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Amélie Wen Zhao

Blood Heir Kindle Edition

by Amélie Wen Zhao (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

650 ratings

Book 1 of 3: Blood Heir

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The first book in an epic new series about a princess hiding a dark secret and the con man she must trust to clear her name for her father's murder.

In the Cyrilian Empire, Affinites are reviled. Their varied gifts to control the world around them are unnatural—dangerous. And Anastacya Mikhailov, the crown princess, has a terrifying secret. Her deadly Affinity to blood is her curse and the reason she has lived her life hidden behind palace walls.

When Ana's father, the emperor, is murdered, her world is shattered. Framed as his killer, Ana must flee the palace to save her life. And to clear her name, she must find her father's murderer on her own. But the Cyrilia beyond the palace walls is far different from the one she thought she knew. Corruption rules the land, and a greater conspiracy is at work—one that threatens the very balance of her world. And there is only one person corrupt enough to help Ana get to its core: Ramson Quicktongue.

A cunning crime lord of the Cyrilian underworld, Ramson has sinister plans—though he might have met his match in Ana. Because in this story, the princess might be the most dangerous player of all.

“Cinematic storytelling at its best.”—Adrienne Young, New York Times bestselling author of Sky in the Deep and The Girl the Sea Gave Back

“Zhao shines in the fast-paced and vivid combat scenes, which lend a cinematic quality that pulls readers in.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Zhao is a master writer who weaves a powerful tale of loyalty, honor, and courage through a strong female protagonist. . . . Readers will love the fast-paced energy and plot twists in this adventure-packed story.”—SLJ

Print length

458 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Delacorte Press
Publication date

November 19, 2019
Reading age

14 years and up
Grade level

9 and up
File size

8437 KB
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Word Wise

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Books In This Series (3 Books)

Complete Series

Blood Heir

Kindle Edition

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

1
Blood Heir
Amélie Wen Zhao

(650)

Kindle Edition

$9.99
2
Red Tigress (Blood Heir Book 2)
Amélie Wen Zhao

(242)

Kindle Edition

$8.99
3
Crimson Reign (Blood Heir Book 3)
Amélie Wen Zhao

(63)

Kindle Edition

$10.99

C. S. Pacat
646
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $10.99
Erin Summerill
301
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $8.16
Brianna Sugalski
146
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $1.99
Amélie Wen Zhao
242
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $8.99
Amélie Wen Zhao
63
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $10.99
Rena Rossner
92
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $9.99

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The prison bore a sharp resemblance to the dungeons of Anastacya’s childhood: dark, wet, and made of unyielding stone that leaked grime and misery. There was blood here, too; she could sense it all, tugging at her from the jagged stone steps to the torch-blackened walls, lingering at the edges of her consciousness like an ever-present shadow.

It would take so very little—a flick of her will—for her to control it all.

At the thought, Ana twined her gloved fingers tighter around the worn furs of her hood and turned her attention back to the oblivious guard several paces ahead. His varyshki bull-leather boots clacked in smooth, sharp steps, and if she listened closely enough, she could hear the faint jingle of the goldleaves she’d used to bribe him in his pockets.

She was not a prisoner this time; she was his customer, and that sweet rattle of coins was a constant reminder that he was— for now—on her side.

Still, the torchlight cast his flickering shadow on the walls around them; it was impossible not to see this place as the fabric of her nightmares and hear the whispers that came with.

Monster. Murderer.

Papa would have told her that this was a place filled with demons, where the evilest men were held. Even now, almost a year after his death, Ana found her mouth running dry as she imagined what he would say if he saw her here.
Ana shoved those thoughts away and kept her gaze straight ahead. Monster and murderer she might be, but that had nothing to do with her task at hand.

She was here to clear her name of treason. And it all depended on finding one prisoner.

“I’m telling you, he won’t give you nothing.” The guard’s coarse voice pulled her from the whispers. “Heard he was on a mission to murder someone high-profile when he was caught.”

He was talking about the prisoner. Her prisoner. Ana straightened, grasping for the lie she had rehearsed over and over again. “He’ll tell me where he hid my money.”

The guard threw her a sympathetic glance over his shoulder. “You’d best be spending your time somewhere nicer and sunnier, meya dama. More’n a dozen nobles have bribed their way into Ghost Falls to see him, and he’s given ’em nothing yet. He’s made some powerful enemies, this Quicktongue.”

A long, drawn-out wail pierced the end of his sentence, a scream so tortured that the hairs on Ana’s neck rose. The guard’s hand flitted to the hilt of his sword. The torchlight cut his face, half in flickering orange, half in shadow. “Cells are gettin’ full of ’em Affinites.”

Ana’s steps almost faltered; her breath caught sharply, and she let it out again, slowly, forcing herself to keep pace.

Her disquiet must have shown on her face, for the guard said quickly, “Not to worry, meya dama. We’re armed to the teeth with Deys’voshk, and the Affinites’re kept locked in special blackstone cells. We won’t go near ’em. Those deimhovs are locked in safe.”

Deimhov. Demon.

A sickly feeling stirred in the pit of her stomach, and she dug her gloved fingers into her palm as she cinched her hood tighter over her head. Affinites were usually spoken of in hushed whispers and fearful glances, accompanied by tales of the handful of humans who had Affinities to certain elements. Monsters—who could do great things with their powers. Wield fire. Hurl lightning. Ride wind. Shape flesh. And then there were some, it was rumored, whose powers extended beyond the physical.

Powers that no mortal being should have. Powers that belonged either to the Deities or to the demons.

The guard was smiling at her, perhaps to be friendly, perhaps wondering what a girl like her, clad in furs and velvet gloves— worn, though clearly once luxurious—was doing in this prison.

He would not be smiling at her if he knew what she was.

Who she was.

Her world sharpened into harsh focus around her, and for the first time since she’d stepped into the prison, she studied the guard. Cyrilian Imperial insignia—the face of a roaring white tiger—carved proudly upon his blackstone-enforced breastplate. Sword at his hip, sharpened so that the edges sliced into thin air, made of the same material as his armor—a half- metallic, half-blackstone alloy impervious to Affinite manipulation.

And, finally, her gaze settled on the vial of green-tinged liquid that dangled from his belt buckle, its tip curved like the fang of a snake.

Deys’voshk, or Deities’ Water, the only poison known to subdue an Affinity.

She had stepped, once again, into the fabric of her nightmares. Dungeons carved of cold, darker-than-night blackstone, and the bone-white smile of her caretaker as he forced spice-tinged Deys’voshk down her throat to purge the monstrosity she’d been born with—a monstrosity, even in Affinites’ terms.

Monster.

Beneath her gloves, her palms were slick with sweat.

“We have a good selection of employment contracts up for sale, meya dama.” The guard’s voice seemed very far away. “With the amount of money you’ve offered to see Quicktongue, you’d be better off signing one or two Affinites. They’re not here for any serious crimes, if that’s your concern. Just foreigners without documents. They make for cheap labor.”

Her heart stammered. She’d heard of this corruption. Foreign Affinities lured to Cyrilia with promises of work, only to find themselves at the traffickers’ mercy when they arrived. She’d even heard whispers of guards and soldiers across the Empire falling into the pockets of the Affinite brokers, goldleaves flowing into their pockets like water.

Ana had just never expected to meet one.

She tried to keep her voice steady as she replied, “No, thank you.”

She had to get out of this prison as fast as possible.

It was all that she could do to keep planting one foot ahead of the other, to keep her back straight and chin high as she had been taught. As always, in the blind mist of her fear, she turned her thoughts to her brother—Luka would be brave; he would do this for her.

And she had to do this for him. The dungeons, the guard, the whispers, and the memories they brought back—she’d endure it all, and endure it a hundred times over, if it meant she could see Luka again.

Her heart ached as she thought of him, but her grief was an endless black hole; it wouldn’t do to sink into it now. Not when she was so close to finding the one man who could help her clear her name.

“Ramson Quicktongue,” barked the guard, drawing to a stop outside a cell. “Someone here to collect.” A jangle of keys; the cell door swung open with a reluctant screech. The guard turned to her, raising his torch, and she saw his eyes pass over her hood again. “He’s inside. I’ll be here—give me a shout once you’re ready to be let back out.”

Drawing a sharp breath to summon her courage, Ana threw back her shoulders and stepped into the cell.

The rancid smell of vomit hit her, along with the stench of human excrement and sweat. In the farthest corner of the cell, a figure slumped against the grime-covered wall. His shirt and breeches were torn and bloody, his wrists chafed from the manacles that locked him to the wall. All she could see was matted brown hair until he raised his head, revealing a beard covering half of his face, filthy with bits of food and grime.

This was the criminal mastermind whose name she’d forced from the lips of almost a dozen convicts and crooks? The man on whom she had pinned all her hopes for the past eleven moons?

She froze, however, as his eyes focused on her with sharp intent. He was young—much younger than she’d expected for a renowned crime lord of the Empire. Surprise twanged in her stomach.

“Quicktongue,” she said, testing her voice, and then louder— “Ramson Quicktongue. Is that your real name?”

A corner of the prisoner’s mouth curled in a grin. “Depends on how you define ‘real.’ What’s real and what’s not tends to get twisted in places like these.” --This text refers to the library edition.

About the Author

Amélie Wen Zhao was born in Paris and grew up in Beijing in an international community. Her multicultural upbringing instilled in her a deep love of global affairs and cross-cultural perspectives. She seeks to bring this passion to her stories, crafting characters from kingdoms in different corners of the world. She attended college in New York City, where she now lives. Amélie is the author of Blood Heir and Red Tigress. --This text refers to the library edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07J4MMKWP
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Delacorte Press (November 19, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 19, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 8437 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 458 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #156,703 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
650 ratings

About the author

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Amélie Wen Zhao

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Amélie Wen Zhao was born in Paris and grew up in Beijing in an international community. Her multicultural upbringing instilled in her a deep love of global affairs and cross-cultural perspectives. She seeks to bring this passion to her stories, crafting characters and kingdoms from different corners of the world. She came to New York for college, where she now works in finance by day and moonlights as a fantasy author.

Customer reviews

5 star		62%
4 star		22%
3 star		12%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Terri Pray

Forget the YA designation. This is a dark, spiky tale

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2019

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The YA is two youthful POV's and no sex. Even the violence doesn't shade into splatter porn and there is a LOT of violence. Two VERY well drawn characters, a dynamite world and a magnificent dungeon crawl of a story. The author has a facility with language. Makes the book a pleasure to read, even for an old man like me who is not the YA or feminist audience.

28 people found this helpful

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C. W.

A Slavic fantasy that was worth the read!

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2019

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3.5 stars
I've been waiting for this book for five months so I was very, very excited to see the email telling me my pre-order was ready to download. Y'all might be wondering, then, why I rated it like this but I'll explain that soon enough.

Also a general disclaimer for y'all: My issues with this book had nothing to do with the Book Twitter drama and actually I would quite like it if y'all would back off and stop misinterpreting her book, especially given the rewrite. It's hard enough for a WOC to break out into the publishing world without their own pack of twitter harassers a la Cancel Culture, sheesh.

What I liked:
- The central theme about human trafficking and labor exploitation was strongly emphasized and I really appreciated it tbh. It's not often that readers get to see important topics like that explored in sf/f books but it was carefully explained in Blood Heir how people might accidentally wander into a situation that exploits them and their abilities and how they might, against their better efforts, end up undocumented and vulnerable laborers in a foreign land. For that alone, and for the distillation of the explanation in a way a YA audience can understand, I gave this book an extra half star.
- The Slavic vibes are strong with this book and I really liked it, especially the darker elements, the themes of winter, the deities, etc. The book had very detailed worldbuilding, all in all. Oh, and I like that Ana isn't coded as a pale, white Russian and how this was addressed in the book multiple times. Kudos for her being different from a lot of other Slavic Fantasy protags.
- The blood magic! *chef's kiss* Y'all who know me well know I have a thing for blood magic and think it's cool as hell and underutilized in fantasy. Ana's blood magic was there practically from page 1 to the end with all shades of creepy-cool in between my little goth heart appreciated that so much.
- The side characters and backstory characters who stole every scene they were in: May, Yuri, Jonah, Shamaïra, Linn, Luka. (Especially Linn cuz uhhh I low-key ship her with Ana ok.)
- Ramson actually did improve in personality over time! (Thank goodness.) And I like the Princess and the Rogue dynamic he had going on with Ana; it was cute and I was pretty much sold on it by the end of the book.
- I appreciated that this book was a fast and easy read because I have been slogging through some of my other readings lately and this was like a breath of fresh air.

What I was iffy about:
- Oh my Deities, can Ana have a hug and nice things for once, please? Like, legit it felt like tragedy after tragedy kept hitting her in this book until I couldn't, uh, really emotionally react to the tragedies happening anymore cuz there'd been so many? Like yes, I know I did this to myself by picking up a book about a blood witch in Fake Russia, but at the same time, I know fully well that I was just very -_- by the end of the book over any more tragedies happening to her. At least twice I actually got up and walked away from the book cuz I just couldn't lmao. (But hey, I did return to finish the book each time, so there's that.)
- I am very glad that Ana and Ramson decided to become more nuanced people, but I kinda feel like their character development realizations happened a wee bit too early in the narrative and then just kinda turned into a repetitive litany re: their motivations in the final half of the book. There's a real danger in having heel-face turns earlier on in a book/book series, especially ones propped up by backstory and flashbacks because to the reader, who is just meeting these characters for the first time, it may not feel fully like earned character development. I was more on board with Ana becoming a more complicated person towards the end for sure, but Ramson, hmm. Based on multiple events in the book, I don't get where the whole "she is a beacon of light and goodness" is coming from with him lmao. I like Ana just fine as not being a good person, tyvm. Anyway, especially in a multi-book series, it's perfectly fine to slow down character development! Seriously, I won't be mad if it takes them longer than usual to earn their stripes.
- There's definitely something to be said for me being 24 and reading a YA book, but erm, the writing style and some of the descriptive language were very much not my cup of tea. I liked the dialogue interactions best and the fast pace overall, I think. (Please don't hate me forever, it was just on the side of too cheesy and fragmented for my tastes.)

Also this is not a criticism of Ms. Zhao in the slightest as much as creative folks in general, but like, seriously y'all: The rates of CPR success without any rib or sternum breakage in fiction are absurdly high and it throws me off every damn time to see it work perfectly without so much as a smidge of health consequences.

Anyway, I recommend y'all read the book for yourselves if it interests you and make your own judgement calls on what you like or dislike. I do plan to read the sequels and look forward to seeing where Ana's blood magic takes her next!

52 people found this helpful

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Melinda Maidens

Excellent Debut

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2020

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Any book that's one in a series and leaves me wanting to immediately get the sequel deserves five stars. (Alas, the next book isn't due until March.)

In this Russia-inspired fantasy setting, people who have ability with magic are treated as outcasts, even as slaves. Alas, the emperor's daughter exhibited such powers as a child and was harshly repressed. Years later, with her father mysteriously dead, she escapes the palace to hunt down the assassin she's convinced murdered him. The only man she can think of who might be able to help is deep in the kingdom's escape-proof prison in the frozen north. She visits him and (surprise, surprise...) the prison isn't so escape-proof after all (otherwise there'd be a different story). This sets up the familiar "high-born-lady-and-smart-aleck-rogue/conman" combination but in this case, the characters are more complex and nuanced than in other such plots. The anti-hero has his own vengeance to seek against his crime-boss employer, and as the two make their way through dangers, there's much musing and discussion of choosing one's path between good and evil. That gets a bit heavy-handed at times but never slows down the plot. Besides having to avoid detection as a magic-wielder, our heroine has to learn of the unjust undercurrents within her own kingdom. And then, there's a palace coup against her brother, the new emperor...we have to wait for the sequel to find out how that spins out.

Deftly written and on an adult level. Bravo!

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Palmtwee

Thrilling and Captivating Read

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2019

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I was looking for something to kill an hour a day with, so I was recommended this new book by a close friend.
Little did I know, I couldn’t put it down and finished it in 2 days!

The story was captivating and the characters were nuanced.
The themes themselves were deeper than the other YAs I’ve read, and the depth allowed me to immerse myself in the story.
The writing style itself was easy to read but held my attention like a glue.

My only complaint is the sleep deprivation picking up this book caused me! I found myself staying up til 2 or 3am reading!

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2021

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Highly recommend, throughout the entire book I was invested. So many great scenes from action to character interactions. You can really tell how much the author put into her characters and their stories.

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Top reviews from other countries

Jess Gofton

Compelling ideas, but dull characters

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2020

Verified Purchase

DNF @ 36%

I should have trusted my gut with this one. I'm never drawn to Anastasia retellings, but I wanted to support this author after the appalling way she was treated last year and decided to give this book a try.

Reader, I shouldn't have.

Is this a terrible book? No, and it's a book with plenty of good ideas, but it's just so tropey and the characters are so dull that I was incredibly bored while reading this. It's an easy enough read so I could have pushed my way through this, but I want to be reading books I actually enjoy and, sadly, I wasn't enjoying this one.

Ana makes dumb decisions all the time that put her and her friend, May, at risk and it's infuriating. When she stands up for another Affinite at the market who's getting punished for giving May a cake for no money, she literally has money in her pocket that she could have handed over to avoid causing a scene. Instead she uses her magic to start a fight, thus revealing herself as another Affinite, which leads to May getting taken. I'm all for characters making mistakes, but Ana doesn't seem to learn from hers? She just uses her blood magic and then has a 'woe is me, I'm a monster' moment and it's super boring and repetitive. Ramson isn't much better. As someone who's supposed to be a savvy conman, he gets duped pretty easily, and to be honest neither he nor Ana are particularly likeable. Especially considering Ramson is happy to plan selling Ana into slavery even though he only escapes from prison with her help.

I love a morally grey character, but Ramson was really quite horrid yet written in the kind of heart-eyes way that makes it obvious his and Ana's relationship is going to develop into some kind of romance at some point. Although admittedly I didn't stick around long enough to know that for sure. By all means give me a morally questionable character, but don't tell me how dreamy he is like I should be swooning over someone who's involved in human trafficking.

I do appreciate the themes that the author wanted to explore, and her love for this book is clear, but it's not for me.

9 people found this helpful

Gabrielle F-A

I really enjoyed this book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 1, 2021

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In January of this year I read Blood Heir. I wrote a very diluted review at the time, which I have retrieved from my Bookstagram feed:
"I really enjoyed this book. The opening chapters are brilliant. The action is there from the first page (I do love a book that draws you in immediately!) However, after that the writing style seemed to change. Although it FELT like a lot was happening, with hindsight, very little ACTUALLY happened for the middle third of the book! The ending was brilliant and left me on tenterhooks for the second book!"

Fast forward six months to now (July), and I finally attempted to read book two in the Blood Heir Trilogy; Red Tigress. I picked up the book, I went to open it … and realised I could not, for love nor money, remember what happened in the first book! This prompted a re-read, which brings us full circle to today's new/second review attempt!

So, without further ado...

Despite being unmemorable, I enjoyed this the second time around as well! Anastasia is one of my favourite Disney films, and I do love a retelling. Anastacya is -obviously- our Anastasia, and Ramson, our Dimitri. Anastacya goes into hiding/is presumed dead after the murder of her father, Nicholas. Loose correlations could also be drawn between Sadov and Tetsyev, with Rasputin and Bartok. Perhaps a better comparison for Rasputin, in anticipation of the remaining series, would be our reigning Emperor/Empress at Blood Heir's end. It is all there for our interpretation!

I loved the characters and felt there were an array of favourites to choose from! May was a firm favourite of mine (I loved her and Ana's relationship), as were Yuri and Linn, whom I feel have so much potential for Red Tigress!

What stopped this from being a five-star-review for me, were Ransom's numerous terms of sarcastic endearment for Ana. Constantly calling her 'darling, and 'love,' in a mocking fashion, felt like a forced reflection of his character as the 'adorable ruffian.' It made me cringe everrrrryyyyyyyyytime.
I also took issue with Ramson's rescue in Chapter 12. Without saying too much, if she had the ability to rescue Ramson, why would she not use the exact same abilities to rescue May?! It felt illogical that she would sacrifice her chance to save May by saving Ramson, whom she was saving to help her rescue May?! Confusing, right?!

Megan King

Great weekend read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 7, 2020

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I thoroughly enjoyed Blood Heir! Ana is accused of murdering her father, the King. She's on the run and turns to a conman to help clear her name.

This book focuses heavily on human trafficking and the protagonist soon realises just how deep rooted the problem is in her kingdom.

One person found this helpful

ACHIMWENE

Bloody world

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2020

Verified Purchase

Fast paced and intriguing plot which involves a witch whom turns out to be a leader. Enjoyable read with the expectation of more.

One person found this helpful