Blood Heir is a long awaited book for all Kate Daniels series fans. If you’ve ever read anything by Ilona Andrews, then you know just how fantastic their writing is and how you can never not return for more and most times never want the series to end. So, yes, even after 10 books from the Kate Daniels series that was delivered flawlessly with just enough for the readers to hope for more, we absolutely cannot get over our anticipation and excitement for a spin-off series based on two of our most beloved (and most often shipped together) characters. It wasn’t even funny the amount of love, support, and expectation that surrounded Derek and Julie… especially after having read the short story that featured the two of them: Magic Stars.
As soon as I read the first word in Blood Heir, it sent me straight into town Good Mood for the rest of the month. Reading about all the familiar settings with our beloved characters from the previous series and finally being able to see what their future looked like felt like a real gift. Additionally, diving into the fantastically complex plot-line that is typical of Ilona Andrews, was even more exciting because their writing style is one of the most attractive aspects of their work.
Julie, who we see many years later, now has a narrative voice that sounds that much older. However, it is an age that comes with the gruelling experience of being witness and victim to hardship and having clawed her way out of dark pain and nightmares and having survived it with her sanity intact. Staying true to her journey, she also sounds like Kate a little bit but also retains her own personality at the same time. The meld of who she is inherently and who she inspires to be like and loves the most, is absolutely lovely and very believable.
So there are many things that we need to be caught on up on because the years that Julie has been away from home have been both pivotal and gone to further establish her as close to her family in her heart. Everything she does is almost always linked to or rooted in her love for her family and the experiences of her past. There are many other characters—both new and familiar—who appear and have a rather prominent presence in this book and I’m curious to see where Ilona Andrews are leading us. No matter where it is, I’m very ready, even if I were to be lead blind folded with cotton stuffed in my ears.
Derek was never really “young”. He was always much older than his age after having faced harder and more debilitating situations than those decades older than him. However, he has always survived. He survived the most cruel torture emotionally and then did it again, but with a brutal addition of physical torture the second time around. I wasn’t sure how he succeeded and did so beautifully later, but he did. He still does. I’m not sure why I expected Derek to have stayed who he was many years ago when Julie had changed so much. But seeing him was such a shock that even after everything I already knew about Ilona Andrews’ work I took a step back and paused because good gracious! Everyone, make room! There’s a new badass-extraordinaire book-boyfriend in the house and he could probably take down anyone you may have crushed on before.
The writing was perfect, with a tenor of its own but still fitting of the KD world. There was neither a single dull moment nor a predictable situation and as all Ilona Andrews’ books are, there was lots of action, whip-smart dialogue that were paired with a well fleshed out plotline, and layered with heart-wrenchingly real characters. Blood Heir is an easy ten for me without even having to think about it. It could be read as a standalone perhaps, but coming to Julie’s story after having been through Kate’s life brings a lot of meaning and a deeper connect to the characters as a whole.
Blood Heir is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of January 12th 2021.
Will you be picking up Blood Heir? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
From Ilona Andrews, an all-new novel set in the Kate Daniels World and featuring Julie Lennart-Olsen, Kate and Curran’s ward.
Atlanta was always a dangerous city. Now, as waves of magic and technology compete for supremacy, it’s a place caught in a slow apocalypse, where monsters spawn among the crumbling skyscrapers and supernatural factions struggle for power and survival.
Eight years ago, Julie Lennart left Atlanta to find out who she was. Now she’s back with a new face, a new magic, and a new name—Aurelia Ryder—drawn by the urgent need to protect the family she left behind. An ancient power is stalking her adopted mother, Kate Daniels, an enemy unlike any other, and a string of horrifying murders is its opening gambit.
If Aurelia’s true identity is discovered, those closest to her will die. So her plan is simple: get in, solve the murders, prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled, and get out without being recognized. She expected danger, but she never anticipated that the only man she’d ever loved could threaten everything.
One small misstep could lead to disaster. But for Aurelia, facing disaster is easy; it’s relationships that are hard.
