Blog Tour Review - With Fire in Their Blood by Kat Delacourt

Blog Tour Review - With Fire in Their Blood by Kat Delacourt

When sixteen-year-old Lilly arrives in Castello, she isn't impressed.

A secluded town in the Italian mountains is not where she saw her last years of high school playing out.

Divided for generations by a brutal clan-family war, the two halves of Castello are kept from destroying each other by the mysterious General, a leader determined to maintain order and 'purity'. . . whatever the cost.

Lilly falls in with the rebellious Liza, brooding Nico and sensitive Christian, and sparks begin to fly. But in a city where love can lead to ruin, Lilly isn't sure she can trust anyone -- not even herself.

And then she accidentally breaks Castello's most important rule: when the General's men come to test your blood, you'd better not be anything more than human...

With Fire in Their Blood is a really fascinating novel. 

It has a contemporary setting, but it doesn't feel like it at times. The Italian city of Castello is so totally cut off from anything we'd recognise as the real world that it feels like this could be a portal fantasy, like Lilly and her father have stepped through the gates of a fantasy kingdom, not just through the city gates of a modern Italian city.

Technology in Castello is carefully controlled, with no smart phones or Internet. There's an 8pm curfew, and the city gates are locked at night and guarded during the day. There are two warring clans with a careful truce between them and an all controlling demagogue, a Governor with both religious and political power. Oh, and they burn witches.

This is a book with magic. It's forbidden magic, with its practitioners hunted down mercilessly. It's hard to control, even overwhelming. It's described as power, and it's this power that so many of the characters are seeking.

This is a book about ambition and the need for power, and then more power. It's about how much someone is willing to sacrifice for power, the lengths they'll go to for it, lies and betrayals and all. But it's also about love and friendship and what they'll sacrifice for each other. It's brutal, dark and unforgiving, definitely not a book that pulls its punches! 

There's also some really lovely bi rep. It's not turned into a big thing, it's not really even acknowledged. It's just there, as a part of its characters. I really liked that, and I really liked this book.

With Fire in Their Blood by Kat Delacorte is published on 1st September 2022 by Penguin.

I was given a review copy in return for participation in this The Write Reads blog tour and an honest review. 

Don't forget to check out the rest of the tour!