Blood Sacrifice

Healers of Meligna #3

by K.J. Colt

With the threat of the Queens' army increasing, only blood healing can save South Senya. Adenine continues her journey alone, encountering constant danger and tragic loss. Clutching at the strands of her sanity, Adenine barely makes it to Juxon City where the king proves untrustworthy and hostile. The Queens quickly destroy all Adenine's hope for the kingdom of Senya. Under their rule, the people are doomed. She has allies, but they are too few to take back the city. The only one who can challenge the Queens is the emperor of a monster responsible for the deaths of hundreds of healers. She must convince him to invade Senya, replacing one evil for another.

Genres: Fantasy

732 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

U.S.A Today Bestselling author Kylie J. Colt writes fantasy with a psychological twist. By threading common psychological pathologies such as anxiety, depression and mood disorders, into her storytelling she creates deeper, more dynamic characters.

Located on the sunny Gold Coast of Australia, she has been writing for three years. Her favourite writers are Kristin Cashore, Robin Hobb, Trudi Canavan and Maria V. Snyder. She has an honours degree in psychology and counselling, enjoys road trips, gaming (Skyrim / Civilisation / Assassin's Creed / Bioshock / Banished), music festivals (electronica), playing pool, meditation, yoga, bushwalking, and gobbles up anything fantasy-related. Her favourite shows include Game of Thrones, Homeland, Dark Mirror, Downton Abbey, X-Files, House of Cards, Hannibal, Trueblood, IT Crowd and anything created by Hayao Miyazaki.

Reviews

[Bill Thibadeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those who have read the first two books in this series (Concealed Power and Blood Healing) will be a bit surprised by this book. Ms Colt has shifted the focus from developing a fantasy world, various lands and people, and a myriad of characters. The well developed and highly intriguing storyline now turns inward to focus on Adenine.

There is no question that Adenine is the heroine of this four part series (more on that later). Personally, Ms Colt has dissected Adenine into many facets. Each is well developed and crafted into a storyline that meanders (purposefully) as each different character trait is explored. What the reader is left with is a great understanding and awareness of Adenine. The final chapters of the book start the conclusion of this remarkable adventure. I rate this at 4.5 stars and recommend to every reader irrespective of their opinion of the fantasy genre. I am not a person that seeks out fantasy stories but was enthralled by winning a free copy of Concealed Power.

I mentioned earlier that the next book in the series is the alleged finale. If you read the author's blog, she says this is the final installment in the quartet. But, she does leave an opening that she may do more if you, her fans, want more. Consider this an informal petition for each of you to plead for more in the series.

[J.L. Dobias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blood Sacrifice (The Healers of Meligna, Book 3) by K.J. Colt

When it comes to fantasy I will admit that it's about third down on my list. I'm a lover of Science Fiction and Science Fantasy and then finally Fantasy. So it might say a lot that I'm finding K. J. Colt rising quickly up the ranks of my favorite authors. She has been enticing me with her voice for the first two volumes of this series and now I think I've settle into a place where I expect certain things from her as an author and she doesn't disappoint and it's encouraging to watch her grow in her writing.

Her main character Adenine is beginning to shape up to become a very complex character. In the earlier books she was young and seemed so naive at times. She was being thrust around by whatever fate the plans of others seemed to have in store for her. The reader slowly watches as she begins to assert herself and develop into something bordering onto rebellious, and that's with some very good reasons. Treated like property and as a slave to the Queens with the proviso that things will only go well for her if she tow the line as all the other healers and prostitute herself for the glory of men and her Queen.

In the third novel Adenine has resolved to save other young girls like herself from such a fate, but it would seem this time her largest battle will be against herself. Going behind the backs of her friends to do things alone she creates more trouble than good, which has begun to be a trademark failing she has developed. She has a long way to go to grow out of this and it's going to cost her more this time then it has in the past. She is afraid that what she does always ends up hurting others and she's having a great difficulty letting the past go while continuing to berate herself for what she has done.

Adenine is living in an era where she is expected to keep in line with her head down and do as she's told; and the harshness of the reality of that life has triggered her rebellious side. This time all the stops are pulled as she seemingly unwisely reacts poorly to all authority and even her King.

In many ways Adenine reminds me of Edmond Dante's of The Count of Monte Cristo when he sheds the life of Edmond Dante and becomes the Count and finds himself hardening his heart to enter into the darkness of the deed he must accomplish. He too had trouble letting the past go. And she does go deeply into some dark areas of her character with some moments of self deception and ultimately inner conflict. She attempts to make use of her ability to heal herself by inflicting herself with wounds and become inured to pain, so that she can teach herself to live with the pain with hopes of becoming invincible in battle. And in a way this seeming invincibility might be making her overly forward in her dealings with authority. Unlike Edmond Dante; Adenine keeps finding herself back in prison for her perceived misdeeds.

Adenine has learned a secret about healing that allows her to discard the old way of healing through sex; and she's getting ready to preform test to determine if others might have the same healing blood. If she can get past the narrow-mindedness of the leaders she might be able to teach them this before it is too late. But the clock is ticking because the Queens are getting ready to expand their territory and there are others such as the emperor of Bivinia who are ready to move to stop the Queens from expanding and committing themselves to their own territorial expansion. But Adenine is a healer and years of prejudice to healers are hard to drive past to get to the point where people of influence will allow her to help them.

There are a number of well crafted twists and turns in this novel that kept me on the edge of my seat and propelled me to finish this in one sitting.

This is great world building Fantasy for the lovers of Fantasy: with complex characters.
Adenine has her work cut out for her and sometimes she's her own worst enemy.

Looking forward to the next installment in this series and for those who haven't read any of the previous novels I recommend you get acquainted starting with the first novel. You won't be disappointed.

J.L. Dobias

[Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was unable to put this book down unless I absolutely had to! It's always intriguing to see where Adenine will go next and how she'll frustrated me further! Love her!

[Verity Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this continuation of Adenine's story remained intriguing, there were a number of things about it that were off-putting. One is that Adenine becomes a self-harmer (lucky for her that she heals almost instantly from any wound). Another is that the strategy against the Queens sucks. You don't keep on training your army for months in hopes of creating a super-army while the population is starving, especially when you're only outnumbered two to one and already have a super-healing potion. Logic has simply gone out the window here. It's not surprising that the king has trouble keeping his mind made up from one day to the next when all of the people advising him, including Adenine, are giving him such stupid advice. Also, running into something like "teared" where it should be "torn" makes me want to scream. The final annoyance is that this book ends in a massive cliffhanger, with no concluding volume (volumes?) in sight!

There are things here to like, especially the fact that ALL of these countries in Adenine's part of the world have bad leaders and warped cultures which are in severe need of shaking up. I just hope that we eventually get a resolution, and that it's worth the wait.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so engrossed in this book, that I read it in one day, in a matter of 6 1/2 hours! The story changes a bit in this book, and you will either be shocked or confused. Maybe both. For me, I thought oh no, another link in the story, and while I am loving the new link, I feel there may be too many in this story. So much for a 14/15 year old to go through. BUT with that said, I do like the new link. Through all of these books so far, you'll get to know Adenine and her traits, and those around her. You don't get any useless information about the surroundings and the people in her life. I love that about this story, no drawn out nonsense! Starting in this book, it becomes more of my style of book, it leads into the fantasy genre a bit, so this is a huge plus for me as well. I like what KJ Colt is doing with this story, and she is becoming one of my favorite Authors. I have started book 4, and I've looked at other books from KJ Colt as well.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good, but what a cliffhanger. It was hard to read some of it simply because Adenine goes through so much. I literally cried for her and her heartache several times. Thankfully there's enough good that it isn't a totally depressing story. Because of some of the struggles and depression that she deals with there is some disturbing content that's hard to read. She has so much to overcome. However, because of all of that it's so much sweeter when she does conquer, and you really get a feel for how much her friends care for her. I think I remember that there was one sex scene, but I could be remembering the 2nd book. I can't wait for the next one!!!

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just keeps getting better

I was a little skeptical when I read the first book, but once I got to the end I just had to get the next book and the book after that. I cannot wait until the fourth book! I feel like I'm actually in the book sometimes with emotions being described so well and just when I think I know what will happen next I am never disappointed since Colt writes everything so well.

[Delphia L. Slover · Rating 5 out of 5]

AeBlood Sacrifice (The Healers of Meligna book 3)

Loved this book but it left me wondering what happened to Nallael and his mother. Can't believe she shared the secret of her new way of healing. Is there a book 4?

[Lorretta Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tore at my heart strings

I was so taken with this book and series that I have been burning the midnight oil to read them. They make me laugh and cry and at times ready to strangle Adaneine. The characters continue to grow and learn. KJ Colt brings them to life on the pages.

[Salena Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

The adventures of emo Mary Sue, advisor to the king, master warrior, holder of many secrets, and Empress of Bivinia continue. I liked the first two books. There was a realness to them that compelled me even as the subject matter repulsed me. this book was trash in comparison.

[Brittany Kaylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it!

[Karri · Rating 5 out of 5]

arg! I hate a To Be Continued.... can't wait for it