Bitten by Books
Bloodwitch, the engrossing first installment in the Maeve’ra series, opens with shapeshifter Vance Ehecatl, sitting (in his quetzal form) very still for a painting being done by the vampire Lady Brina. When the artist takes a break, Vance changes back to human and does some of his chores around the greenhouse. Vance gets a big surprise when his trainer, Taro, arrives with Mistress Jeshickah, the vampire leader of the town of Midnight, and Vance’s benefactor, having taken him in as a child when he was abandoned by his parents. Feeling alternately elated and overwhelmed when coming face-to-face with the powerful woman, fourteen-year-old Vance somehow acquits himself well, and learns two things: Lady Brina had been talking about him in the marketplace, and somewhere in Midnight lives another quetzal shifter.
Later that same night, a visitor arrives bringing paint to Lady Brina, and he seems to know Calysta, Vance’s friend, a snake shifter. After the strange man leaves, Calysta, though seemingly startled by Lady Brina’s finished painting, offers to clean up the studio. The next morning when entering the greenhouse, Lady Brina, her brother, and Vance discover both Calysta’s body (she killed herself) and the destroyed painting. Distraught, and afraid of Brina’s anger, Vance leaves the safety of the only home he has ever known to face unknown dangers in the outside world. Meeting up with Malachi, the visitor from the night before, Vance learns some surprising news about himself, which sets him upon a path of self-discovery fraught with peril.
The excellent Bloodwitch presents a fascinating world in which humans rank at the very bottom and various shapeshifter groups battle amongst each other while either serving or defying the ruling vampire class whose power derives from their strength and difficulty to be killed. Allegiances shift as quickly as the wind in this tale, and Vance finds himself caught in the middle. As much a coming-of-age story as a work of fantasy fiction, Bloodwitch lets the reader experience Vance’s evolution from wide-eyed innocent who believes only good of those he has lived with for years to a young man afraid of his future and what it may hold but determined to discover his role. This fast-paced and intriguing novel should appeal to adult readers as well as its young adult target audience.
Book Stats:
- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Delacorte Press (May 13, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385743033
- ISBN-13: 978-0385743037
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Books in the Maeve’ra Trilogy in the order they should be read:
Bloodwitch
Bloodkin
Bloodtraitor
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Summary : The excellent Bloodwitch presents a fascinating world in which humans rank at the very bottom and various shapeshifter groups battle amongst each other while either serving or defying the ruling vampire class whose power derives from their strength and difficulty to be killed. Allegiances shift as quickly as the wind in this tale, and Vance finds himself caught in the middle. As much a coming-of-age story as a work of fantasy fiction, Bloodwitch lets the reader experience Vance’s evolution from wide-eyed innocent who believes only good of those he has lived with for years to a young man afraid of his future and what it may hold but determined to discover his role.
