With Ryn, Irrik makes multiple attempts to various levels of success to work around his blood oath. When it is clear she is more valuable to the King alive, Irrik steps up his game. However, his way of protecting her secret from the king is to push her into harm’s way. His temperamental moods and actions often cause Ryn more pain, and as the novel goes on I began to found these scenes increasingly unfair and annoying.

 

As the novel meets its climax, events take place in quick succession building towards a ‘reveal all’ ending. The final few scenes have shock value. I had already guessed what would happen and so the ending was more a confirmation of my suspicions, but I can see how other readers could be shocked by those final scenes.

 

To conclude, Blood Oath is good, but problematic. It kept me reading, rooting for Ryn and wishing someone would murder the king. If you are a reader that can look past the absence of female characters, the physical and emotional abuse of the narrator and still root for a kick-ass heroine, this might be the book for you. If none of the above seems at all appetising to you, give it a pass.

 

I am looking forward to reading the second book, Shadow Wings. I am hoping it handles many parts better than this novel did.

​

You can read my review for Shadow Wings here!

​

​

​