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| Blood & Honey with Coco print |
Title: Blood & Honey
Series: Serpent & Dove (Goodreads)
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Author: Shelby Mahurin
Age Group: YA
Source: Waterstones (purchased)
Review
I absolutely
love reading trilogies and series but I hate the wait of a long awaited sequel.
Thankfully, I managed to wait long enough for Blood & Honey without
too much torture because I just adore this motley crew and antagonistic romance!
Shelby Mahurin did not disappoint with the sequel to Serpent & Dove
which unfortunately can occur to any great writer. Instead Mahurin pushed the boundaries
and gave us even more darkness and romance but of course all comes at a price
when you love a witch.
I could talk
for hours about how much I love the relationship between Lou and Reid but
instead what stood out as a strength for me in this book was the development
of the secondary characters. This was a concern that I had after I finished
Serpent & Dove because it was heavily focused on Lou and Reid with
very little balance for developing Coco, Beau, Ansel and even Madame Labelle. Thank
goodness I was not disappointed when I read Blood & Honey as my
hopes to see these supporting characters developed was given to me and many
readers.
At the
moment there is a real focus on the writing and portrayal of black and ethnic minority
characters. For many
years, these individuals and communities have gone underrepresented in
literature, they have existed to be sure, but they were not the protagonist nor
were they developed beyond a one dimensional representation. Now, even though
Coco is not the protagonist and remains a supporting character there is still a
need to create a two dimensional individual and not a flat character. Mahurin
succeeds exceptionally with Coco’s personal development in Blood & Honey!
Other readers of the trilogy and this sequel may not agree that this is the
case and I respect that feeling, though for me personally, I felt that Coco
became more of an individual with her own struggles and personality rather than
just a supporting side character to help be Lou’s friend and conscious moral
guide. For this reason I leave you with this extract that occurs between Coco,
Ansel, and Lou, which personally to me exhibits the individual strength and
development of Coco as a person in her own right in Blood & Honey,
than just as a secondary character who exists to move the action onwards for
the main protagonists Lou and Reid.
“Coco, no. None of this is your fault. Your people—they would never blame you for what happened here.” “That’s exactly the point, isn’t it?” She wiped her eyes furiously. “They should. I abandoned them. Twice. They’re freezing and starving and so afraid, yet their own princesse couldn’t be bothered to care. I should’ve been here, Lou. I should’ve—I don’t know—” “Controlled the weather?” My hands joined hers, wiping at her tears. Though they burned my skin, I didn’t pull away, blinking rapidly against the moisture in my own eyes. […] She wrenched the crown from her head, glaring at the glittering rubies. “How can I lead them? How can I even look at them? I knew their suffering, and I fled anyway, while their conditions only worsened.” She tossed the crown into the snow. “I am no princesse.” To my surprise—perhaps because I’d forgotten he still stood with us—Ansel bent to retrieve it. With impossibly gentle hands, he placed it back on her head. “You’re here now. That’s what matters.”
Synopsis (Goodreads)
Key Quotes
‘Her voice was small, however, as she continued. “I am sorry, Reid. You’ve led a tumultuous life, and the blame in part is mine. I know this. I understand my role in your suffering.” Catching my hand, she rose to her feet. I told myself to pull away. I didn’t. “Now you must understand that, if given the choice, I never would’ve left you. I would’ve forsaken everything—my home, my sisters, my life—to keep you, but I cannot change the past. I cannot protect you from its pain. I can protect you here and now, however, if you let me.” If you let me. The words were living things in my ears. Though I tried to bury them, they took root, suffocating my anger.'
‘Perhaps it’d be peaceful, to drown. I’d never given it thought. When I’d imagined my own death, it’d been at the end of a sword. Perhaps twisted and broken by a witch’s hand. Violent, painful endings. Drowning would be better. Easier.’
‘Beau paused in rummaging through Coco’s rucksack. “Side effects?” “Death, mostly. Nothing to fret about.” Madame Labelle shrugged, unamused, and sarcasm dripped from her words.’
‘I wiped a tear from my eye before it could fall, before he could see. Never once in my eighteen years had I allowed myself to feel small, to feel ashamed, and I refused to start now.'
