Blood Like Magic

Starred review from April 26, 2021
Afro-futurism meets urban fantasy in this strong YA debut. Descended from a long line of powerful Black witches and having just started her Bleeding, 16-year-old Voya Thomas anxiously plans for the Calling that will follow, an ancestor-given trial that she must pass in order to inherit magic. A Thomas hasn’t failed in 100 years, but Voya worries nonetheless. To pass a Calling, one must make the correct choice between two decisions—something Voya has notorious difficulty with. Her concerns threaten to become reality when she receives the most impossible task ever known to witches, one with equally unheard of consequences: if Voya does not destroy her first love in one month, all current and future Thomases will lose their magic. Voya’s one desire is to help her family, but she’s never been in love, and she doesn’t want to take a life. As her family tries to find loopholes around committing murder, Voya stumbles across an ancestor she’s never heard of, whom the adults insist on pretending doesn’t exist. Sambury blends technology and fantasy to create a detailed world that’s both futuristic and magical. Featuring a cast of BIPOC and queer characters of all ages, this novel focuses on familial love, individual desires, and making choices that will lead to the greatest good. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kristy Hunter, the Knight Agency.

September 1, 2021
Voya Thomas is a sixteen-year-old Black Canadian girl living in 2049, descended from a long line of powerful witches. In order to inherit her magic, she must pass the Calling, a trial given by a revered ancestor that requires her to make a difficult choice. Voya's Calling task is harder, and involves greater risk, than anyone in her family has ever known. She must destroy her first love -- which means finding one first. If she refuses to accept the task, she and her descendants will lose their chance at magic. But if she accepts it and fails the trial, she risks the magic powers of all her family members, present and future, which also means risking the life of a beloved relative. Throughout the novel, Sambury engages in genre hybridization, combining fantasy, science fiction, and intrigue into a cohesive and engaging story filled with a diverse cast of multidimensional characters. Although the novel includes difficult depictions of enslavement, violence, and drug addiction, its core is love of family, others, and self. Creative in its vision, captivating in its high-stakes conflict, and compelling in its execution. S. R. Toliver

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from June 1, 2021
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* In Sambury's downright dazzling debut, Voya has finally started menstruating, which means she's ready to come into her family's magic and receive her gift from her ancestors. To receive this gift, each witch needs to complete a task given to them by an ancestor, and failing is not an option. To Voya's misfortune, Mama Jova, who suffered at the hands of slavers, imparts her task: to echo the family's mantra of "suffer and survive," Voya is instructed to destroy her first love or risk losing her family forever. This engrossing novel features a world both familiar and unfamiliar, in a near-future Toronto. Sambury vividly captures the vibrancy of Toronto as well as the diversity within the witch community, and her dedication to world building lends authenticity to her characters. Family and heritage are two important themes here, demonstrated powerfully in the novel's descriptions of history keeping, food, and daily family life. While this urban fantasy takes place in the near future, Sambury does not turn a blind eye to the persistent history of systemic racism against Black people, the evils of slavery, or the ways in which police brutality targets Black people, nor how those impact the Black community on a daily basis, all while keeping magic compellingly at the forefront. This impressive debut will wow readers and leave them eager for more from this writer to watch.

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Starred review from April 15, 2021
A Black teenager faces a difficult choice to bring about her magical awakening. Voya Thomas is a 16-year-old Black Canadian girl with Trinidadian roots--and a fledgling witch. Her ascension to becoming a proper witch is dependent on her performance at her Calling. Every witch-to-be is assigned a test by one of their ancestors, and if they are successful, they receive their magic and the specially chosen gift of an ability. Refusing to accept the task means no future members of Voya's bloodline will be Called by the ancestors and therefore can never become witches; accepting but failing the challenge set for her will cause every witch in her family to lose the magic upon which their livelihood depends. During the ritual, Voya finds out that the stakes for her Calling are even steeper than she could have imagined: Before the Caribana carnival in a month's time, she must kill her first love. But Voya has never been in love, so she must now find someone, fall in love, and then sacrifice him. Sambury's prose is fluid and eloquent and will enthrall readers. The protagonist's voice feels refreshingly authentic, and the supporting characters are diverse and multidimensional, with well-developed relationships. Sensitive topics and themes, like slavery and racism, emerge in the novel's original and compelling storylines. A breath of fresh air for the genre; readers will be spellbound. (Fantasy. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2021
Voya Thomas is a sixteen-year-old Black Canadian girl living in 2049, descended from a long line of powerful witches. In order to inherit her magic, she must pass the Calling, a trial given by a revered ancestor that requires her to make a difficult choice. Voya's Calling task is harder, and involves greater risk, than anyone in her family has ever known. She must destroy her first love -- which means finding one first. If she refuses to accept the task, she and her descendants will lose their chance at magic. But if she accepts it and fails the trial, she risks the magic powers of all her family members, present and future, which also means risking the life of a beloved relative. Throughout the novel, Sambury engages in genre hybridization, combining fantasy, science fiction, and intrigue into a cohesive and engaging story filled with a diverse cast of multidimensional characters. Although the novel includes difficult depictions of enslavement, violence, and drug addiction, its core is love of family, others, and self. Creative in its vision, captivating in its high-stakes conflict, and compelling in its execution.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)