Review: The Blood Stones by Tori Tecken
Blurb:
His name is not worthy.
A traitor is executed, his name ripped away from history. Now the kingdom stands on the brink of a succession war that could bring the country to its knees. Forces stalk the darkness, moving pawns into place in a deadly game.
Gehrin and his brothers were not meant to witness the execution, but now they find themselves trapped in the center of a political quagmire. When Gehrin faces the loss of everything he knows, will he also lose himself?
To the south, tribal warlords clash in an endless cycle of violence. Syndri, the daughter of a chieftain, kills for the honor of her people. An alliance with a foreign queen offers the power to unite the tribes, but at what cost?
Someday, history will remember them as legends.
Review:
The Blood Stones is a new epic fantasy series from Tori Tecken. Set in the lands of Dy’Llar, it is a story of family, loyalty, and vengeance, where a person’s actions have extreme repercussions for all their kin, magic has faded into myth, and the threat of war is constantly looming on the horizon. The Blood Stones first appeared on my radar back in 2023 when I saw its cover reveal on social media. Designed by Sara Ferrari, it immediately captured my attention and the blurb gave me Malazan and Faithful and the Fallen vibes. As a fan of both series, it was only a matter of time before I picked it up. Nonetheless, I kept my expectations in check going into it as is natural when reading the work of an author for the first time.
The Blood Stones has two protagonists: Gehrin, a young noble of the nation of Katesh in the north, and Syndri, a warrior princess of the Garhis tribe in the south. Both characters experience extreme trauma early on, which significantly shapes the kind of people they will eventually become. There is a lot of introspection here as both try to make sense of their worlds when turned upside down. However, whereas Gehrin experiences a lot of character growth, Syndri just seems to become angrier by the end of the book. It is disappointing because I actually preferred Syndri’s chapters. Gehrin’s story quickly descends into a drawn-out run-of-the-mill training regime. I love books that delve into the bonds formed between characters who have gone through the crucible together, but considering the length of time Gehrin spends learning to become one of the Bruhai, there is nothing unique to make it stand out from other books that do the same thing. It was enjoyable but I feel like it was a missed opportunity. On the other hand, Syndri’s chapters are excellent. They are action-packed with higher and higher stakes, and they contain some of the best emotional moments in the entire book. One particular moment early on hit me right in the feels.
Alongside Gehrin and Syndri, there are two other narrative perspectives, that of Xario, Gehrin’s older brother, and Master Lohi, both brothers’ teacher. Xario is a warrior who must battle his way through a political battlefield while Master Lohi is a scholar whose obsession with rune magic is the driving force behind a lot that happens in the novel. I really enjoyed both characters’ points of view and I hope that Tecken gives both characters more page time in the next book as their stories are just as interesting and feel just as important as that of the two protagonists.
The Blood Stones follows a standard three act structure but mixes things up a little by having a time skip between each part. This left me a little conflicted. Whereas on one hand, I enjoyed watching these characters grow over time, on the other, it made the story jarring at times. The final act is the shortest of the three but ends just as things are finally starting to kick off. In retrospect, the first two parts feel like a prologue / origins story for the two protagonists and I think I would have enjoyed the novel more if Tecken had condensed them into one and developed the final part across two parts instead, especially when it comes to Syndri’s story arc. The conflict that has been the driving force behind her story is easily dealt with in the background and all we see is its aftermath at the end. This brings me back to what I said earlier regarding her character development. I would have liked to see Syndri finally overcome this conflict while battling her internal one. With all that said, I am eager to see what happens next to all four characters. The fact that I have become invested in each character’s story is a testament to Tecken’s writing.
It is also evident from the first page that Tecken has poured a lot of love into the world that she has created. From the Mongolian-inspired warring tribes of the southern grasslands of Malek to the vassal kingdom of the Rukians carved into the mountains, Dry’Llar is a wonderfully developed world, rich in history and mythology, its geography authentic and its cultures varied. There is plenty of political intrigue, social class divide and economies that make economic sense. This all comes together to create a believable world that feels lived in, especially as Tecken transports readers from one environment to the next as the events of the story unfold. One of my favourite things about the book is the excerpts at the beginning of each chapter that gradually develop the world and its cultures alongside the main story beats. These excerpts vary from governmental laws and histories to religious chants and cultural proverbs, and each feels important to both the chapter they are contained in and the bigger story at hand. All in all, I was really impressed by Tecken’s excellent worldbuilding and it added a lot to how much I enjoyed my time in Dry’Llar.
In conclusion, The Blood Stones was an enjoyable read and a promising start to a brand-new epic fantasy series. Despite some issues I had with the structure of the plot and some character development, I still think The Blood Stones is a solid book and the Legends of the Bruhai series has the potential to be great. I will definitely pick up the second book, The Queen’s Wolf, when it releases.
