Destiny's Blood, Marie Bilodeau

Destiny's Blood

By: Marie Bilodeau 

Layela Delamores wants nothing more than to settle into a quiet, peaceful life, running a small flower shop with her twin sister, Yoma. But Layela is tormented each night by terrifying visions that she cannot remember when she wakes. When Yoma vanishes, Layela is certain that her nightly visions hold the key - but only her sister's thieving friend, one of the last survivors of the ether races, can unlock them. Layela suspects that her friend isn't telling her the whole truth, instead sheltering her from her own visions. 

Ripped from the safety of her flower shop into a universe of smugglers and assassins, Layela must pursue her sister across space in a desperate bid to overcome the destiny of destruction foretold in her dreams. But without full knowledge of her visions, Layela has no way to prevent them from coming to pass. And the fate of a whole world is on the line: the mythical First Star is on a path to self-destruction and the annihilation of all life. 

Unless Layela finds a way to stop it. But to stop it would mean sacrificing her sister. 

Or herself.

I think in some way we can all relate to Layela's desire to lead a normal, peaceful, and/or fulfilling life doing what something we truly love. Buying and opening her own flower shop is a dream come true, it's something her and her sister worked for and something that Layela believed they both wanted. But as Layela finds out, her twin sister has other plans. 

When Yoma goes missing, Layela finds her life in upheaval; her plans are altered and her life is changed. Yoma and Layela are joined on their journeys by their Breganda friend, Joshomere. As orphaned children they lived on the streets together, took care of each other, and fought to survive. 

Marie Bilodeau's rhythmic narrative is what drives this story. Her strong, inventive narrative pulls you in, and creates an engaging story.

She has a way of telling us stories that enables us see how and why each character behaves the way they do. She gives us the full scope of each character which is something I enjoy about this book. 

Each character is very human in the way they make decisions and react to what comes their way. But at the same time, in many cases her characters are stubborn and tend to stick to tradition. Even when they maybe shouldn't. 

This book was good; it was exciting, and Marie's descriptions of her worlds were clear and vivid. The details and imagery that Marie uses is my favorite part of this book. She manages to craft amazing landscapes and describe vivid war scenes. 

I think this was a character driven story in some ways--though I wasn't always fond of some characters, you ended up caring what happens to them. With a lot of changes in the point of view in which this story was told, it was kept interesting, though at times I found it distracting.  The setting, story, plot, and pace were so well done, again. Like, Marie's other books the story is always moving. I've learned to admire that about Marie's writing; her stories are very plot driven, they are fast paced, and are always filled with very distinct characters. 

So, these characters were awesome--at times, frustrating, considering the fact I didn't agree with them all the time, they're stubborn. As well, sometimes they felt somewhat flat, they didn't change or adapt much, instead stuck with some stereotypes--such as the captain goes down with the ship. Of course, eventually, you actually learn to like the fact that the characters do stick to tradition. Overall, I loved the characters, they were hilarious. And quite often, out of this world. 

The Breganda race was probably the most inventive and amazing race within this book. I absolutely loved their culture and beauty. I hope that in the next book we'll be able to explore and discover more of it. The Kilta were interesting, terrifying though. 

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the detail, the setting, the characters, and especially, the worlds that Marie created. This book was an adventure--exciting and, at times, heartbreaking. This book reads like a movie. Which, is a good thing. If you enjoy reading science-fiction or adventure you should pick up this book. It is a great summer read to be honest.