Magical Medicine meets Murder Mystery
The Last Bloodcarver
Fantasy
Roaring Brook Press
March 26, 2024
Ebook, Hardback, Audiobook
384
Nhika is a bloodcarver. A cold-hearted, ruthless being who can alter human biology with just a touch. In the industrial city of Theumas, she is seen not as a healer, but a monster that kills for pleasure. When Nhika is caught using her bloodcarving abilities during a sham medical appointment, she's captured by underground thugs and sold to an aristocratic family to heal the last witness of their father’s murder. But as Nhika delves deeper into their investigation amidst the glitz of Theumas’ wealthiest district, she begins to notice parallels between this job and her own dark past. And when she meets an alluring yet entitled physician's aide, Ven Kochin, she’s forced to question the true intent behind this murder. In a society that outcasts her, Kochin seems drawn to her...though he takes every chance he gets to push her out of his opulent world. When Nhika discovers that Kochin is not who he claims to be, and that there is an evil dwelling in Theumas that runs much deeper than the murder of one man, she must decide where her heart, and her allegiance, truly lie. And - if she's willing to become the dreaded bloodcarver Theumas fears to save herself and the ones she's vowed to protect.
The aggressiveness with which I was stalking this book’s GoodReads page before I got this ARC cannot be undersold. The Last Bloodcarver is Vanessa Le’s debut novel, set in a world of Vietnam-inspired fantasy that’s been drenched in a steampunk kind of grit. Nhika is our leading lady and believes herself to be the last Heartsoothe left after the country of her ancestors was conquered and their descendants hunted down for experiments.
(I’ll be saying Hearthsoothe since Bloodcarver is thrown around like a slur, and my name may as well be Valentina. ALLY!)
After being caught and sold on the black market, Nhika is dragged into an aristocratic family’s sphere when she’s tasked with healing the only witness to their patriarch’s suspicious death. She’s left not only to deal with the most challenging medical case she’s yet to face, but also a social circle that likely contains the murderer so it’s a good thing she can soothe her own ulcer.
He regarded her as she’d regarded the ocean: with equal parts awe and fascination. Like she was both the tempest that sank junks and the gentle lap of water at the side of his houseboat.
I think Vanessa Le is going to be an absolute powerhouse, that said I will say that there were parts of this book that I’d still categorize as potential. I found the magic system to be interesting and the narrative descriptions of the magic in action to be vivid in a way that made me think of prose, albeit for bio majors. While a lot of the banter was enjoyable, some of the character development decisions didn’t totally make sense to me. I felt like the characters’ attitudes toward each other changed a few times throughout, but I didn’t really see the foundations for those shifts throughout. This can be said for the dynamics between both Nhika and the Cogmi family and Nhika and her love interest.
“You two are involved? I wasn’t aware he was capable of emotion.” A soft look came over Andao’s eyes. “It’s not about what he says, but what he does.” “Isn’t that what you hire him for? To do things?” That elicited a laugh from him. “He’s hired only to keep me alive. Yet, I wouldn’t want to live without him.”
The romantic subplot in particular took me out of the story. The relationship was so deep in the enemies category for so much of the book that despite the synopsis I completely forgot that a love interest was promised in the synopsis. It shifted then to something that felt a little too close to instalove for my comfort. I just wish the main couple had gotten a little more time to develop because the secondary couple, Trin and Andao (my two sons), were so sweet I wanted nothing but them. I’d be willing to kill off other characters in exchange for a look into these two just puttering about their lives.
The Last Bloodcarver was imperfect but still a fun read. It feels safe to assume that Vanessa Le is going to be absolutely killin’ it in the near future!
Gabi grew up moving around the world with her family, making books in English a bit of a luxury that had to be rationed. Nowadays she lives in East London, where books can be read as voraciously as she likes. Fantasy books will forever be her first love, and she’s always looking for the next series to consume both of her brain cells. Her days generally consist of working as a software developer, squeezing in a chapter at her desk, and pining after the Picadilly Waterstones.
