Wildblood

By Lauren Blackwood. Pub date Feb 7, 2023

4.5*. Enjoy with a cup of hot tropical tea, something that makes you feel like it’s straight from the humid recesses of a caribbean island jungle.

PUBLISHER’S SYNOPSIS

“Eighteen-year-old Victoria is a Wildblood. Since she was kidnapped at the age of six and manipulated by the Exotic Lands Touring Company, she’s worked as a tour guide ever since with a team of fellow Wildbloods who take turns using their magic to protect travelers in a Jamaican jungle teeming with ghostly monsters.

When the boss denies Victoria an earned promotion to team leader in favor of Dean, her backstabbing ex, she’s determined to prove herself. Her magic may be the most powerful on the team, but she’s not the image the boss wants to send their new client, Thorn, a renowned goldminer determined to reach an untouched gold supply deep in the jungle.

Thorn is everything Victoria isn’t – confident, impossibly kind, and so handsome he leaves her speechless. And when he entrusts the mission to her, kindness turns to mutual respect, turns to affection, turns to love. But the jungle is treacherous, and between hypnotic river spirits, soul-devouring women that shed their skin like snakes, and her ex out for revenge, Victoria has to decide – is promotion at a corrupt company really what she wants?

A fierce, lush fantasy by New York Times bestselling author Lauren Blackwood, Wildblood tells the story of a girl who must find the strength to defeat the demons of the jungle as well as her own to find where she truly belongs.”

HEART & SPIRIT (REVIEW)

I had the absolute pleasure of reading Lauren Blackwood’s Within These Wicked Walls and was overjoyed when I was approved for her upcoming fantasy novel, Wildblood. Put this one in your TBR! 

Some overarching themes may be TW: references to sexual assault, overt tones of racism, and violence. 

Victoria is a Wildblood. They are a special group of people who can turn blood into weapons or manipulate it and she is particularly good at what she does. Like her, the people who “work” for her company are mostly people of color, feared for their abilities. Also like her, most of the Wildbloods in The Company were kidnapped or taken from their parents. Their specific type of magic holds purpose in what they do, and that’s to help tourists or others through the jungles in Jamaica, which are populated by deadly insects, bloodthirsty beasts, and dangerous spirits that lure you to your death or even steal your face if you don’t know how to properly treat them and avoid them. It gives value to their abilities, but it’s also the only existence for Wildbloods. They are paid, but not enough to ever escape, and the only option would be going through the jungle if the guards don’t kill you first. Even then, the world outside can be so dangerous when your body was born with magic that not everyone understands.

Victoria’s main driving force is to get promoted so she can be paid enough to get her charge, Bunny, out of the company. He struggles with his magic and Victoria is afraid that he will stretch himself too far with it, which can be deadly for Wildbloods. However, the promised promotion is no where in site and instead she is given a deal. If she helps Dean, her former friend turned mortal enemy, on the next expedition and makes him look good, she will have her promotion. However, the next mission isn’t like all the others. The newest tourist group is headed by a man named Thorn, a very wealthy person of color whose fortune came from mining. Instead of the usual transport through the jungle on roads that are travelled often by clients of The Company, Thorn needs to get to the center of the jungle. However, the jungle doesn’t take politely to intruders and will not tolerate the intrusion this group brings. 

This mission is unlike any other she has been on before, and three warnings are given over the course of the trip that make Victoria beg both Thorn and Dean to stop the journey, despite the punishment that she might get from it. However strong Victoria’s connection to the jungle and its creatures, it won’t be enough to stop the death, deception, and danger that they are all in. As things fall apart, Victoria must acknowledge who she truly is if she is going to get herself and the people she cares about back to safety. 

This book was filled with so many twists and turns and mysteries that opened up like beautiful tropical flowers. It’s so hard to write a review without revealing too much, and there are so many things that happen throughout the pages that are surprising and heartbreaking and also beautiful. Discovering where Victoria came from and how she came to be in the company was my favorite part, but you don’t discover it until far into the book, but it explains so much.

I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for this fair and honest review.