The side characters are also as developed as Eva. He’s the second most present character, and yet you never know if he’s telling the truth - fitting for a centuries-old immortal being. In contrast, Lord Baccha is a closed, albeit amusing, book. This gives her a complexity that is often lacking in teenage protagonists. Yet there are moments where she falls back on herself, or is plagued by doubts about her future. Throughout the book, she grows and learns to accept herself and the violent nature of her magic. Eva’s character arc surprised me the most as it’s not linear. Like her setting, Joy put a lot of thought into her characters. While some of that was deliberate, there were parts where magic was thrown in for convenience without further explanation. Eva, and by extension the readers, don’t know much about her magic, and little more about that of others. I’ll admit, it’s a confusing world to navigate. Set against a backdrop of war, prejudice, and violence, Myre is a land struggling to keep its citizens at bay - which is one of the reasons Eva wants to take the throne. For Humans, it’s channelled through tattoos and can take on different forms, such as elemental, blood, or even mental magic. Four species cohabit the land of Myre and tap into its magick, which manifests differently for each of them.

Inspired by North African traditions, the setting itself is spectacular. Rather than put me off however, the rich descriptions made the story come alive and the action scenes even sharper.

Because despite the love she still has for her sister, Eva will have to choose: Isa’s death or her own.Īs the first novel in a fantasy series, A River of Royal Blood is weighed down by setting up the world. As tensions escalate, Eva is forced to turn to a fey instructor of mythic proportions and a mysterious and handsome khimaer prince for help in growing her magick into something to fear.

When Eva is attacked by an assassin just weeks before the battle with her sister, she discovers there is more to the attempt on her life than meets the eye–and it isn’t just her sister who wants to see her dead. Living in Raina’s long and dark shadow, Eva must now face her older sister, Isa, in a battle to the death if she hopes to ascend to the Ivory Throne–because in the Queendom of Myre only the strongest, most ruthless rulers survive. Its last known practitioner was Queen Raina, who toppled the native khimaer royalty and massacred thousands, including her own sister, eight generations ago, thus beginning the Rival Heir tradition. Sixteen-year-old Eva is a princess, born with the magick of marrow and blood–a dark and terrible magick that hasn’t been seen for generations in the vibrant but fractured country of Myre. A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy is a brilliant fantasy debut that easily became another one of my favourite books.