On the anniversary of these brutal events, Clement and Cristina Trudeau—the sixteen-year-old twin heirs to the powerful, magical, dethroned family—are mourning their father and caring for their sick mother. Until, by chance, they discover their mother isn’t sick—she’s cursed. Cursed by someone on the very magic council their family used to rule. Someone who will come for them next.
Cristina, once a talented and dedicated practitioner of Generational magic, has given up magic for good. An ancient spell is what killed their father and she was the one who cast it. For Clement, magic is his lifeline. A distraction from his anger and pain. Even better than the random guys he hooks up with.
Cristina and Clement used to be each other’s most trusted confidant and friend, now they barely speak. But if they have any hope of discovering who is coming after their family, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other and their family’s magic, all while solving the decades-old murder that sparked the still-rising tensions between the city’s magical and non-magical communities. And if they don’t succeed, New Orleans may see another massacre. Or worse.
- Author: Terry J. Benton-Walker
- Release Date: April 4, 2023
- Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, LGBTQ+, Mystery
- My Rating: 4/5
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This book has added to the fire of me going to New Orleans. It seems to be a place drenched in history, magic, music and culture.
“For every child of color who was denied the justice they deserved. You always matter.”
We follow the Trudeau-Dupant family, a generational magic (generational magic is magic passed through generations of black families) family who tragically lost their parents/ grandparents 30 years ago by an angry mop in the middle of the night. And tragedy keeps surrounding them all these years later. Their grandmother/mother, a black woman who refused to train/show a white woman (the mayor’s daughter) how to use generational magic is accused of her murder.
“I’m glad you think Black folks’ culture is cool. People actually died for the magic you’ve chosen as your latest hobby. Gen gods literally created our magic to survive colonization and slavery and lynching—all because of white people. Pokémon are cool. Generational magic is my heritage, Oz.”
We start with meeting Clement (Clem) , a highschooler trying to deal with life after losing their father to an accident. Bringing a different guy home all the time, trying to chase away the anxiety that plagues him and trying his hardest to not let the voice in this head get to him. Hoping to get good news from the doctor about his mothers heal, he was prepared to conjure a magic spell (of sorts) for luck, but as soon as he is about to perform the spell the object he needs the most–his dads knife– as gone missing. Unsure of where the knife has gone, he asks his twin sister Cris (Cristina) if she has seen it. Tearing through the house, Clem stumbles upon a voodoo doll in their mothers bed with her earring attached to it.
“but I’m tired of living with this anxiety. Life would be so much easier if I could be fearless like my sister.”
Cristina has stopped practicing magic since their father’s passing thinking it was her fault for his death, but her white (race plays a big part of this book) boyfriend keeps asking her to show him how generational magic works, but she always refuses. After finding the voodoo doll under their mother’s bed, Cris notices that Clem’s knife isn’t the only thing that is missing. Cris is trying to find herself again without magic, but it is proving to be harder than she expected–its part of her.
“Are you seriously trying to make this about race right now? Not all white people are evil, you know.”
“No, they’re not, but white people made it so I can never not think about race. I have to constantly wonder if the white people I encounter every day, people who can change my fate as fast as the Sun sets, are going to hate me simply because I’m a Black woman. You’ll never know that feeling.”
We get a look into their family, the relationships between siblings, aunts and nephews, aunts and nieces, cousins and the secrets everyone carries. Secrets that will come out and maybe figure out who really killed the Mayer’s daughter thirty years ago.
“You owe me a Blood Debt,”
I highly recommend this book! I absolutely loved it and can’t wait to see what happens in book 2
Blood Debts Series:
- Blood Debts
- Blood Justice
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