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The Heart of the Bloodstone
Avalan is a hunter in a cage. In the village of Hydrus, a fastness secluded from the Stone Lands, Avalan was born. He swam its warm waters, hunted through its blackwood forest, played the goat games on its white shore. Now, he watches the chief erect a mighty palisade to keep his tribe contained, forbid the magic of the birthstones, exile his childhood friend, and punish the tribe of Hydrus for daring to love, hope, dream ... As the chief's madness grows, so does Avalan's longing to lead the tribe to freedom. But Avalan's dagger is no match for the chief's powerful stone magic. Much as Avalan hates the stones for being the chief's weapon, he realizes there's only one path to freeing his find what was denied to him, the missing piece of his soul ... The Heart of the Bloodstone.
610 pages, Hardcover
Published January 25, 2022
2 people are currently reading
179 people want to read
About the author
Philinna Wood
4 books20 followersPhilinna Wood is an epic fantasy author. She loves telling stories about characters who fight for their beliefs, sacrifice themselves for love, and seek the truths that will liberate the world. The Heart of the Bloodstone is her debut novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
January 23, 2022
Thank you so much to the author Philinna Wood for providing the ARC via Petrik Leo's Booktube channel for an honest review. All the opinions are my own.
This is a fantastic debut and start of a fantasy series.
We have, at the beginning of the story, Avalan of the Bloodstone who is the head of a rebellious group trying to depose the Chief of the tribe, Bassalt. Bassalt has been cruel and tyrannical towards the tribe with his obsession about no letting anyone leave and that no one was allow to have what it is their birthright, their birthstones. That is no one but him. Everything change when their connection with the outside world, Ronan, is found killed along with someone that was expelled from the tribe 6 years ago, Bhoran.
I loved the magic system, which uses stones to harness different habilities according to the different stones. Even though we see not many of the stones in action, we probably will in the sequels.
The worldbuilding was fantastic, I felt I was there with the characters as they traveled throughout the land. I loved the inclusion of some technological elements to the world and that it played such a key role in the plot. I would love to see more of this world in future books.
I really liked all the characters, the one I didn't care much was Lusha. Even though I have the same love for healing and taking care of people, I couldn't connect with her, I felt her too immature in a lot of ways. I loved Avalan and Bhoran's perspective.
The relationships between the characters were great.
I didn't care much for all the romantic subplots but I loved everything else.
I loved how the subplots were developing throughout the story.
I enjoyed a lot the fact that all the characters did what they thought was right even though it sometimes collided with another character actions or feelings. Everyone was a very nice shade of gray, which for me was the best part of each character's arc.
I felt that every character's journey was very interesting and I can't wait to see how it will continue in the sequel.
This is a fantastic debut and start of a fantasy series.
We have, at the beginning of the story, Avalan of the Bloodstone who is the head of a rebellious group trying to depose the Chief of the tribe, Bassalt. Bassalt has been cruel and tyrannical towards the tribe with his obsession about no letting anyone leave and that no one was allow to have what it is their birthright, their birthstones. That is no one but him. Everything change when their connection with the outside world, Ronan, is found killed along with someone that was expelled from the tribe 6 years ago, Bhoran.
I loved the magic system, which uses stones to harness different habilities according to the different stones. Even though we see not many of the stones in action, we probably will in the sequels.
The worldbuilding was fantastic, I felt I was there with the characters as they traveled throughout the land. I loved the inclusion of some technological elements to the world and that it played such a key role in the plot. I would love to see more of this world in future books.
I really liked all the characters, the one I didn't care much was Lusha. Even though I have the same love for healing and taking care of people, I couldn't connect with her, I felt her too immature in a lot of ways. I loved Avalan and Bhoran's perspective.
The relationships between the characters were great.
I didn't care much for all the romantic subplots but I loved everything else.
I loved how the subplots were developing throughout the story.
I enjoyed a lot the fact that all the characters did what they thought was right even though it sometimes collided with another character actions or feelings. Everyone was a very nice shade of gray, which for me was the best part of each character's arc.
I felt that every character's journey was very interesting and I can't wait to see how it will continue in the sequel.
March 28, 2025
For more reviews, go to Www.Wolfmantula.com
⚠️ I received this advanced reader copy provided by the author via Petrik Leo’s booktube channel, in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts are my own. This book is set to be released on 1/25/22 ⚠️
The cover art for this book is absolutely stunning, but of course it is since it’s done by the one and only Felix Ortiz! Funny thing though, is that it kinda reminds me of the 90’s movie Free Willy.
I was a bit skeptical to read this after seeing a few earlier reviews from people that had started and finished before I picked it up, that really drove this into the ground. But I have to disagree with them, I loved the characters, the story, the birthstone magic system and the world building. It has a little romance in the first half, and a lot of mystery that is revealed throughout the book. I did have some issues (stated below), but this was an amazing read leading to what should be an incredible series from this debut author!
“Guilt isn’t a wise companion, my son. It tears at your heart and eats at your soul.”
This is an adventure story with multiple POV’s, we follow Avalan, who plans to liberate his secluded and primitive tribe from the rule of their current chief. Bhoran, who is exiled from the village and is trying to figure out who he is. Lusha who wishes to leave the village to be with her mothers tribe in another city and also be with Bhoran. Finally, Bassalt, the chief who is keeping the village from their birthstones to “protect” them. There is not a lot of action that takes place in the first half of the book. Despite the little action, it doesn’t take away from the story, and this is a tremendous story that really gets rolling after the halfway point. There are also several things that happen throughout the book that will make your heart sink in your chest and feel the hurt of the characters involved.
“The great path always leads back to the One stone, for from stone we all come, and to stone we return.”
The authors world building is outstanding! The way she builds the environment and the cities made me get lost in the beauty that the she created. The forest and the cities are so well described that you could see every thing as clear as day in your mind. Her character building is also a huge bright spot. Each character is given time to grow on you to love or hate. The magic system is pretty unique to me and it is based on 12 birthstones which each one has its own distinct power and everyone’s eyes are the color of their birthstones.
“The waterdragon was raised from the guts of the sea, wet and strong, a mighty guardian of the waters.”
🚨 Really my only complaints, is that the second half is far better than the first half of the book, the other thing is that while the cover art is spectacular, it’s more of an “eye catcher” to get you to pick up the book, because I feel like it doesn’t describe the essence of this book. The waterdragon is mentioned several times, but it has a pretty small part to play, at least for now, and with it being featured on the cover I expected a little bit more than that… but that does not take anything away from this amazing book, I just feel a bit cheated. 🚨
⚠️ I received this advanced reader copy provided by the author via Petrik Leo’s booktube channel, in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts are my own. This book is set to be released on 1/25/22 ⚠️
The cover art for this book is absolutely stunning, but of course it is since it’s done by the one and only Felix Ortiz! Funny thing though, is that it kinda reminds me of the 90’s movie Free Willy.
I was a bit skeptical to read this after seeing a few earlier reviews from people that had started and finished before I picked it up, that really drove this into the ground. But I have to disagree with them, I loved the characters, the story, the birthstone magic system and the world building. It has a little romance in the first half, and a lot of mystery that is revealed throughout the book. I did have some issues (stated below), but this was an amazing read leading to what should be an incredible series from this debut author!
“Guilt isn’t a wise companion, my son. It tears at your heart and eats at your soul.”
This is an adventure story with multiple POV’s, we follow Avalan, who plans to liberate his secluded and primitive tribe from the rule of their current chief. Bhoran, who is exiled from the village and is trying to figure out who he is. Lusha who wishes to leave the village to be with her mothers tribe in another city and also be with Bhoran. Finally, Bassalt, the chief who is keeping the village from their birthstones to “protect” them. There is not a lot of action that takes place in the first half of the book. Despite the little action, it doesn’t take away from the story, and this is a tremendous story that really gets rolling after the halfway point. There are also several things that happen throughout the book that will make your heart sink in your chest and feel the hurt of the characters involved.
“The great path always leads back to the One stone, for from stone we all come, and to stone we return.”
The authors world building is outstanding! The way she builds the environment and the cities made me get lost in the beauty that the she created. The forest and the cities are so well described that you could see every thing as clear as day in your mind. Her character building is also a huge bright spot. Each character is given time to grow on you to love or hate. The magic system is pretty unique to me and it is based on 12 birthstones which each one has its own distinct power and everyone’s eyes are the color of their birthstones.
“The waterdragon was raised from the guts of the sea, wet and strong, a mighty guardian of the waters.”
🚨 Really my only complaints, is that the second half is far better than the first half of the book, the other thing is that while the cover art is spectacular, it’s more of an “eye catcher” to get you to pick up the book, because I feel like it doesn’t describe the essence of this book. The waterdragon is mentioned several times, but it has a pretty small part to play, at least for now, and with it being featured on the cover I expected a little bit more than that… but that does not take anything away from this amazing book, I just feel a bit cheated. 🚨
December 10, 2021
2.5/5 Stars.
I received this arc from my favorite BookTuber, Petrik Leo in exchange for an honest review. You may follow this link to download a copy if still available. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzO3-...
Philinna Wood tamped down her musket with so many good ideas but splattered these pages to ill effect.
At times I really enjoyed this book but as a whole it was a chore to read. There is nothing more daunting than to have to review an author's first work. Then again, everyone appreciates honesty.
Prose.
My biggest issue with this book was the heavy handed prose weaved in and out of the text. At times it was almost unbearable to read the description was so overbearing.
Characterization.
Most of the characterization was paper thin. The only character who was fleshed out well was Bassalt, who happens to be the villain of the book. Huge opportunity missed with Sigil his tiger companion who makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the books and then shows up for the final showdown. Any harm that comes to him is inconsequential because I didn't even care about him.
Sexuality and romance.
This has to be an all time low for anything I've ever read. The sexuality was written as though inspired by a teenage boy. For example (paraphrased) "she forced his hand between her thighs where she was flowing with love juices"...ad sic.
Soft magic system.
Not debating hard vs soft magic systems here, but this made no sense. The villain, Bassalt, has the ability to do just about anything. He can control animals, cause earthquakes, use vines to attack people, mind control, brush 20 arrows out of the air with the sweep of his hand, the list is endless.
Hydrus.
The cover art of this book is based on Hydrus, a dragon that some can summon to protect the village. Hydrus maybe has 200 words in the entire book.
This book definitely had some good writing and there were times when I found myself enjoying the story. There was a lot of originality within the text. At the conclusion of this reading though, I simply felt frustrated at having spent my time reading this.
I will keep Phillina Wood on my radar for new authors but I will definitely research reviews before picking up anything else she writes.
I received this arc from my favorite BookTuber, Petrik Leo in exchange for an honest review. You may follow this link to download a copy if still available. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzO3-...
Philinna Wood tamped down her musket with so many good ideas but splattered these pages to ill effect.
At times I really enjoyed this book but as a whole it was a chore to read. There is nothing more daunting than to have to review an author's first work. Then again, everyone appreciates honesty.
Prose.
My biggest issue with this book was the heavy handed prose weaved in and out of the text. At times it was almost unbearable to read the description was so overbearing.
Characterization.
Most of the characterization was paper thin. The only character who was fleshed out well was Bassalt, who happens to be the villain of the book. Huge opportunity missed with Sigil his tiger companion who makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the books and then shows up for the final showdown. Any harm that comes to him is inconsequential because I didn't even care about him.
Sexuality and romance.
This has to be an all time low for anything I've ever read. The sexuality was written as though inspired by a teenage boy. For example (paraphrased) "she forced his hand between her thighs where she was flowing with love juices"...ad sic.
Soft magic system.
Not debating hard vs soft magic systems here, but this made no sense. The villain, Bassalt, has the ability to do just about anything. He can control animals, cause earthquakes, use vines to attack people, mind control, brush 20 arrows out of the air with the sweep of his hand, the list is endless.
Hydrus.
The cover art of this book is based on Hydrus, a dragon that some can summon to protect the village. Hydrus maybe has 200 words in the entire book.
This book definitely had some good writing and there were times when I found myself enjoying the story. There was a lot of originality within the text. At the conclusion of this reading though, I simply felt frustrated at having spent my time reading this.
I will keep Phillina Wood on my radar for new authors but I will definitely research reviews before picking up anything else she writes.
December 14, 2021
I received an eArc from the author through Petrik Leo's booktube channel. The Heart of the Bloodstone has a badass main character, romance, and some mystery.
4.25/5 stars
Definitely enjoyed the book, although I have some minor issues with how the magic system was explained, but the book deserves some attention because of its worldbuilding and the author's talent in writing characters.
From the start, I can tell that the author loves nature based on how she describes Hydrus (the home of the main character). The worldbuilding of the book truly captures my heart. I hope we will get to explore more places from the map in the second book of the series.
A bit confusing on how the magic system works, or maybe I was just slow-minded. But, I really admire the utilization of stones (moonstone, bloodstone, onyx, amethyst). Then, I had to research more on the symbolism of each stone and I was stunned that each stone correlates with a certain character's personality. Spoiler warning:
I really recommend to check out this book which is out in January 2022.
4.25/5 stars
Definitely enjoyed the book, although I have some minor issues with how the magic system was explained, but the book deserves some attention because of its worldbuilding and the author's talent in writing characters.
From the start, I can tell that the author loves nature based on how she describes Hydrus (the home of the main character). The worldbuilding of the book truly captures my heart. I hope we will get to explore more places from the map in the second book of the series.
A bit confusing on how the magic system works, or maybe I was just slow-minded. But, I really admire the utilization of stones (moonstone, bloodstone, onyx, amethyst). Then, I had to research more on the symbolism of each stone and I was stunned that each stone correlates with a certain character's personality. Spoiler warning:
I really recommend to check out this book which is out in January 2022.
January 27, 2022
Note: An e-ARC in return for an honest review.
I would like to thank my Goodreads friend and my favorite booktuber Petrik Leo and the author Philinna Wood for sharing the e-ARC.
DNF @ 31%
Although I was pretty excited to get a e-ARC of an epic fantasy book, I knew that I had to keep my expectation low. Even with the beautiful cover art, I did not finish this book. It did not click with me. There were the following reasons -
1) Absolutely slow pacing: I totally understand when authors want to slowly showcase the world in an epic fantasy and letting the reader immerse in the story step by step. However, the story didn't move much except for a couple of action sequences which fell flat for me.
2) Bland characters: I had felt that Avalan was too bland and that the reason I feel is that I have read about some absolutely amazing main characters. Well, he didn't click for me. Other characters were not impactful. However, my favorite character was Bassalt who is the villain. I always looked forward to read his POV chapters but they were naturally less than those of Avalan and his friends. There was an animal companion but there was hardly any presence for her and it was disappointing!
3) Heavy prose: I really admire the author for the flowery and descriptive prose but since English is my third language, I don't generally like flowery writing unless you create a marvelous cocktail by combining such writing with masterful storytelling. Unfortunately, neither the storytelling nor the magic system generated any interest for me.
I tried to resume the book unsuccessfully at least 5 times after giving up on it. It is not my cup of tea.
I would like to thank my Goodreads friend and my favorite booktuber Petrik Leo and the author Philinna Wood for sharing the e-ARC.
DNF @ 31%
Although I was pretty excited to get a e-ARC of an epic fantasy book, I knew that I had to keep my expectation low. Even with the beautiful cover art, I did not finish this book. It did not click with me. There were the following reasons -
1) Absolutely slow pacing: I totally understand when authors want to slowly showcase the world in an epic fantasy and letting the reader immerse in the story step by step. However, the story didn't move much except for a couple of action sequences which fell flat for me.
2) Bland characters: I had felt that Avalan was too bland and that the reason I feel is that I have read about some absolutely amazing main characters. Well, he didn't click for me. Other characters were not impactful. However, my favorite character was Bassalt who is the villain. I always looked forward to read his POV chapters but they were naturally less than those of Avalan and his friends. There was an animal companion but there was hardly any presence for her and it was disappointing!
3) Heavy prose: I really admire the author for the flowery and descriptive prose but since English is my third language, I don't generally like flowery writing unless you create a marvelous cocktail by combining such writing with masterful storytelling. Unfortunately, neither the storytelling nor the magic system generated any interest for me.
"Guilt isn’t a wise companion, my son. It tears at your heart and eats at your soul."
I tried to resume the book unsuccessfully at least 5 times after giving up on it. It is not my cup of tea.
Read
August 22, 2022🔥 Read for SPFBO, this is only my *personal* opinion, group verdict might differ wildly!🔥
What a glorious cover! I went into this with high hopes, and teh start was really promising as well. However, I quickly found the lacing went from slow to glacial, and at 200 pages I started to lose interest in the story. As we had just hit a major change, I kept reading, hoping it would speed up a bit, but the next 100 pages again had little progress, and so I finally gave up at the halfway point.
The characters mostly felt a bit bland to me as well. Not bad, just lacking a bit of depth all around.
It's not a bad book, it's just really slow, and very heavy on descriptions and details. It feels like you could skim read big parts without missing anything relevant to the story.
If you love big epic fantasy, with a lot of meandering around the world and minutiae, this might be just exactly your book, it definitely has its fans! For me personally it just lacked a hook to keep me drawn back to the story.
What a glorious cover! I went into this with high hopes, and teh start was really promising as well. However, I quickly found the lacing went from slow to glacial, and at 200 pages I started to lose interest in the story. As we had just hit a major change, I kept reading, hoping it would speed up a bit, but the next 100 pages again had little progress, and so I finally gave up at the halfway point.
The characters mostly felt a bit bland to me as well. Not bad, just lacking a bit of depth all around.
It's not a bad book, it's just really slow, and very heavy on descriptions and details. It feels like you could skim read big parts without missing anything relevant to the story.
If you love big epic fantasy, with a lot of meandering around the world and minutiae, this might be just exactly your book, it definitely has its fans! For me personally it just lacked a hook to keep me drawn back to the story.
February 9, 2022
I recieved a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
DNF @ 20%
CHARACTERS
🔲 mary-sue party
✅ mostly 2D
🔲 great main cast, forgottable side characters
🔲 well-written
🔲 complex and fascinating
🔲 hard to believe they are ficitonal
PLOT
🔲 you've already heard this exact story a thousand time
✅ nothing memorable
🔲 gripping
🔲 exceptional
🔲 mind=blown
WORLDBUILDING
🔲 takes place in our world
🔲 incoherent
✅ OK
🔲 nicely detailed
🔲 meticulous
🔲 even the last tree in the forest has its own story
ATMOSPHERE
🔲 nonexistent
✅ fine
🔲 immersive
🔲 you forget you are reading a book
PACING
✅ dragging
🔲 inconsistent
🔲 picks up with time
🔲 page-turner
🔲 impossible to put down
I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn't care about anything that was going on.
DNF @ 20%
CHARACTERS
🔲 mary-sue party
✅ mostly 2D
🔲 great main cast, forgottable side characters
🔲 well-written
🔲 complex and fascinating
🔲 hard to believe they are ficitonal
PLOT
🔲 you've already heard this exact story a thousand time
✅ nothing memorable
🔲 gripping
🔲 exceptional
🔲 mind=blown
WORLDBUILDING
🔲 takes place in our world
🔲 incoherent
✅ OK
🔲 nicely detailed
🔲 meticulous
🔲 even the last tree in the forest has its own story
ATMOSPHERE
🔲 nonexistent
✅ fine
🔲 immersive
🔲 you forget you are reading a book
PACING
✅ dragging
🔲 inconsistent
🔲 picks up with time
🔲 page-turner
🔲 impossible to put down
I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn't care about anything that was going on.
December 17, 2021
I received an early copy of this book after watching Petrik Leo and using the link provided in his video as well as from the author for an honest review of this book. Honestly, it was a great experience to read a book before it was published as it was something I had never done before. Personally, while I liked this book, it is not a new favorite.
First, of all there are four points of view: Avalan, Lusha, Bassalt, and Bhoran. Avalan was an okay main character but was very reluctant to embrace his bloodstone and stubborn. Avalan also has a tiger companion by the name of Sigil but again we don't see her much in the story His primary goal throughout the book is to depose Bassalt, the chief of Hydrus, and restore freedom and justice. To achieve this, he must travel outside his village and find the heart of the bloodstone. Lusha is one of Avalan's closest friends as well the main female character of the book. She dreams of leaving the village of Hydrus to escape her restrictive father, Silver and a forced marriage. Lusha is in love with Bhoran and wants to go to the village of healers to find her aunt whom she never knew she had in order to get the love she feels her father never showed her. Bhoran is a very close friend of Avalan and the stepbrother to Bassalt who was exiled from Hydrus six years prior to the story. He is ostracized by society because he is believed to be an Onyx which were an evil tribe that started a war that devastated the Stone Lands. I predicted that Bhoran was likely not Onyx but something similar. He was also framed for the murder of Ronan, a merchant that was helping Avalan in his resistance.
The last POV character is Bassalt, who is my favorite character in the book. As mentioned before, he is the chief of Hydrus as well as the main villain of this book. I actually liked that he wasn't a one-dimensional villain and believed that he was protecting the people under his rule even though his protection was to quash any resistance to his rule and to forbid the villagers of Hydrus from using their birthstones as he felt those birthstones led to the war. Bassalt was willing to kill to stay in power but also viewed those deaths as necessary to maintain peace. In other words, he was the hero of his own story.
Romance was the weakest part of this book. The romance between Bhoran and Lusha felt very juvenile and unconvincing. Honestly, Lusha and Bhoran were my least favorite characters in this book. I would have thought that after years Lusha would have moved on from him. Avalan became obsessed with convincing Crystal to leave with him after finding out she was in an unhappy relationship with Chief Ethelnar to the point where he was sidetracked from his main goal for a while. I understand they still loved each other but still I would have thought that he would get the Heart of The Bloodstone and then come back for her.
I thought the whole idea of the magic system being based on birthstones to be quite interesting and unique. However, there isn't much explanation on how they work or even exactly what powers each of the stones have. The only stones we have any sort of explanation for are the moonstone (which grants healing powers), Bassalt's birthstone, Tiger's Eye (which seems to grant a lot of different powers to the point where it felt like there was little that Bassalt could not do), and maybe a little bit about the bloodstone. For me it was unclear what powers the other stones granted. I don't mind if it is a soft magic system, but I still feel like there should be at least a basic idea of what each stone does.
Also, the war between the tribes is touched upon but the readers aren't given enough details for what is the major event that had happened 20 years prior to the novel and still has a huge impact on the events occurring in the book. The evil Onyx tribe started this war and tried to enslave the other tribes but later on it is implied that the other tribes may have had some role in starting the war as well. The Onyx tribe also created an incurable illness that wipes out healers as claimed the life of Lusha's mother. We as the readers are given hints that there is more to the story than one day everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked (This is a reference to Avatar: The Last Airbender) but we don't get more than that. Maybe it will be explained further in future installments. I really like the inclusion of a dragon in this book even though we see so little of it. Basically, the world building is lacking in this book.
In the end, The Heart of The Bloodstone by Philinna Wood is a decent book, but I am willing to read further in this series or other books this author might publish. I think that this author has great ideas, but the execution isn't the best. The cover is gorgeous and really well done. I wish the author success and hope that people will still give it a chance.
Edit: (There are some changes to the paragraphs to make it easier to read)
I have thought on this book for a couple of days and I am increasing my rating to a 3.5 because the flaws in this book in my opinion aren't that bad compared to the positives I mentioned. I thought the plot was quite good in this book but it was the world building and many of the characters that I had issues with.
First, of all there are four points of view: Avalan, Lusha, Bassalt, and Bhoran. Avalan was an okay main character but was very reluctant to embrace his bloodstone and stubborn. Avalan also has a tiger companion by the name of Sigil but again we don't see her much in the story His primary goal throughout the book is to depose Bassalt, the chief of Hydrus, and restore freedom and justice. To achieve this, he must travel outside his village and find the heart of the bloodstone. Lusha is one of Avalan's closest friends as well the main female character of the book. She dreams of leaving the village of Hydrus to escape her restrictive father, Silver and a forced marriage. Lusha is in love with Bhoran and wants to go to the village of healers to find her aunt whom she never knew she had in order to get the love she feels her father never showed her. Bhoran is a very close friend of Avalan and the stepbrother to Bassalt who was exiled from Hydrus six years prior to the story. He is ostracized by society because he is believed to be an Onyx which were an evil tribe that started a war that devastated the Stone Lands. I predicted that Bhoran was likely not Onyx but something similar. He was also framed for the murder of Ronan, a merchant that was helping Avalan in his resistance.
The last POV character is Bassalt, who is my favorite character in the book. As mentioned before, he is the chief of Hydrus as well as the main villain of this book. I actually liked that he wasn't a one-dimensional villain and believed that he was protecting the people under his rule even though his protection was to quash any resistance to his rule and to forbid the villagers of Hydrus from using their birthstones as he felt those birthstones led to the war. Bassalt was willing to kill to stay in power but also viewed those deaths as necessary to maintain peace. In other words, he was the hero of his own story.
Romance was the weakest part of this book. The romance between Bhoran and Lusha felt very juvenile and unconvincing. Honestly, Lusha and Bhoran were my least favorite characters in this book. I would have thought that after years Lusha would have moved on from him. Avalan became obsessed with convincing Crystal to leave with him after finding out she was in an unhappy relationship with Chief Ethelnar to the point where he was sidetracked from his main goal for a while. I understand they still loved each other but still I would have thought that he would get the Heart of The Bloodstone and then come back for her.
I thought the whole idea of the magic system being based on birthstones to be quite interesting and unique. However, there isn't much explanation on how they work or even exactly what powers each of the stones have. The only stones we have any sort of explanation for are the moonstone (which grants healing powers), Bassalt's birthstone, Tiger's Eye (which seems to grant a lot of different powers to the point where it felt like there was little that Bassalt could not do), and maybe a little bit about the bloodstone. For me it was unclear what powers the other stones granted. I don't mind if it is a soft magic system, but I still feel like there should be at least a basic idea of what each stone does.
Also, the war between the tribes is touched upon but the readers aren't given enough details for what is the major event that had happened 20 years prior to the novel and still has a huge impact on the events occurring in the book. The evil Onyx tribe started this war and tried to enslave the other tribes but later on it is implied that the other tribes may have had some role in starting the war as well. The Onyx tribe also created an incurable illness that wipes out healers as claimed the life of Lusha's mother. We as the readers are given hints that there is more to the story than one day everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked (This is a reference to Avatar: The Last Airbender) but we don't get more than that. Maybe it will be explained further in future installments. I really like the inclusion of a dragon in this book even though we see so little of it. Basically, the world building is lacking in this book.
In the end, The Heart of The Bloodstone by Philinna Wood is a decent book, but I am willing to read further in this series or other books this author might publish. I think that this author has great ideas, but the execution isn't the best. The cover is gorgeous and really well done. I wish the author success and hope that people will still give it a chance.
Edit: (There are some changes to the paragraphs to make it easier to read)
I have thought on this book for a couple of days and I am increasing my rating to a 3.5 because the flaws in this book in my opinion aren't that bad compared to the positives I mentioned. I thought the plot was quite good in this book but it was the world building and many of the characters that I had issues with.
January 27, 2022
I received an early copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review thanks to the BookTuber Petrik Leo.
I start with saying that I think this story had a great potential but unfortunately a few issues had made the reading experience not so compelling for me.
The first issue was with the pacing of the book: for the first half I struggled to keep on reading because the story progressed very slowly...it felt like nothing was happening. It truly lifted off towards the middle of the book, when the situation went almost the other way around: many things were happening one after the other and this kept me turning pages because I wanted to know where the story was going.
The story is told with 4 different points of view: 3 young friends that came from Hydrus, the village in which the adventure began, and the tyrant chief of this village, who is the villain of the story. I think that including the villain among the perspectives that narrate the story was a wise choice: it was fascinating to see what thoughts passed in his head and how he justified his actions.
Another small issue is that the characters often referred to events that happened prior to the story that are very meaningful for them and that guide their life choices in the story, but they were not explained very much. (On this note, I think that the prequel novella, "The Goat Game", which is set a few years before the story told in the book, is much more helpful to understand what happened to the characters).
The main problem for me, though, was the romances. They were not good, definitely too cringy for my taste and I did not care about them at all. I hope this will improve in the future books.
What I really like was the setting and the culture of the villages and I think that the magic system is really interesting: it is based on the power granted by magic stones associated with the color of the eyes of each person. The world is organized in tribes made mostly of people with the same stones, except for the village of the main characters, which was created for all stones to live together in peace. For each stone there are some powers associated, and in this point I think there was some lack of information...in fact it is not explained very well what are the specific powers of each kind of stone we saw through the story. Every now and then a character is suddenly able to do something new thanks to the magic in order to solve some difficult situation and this made the magic look a bit too much like a plot-solving device...
But maybe the rules of magic will be explained better in the next books.
So, even if some things made it difficult for me to truly click with the story, I think that this book could be overall enjoyable. I do suggest to try and read it (and read the novella too) because maybe what bothered me is not a great issue for someone else.
I start with saying that I think this story had a great potential but unfortunately a few issues had made the reading experience not so compelling for me.
The first issue was with the pacing of the book: for the first half I struggled to keep on reading because the story progressed very slowly...it felt like nothing was happening. It truly lifted off towards the middle of the book, when the situation went almost the other way around: many things were happening one after the other and this kept me turning pages because I wanted to know where the story was going.
The story is told with 4 different points of view: 3 young friends that came from Hydrus, the village in which the adventure began, and the tyrant chief of this village, who is the villain of the story. I think that including the villain among the perspectives that narrate the story was a wise choice: it was fascinating to see what thoughts passed in his head and how he justified his actions.
Another small issue is that the characters often referred to events that happened prior to the story that are very meaningful for them and that guide their life choices in the story, but they were not explained very much. (On this note, I think that the prequel novella, "The Goat Game", which is set a few years before the story told in the book, is much more helpful to understand what happened to the characters).
The main problem for me, though, was the romances. They were not good, definitely too cringy for my taste and I did not care about them at all. I hope this will improve in the future books.
What I really like was the setting and the culture of the villages and I think that the magic system is really interesting: it is based on the power granted by magic stones associated with the color of the eyes of each person. The world is organized in tribes made mostly of people with the same stones, except for the village of the main characters, which was created for all stones to live together in peace. For each stone there are some powers associated, and in this point I think there was some lack of information...in fact it is not explained very well what are the specific powers of each kind of stone we saw through the story. Every now and then a character is suddenly able to do something new thanks to the magic in order to solve some difficult situation and this made the magic look a bit too much like a plot-solving device...
But maybe the rules of magic will be explained better in the next books.
So, even if some things made it difficult for me to truly click with the story, I think that this book could be overall enjoyable. I do suggest to try and read it (and read the novella too) because maybe what bothered me is not a great issue for someone else.
August 9, 2022
The Heart of the Bloodstone is a book I first heard from Petrik. After that I subscribed to Philinna's newsletter and found out she had a free short story. So that is where I started and it's called The Goats Game, which is an annual competition in the village of Hydrus. I am really glad I started with The Goats Game because it is a good foundation for the Stone Tribes.
The story follows three friends who will be the main focus of the Heart of the Bloodstone. First and foremost this story is very character driven, so if you are looking for a story with lots of high octane action then this might not be for you, but hear me out. A story shouldn't always be about action. Sometimes it is about the characters and their journey. With that being said, The Heart of the Bloodstone does run at a mild pace, but so much happens if you just give it a chance. Avalan, Lusha, and Bhoran are the three friends and their stories are all vastly different. Avalan is a young man who is trying to free Hydrus from a chief who is a tyrant. Lusha is a young woman who is trying to start a new life away from her father and is healing from a broken heart. Then there is Bhoran, a young man who is trying to find his place in the world. We also follow Bassalt who is the chief of Hydrus, a very compelling character, but also very cynical. The story is vast, this world is atmospheric, the lore is rich. Did I mention that this story involves Stone magic, blood magic, and shadow magic. Yes PLEASE!
Philinna did such an amazing job. Do I think this story is perfect, no, but what story is. Do I think Philinna has crafted a world with so much to offer, I sure do. I really want to see this series take off. Philinna has planted so many seeds and I want to see how this story develops. I will say that one thing I want in book two is a deeper dive into each individual stone and what can they do.
The story follows three friends who will be the main focus of the Heart of the Bloodstone. First and foremost this story is very character driven, so if you are looking for a story with lots of high octane action then this might not be for you, but hear me out. A story shouldn't always be about action. Sometimes it is about the characters and their journey. With that being said, The Heart of the Bloodstone does run at a mild pace, but so much happens if you just give it a chance. Avalan, Lusha, and Bhoran are the three friends and their stories are all vastly different. Avalan is a young man who is trying to free Hydrus from a chief who is a tyrant. Lusha is a young woman who is trying to start a new life away from her father and is healing from a broken heart. Then there is Bhoran, a young man who is trying to find his place in the world. We also follow Bassalt who is the chief of Hydrus, a very compelling character, but also very cynical. The story is vast, this world is atmospheric, the lore is rich. Did I mention that this story involves Stone magic, blood magic, and shadow magic. Yes PLEASE!
Philinna did such an amazing job. Do I think this story is perfect, no, but what story is. Do I think Philinna has crafted a world with so much to offer, I sure do. I really want to see this series take off. Philinna has planted so many seeds and I want to see how this story develops. I will say that one thing I want in book two is a deeper dive into each individual stone and what can they do.
January 22, 2022
I received this arc from a great BookTuber, Patrik Leo in exchange for an honest review. This book is set to be released on 1/25/2022.
I absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED this book. This was a great adventure story. I found the story very easy to read and kept my interest from beginning to end. I loved how the story opens up with introducing you to the characters and allows you to get to know them and connect with them. There are four main characters we follow in this book. We are getting the perspectives of Avalan, Lusha, Bohran, and Bassalt. I felt so many emotions reading these characters perspectives, but I was not always happy with them. I found myself wanting to strangle them for their decisions. Yet I was happy to see growth as the story moved forward. there are quite a few twists and turns, and most I never saw them coming.
The action scenes in this story are great. I found them to be very engrossing yet not over the top.
The magic system is based off Stone magic, which is part of the mystery. We are on an adventure with the main characters while they are also learning about the magic system and learning more about life and the world. I felt like each chapter had me wanting to read more to find out what happens next. The end was a HUGE cliffhanger. I am eagerly anticipating book 2 in the series.
I absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED this book. This was a great adventure story. I found the story very easy to read and kept my interest from beginning to end. I loved how the story opens up with introducing you to the characters and allows you to get to know them and connect with them. There are four main characters we follow in this book. We are getting the perspectives of Avalan, Lusha, Bohran, and Bassalt. I felt so many emotions reading these characters perspectives, but I was not always happy with them. I found myself wanting to strangle them for their decisions. Yet I was happy to see growth as the story moved forward. there are quite a few twists and turns, and most I never saw them coming.
The action scenes in this story are great. I found them to be very engrossing yet not over the top.
The magic system is based off Stone magic, which is part of the mystery. We are on an adventure with the main characters while they are also learning about the magic system and learning more about life and the world. I felt like each chapter had me wanting to read more to find out what happens next. The end was a HUGE cliffhanger. I am eagerly anticipating book 2 in the series.
January 25, 2022
Advance Reader Copy- ebook form- via booktuber @PetrickLeo from author Philinna Wood- Thank you.
(4- 4.5 stars)
A controlling leader using his special powers to ruin lives, separate family, friends and lovers. Contain a village. He keeps the people from knowing the truth...keeping them fearful. Is he even the rightful ruler?
But there are potential heroes willing to risk everything to avenge the mistreatment, murders that have occurred at the wrong hands. And to reclaim their birthstones/their power. Avalon, along with others will attempt what seems to be the impossible.
(4- 4.5 stars)
A controlling leader using his special powers to ruin lives, separate family, friends and lovers. Contain a village. He keeps the people from knowing the truth...keeping them fearful. Is he even the rightful ruler?
But there are potential heroes willing to risk everything to avenge the mistreatment, murders that have occurred at the wrong hands. And to reclaim their birthstones/their power. Avalon, along with others will attempt what seems to be the impossible.
January 10, 2022
4.5. I was able to get an e-ARC from the author through one of my favourite book tubers Petrik Leo.
I really enjoyed this. I got absorbed in the story quite easily and will definitely be picking up the next one to see where the story goes. Didn’t love the romance but I almost never do. Would also like to see more of the world, and more about the bloodstones because I really liked the magic behind centred on the stones.
Thanks Philinna!
January 15, 2022
This was a very good start to a new series and a debut book. I didn't think it was perfect but it kept me turning the pages. I liked the magic system and look forward to finding out more about it all works. Liked that she didn't put out everything all at once but gradually learned about the world and the magic that's in it. There is so much left to find out about. The characters are young, naive and well intentioned who make mistakes. This doesn't make them the best but not the worst either for me although sometimes they seemed a little superficial. I still kept reading though and found myself thinking about why they did the things they did. I found some parts of the story rather well written and other parts a little muddled until you read more of the book. Some things are still left to find out about and that will probably be covered in the next book. I think that this was a 3.5 for me but for some they will really love this book. After just finishing this book these are some of first impressions and look forward to doing my reread at some point. I found out about this book from Petric on Youtube and then was given a copy from the author. I can only hope this will be a success for this new author.
September 29, 2025
A self-published fantasy novel, book 1 in a series by Philinna Wood.
I received an e-ARC of this book after hearing a blurb about it on Petrik Leo's YouTube channel.
DNF @33%
I really tried to get through this whole book. I started picking at it sometime in December and couldn't really get into it. I tried a hard push to get through the whole book this week and ultimately decided that I felt too frustrated and bored by the narrative to get to the end.
Although this book wasn't for me, I wish the author best of luck with this book and with future installments!
I received an e-ARC of this book after hearing a blurb about it on Petrik Leo's YouTube channel.
DNF @33%
I really tried to get through this whole book. I started picking at it sometime in December and couldn't really get into it. I tried a hard push to get through the whole book this week and ultimately decided that I felt too frustrated and bored by the narrative to get to the end.
Although this book wasn't for me, I wish the author best of luck with this book and with future installments!
January 24, 2022
I received this arc copy from one of Petrik Leo's booktube videos in exchange for an honest review. There are some things about this book that worked for me and there are some things in this book that didn't. That being said, the reason I've given this book a four-star is that the things Philinna Wood did well in this book, I really really liked. For instance, the number one aspect I loved about this book was the character of Bassalt. At the beginning of the story, the reader is made out to believe that Bassalt is your typical one-note authoritarian leader who wants total control over his people just so that way he possesses great swaths of power. But as the book progresses, Bassalt is revealed to have good intentions for the actions he makes for the tribe, yet knows how his actions are being perceived and even begins to have moments of doubt about his choices. Bassalt was a brilliantly written character, who commanded a presence in the book. I looked forward to every viewpoint chapter featuring him. The other aspect of the book that I enjoyed were the author's visual descriptions of the scenery. Her writing style managed to be very effective in pulling me into the setting of the story. I didn't have a single moment that I found myself unable to picture what was happening in the story. The final aspect of the story I really enjoyed was Avalon's character arc. I really like the subversion of the chosen one trope that Wood used here. It gave me vibes of Rand'Al Thor's chosen one arc in "The Wheel of Time" which I appreciated.
In terms of what didn't work for me in the book, I found the pacing of the opening few chapters to be really really fast. I think it would have served the book better to have started the story off with the tribal ceremony that appears early on in the book, then flash to Avalon's opening scene and then Lusha. In the scene order that was given, I found that the fast pacing didn't give me much time to get my feet established in the world right away and that the only thing that was keeping me reading early on was to see where the plot went. I also found that the other main POV characters (exception being Bassalt because he's amazing) didn't really have much personality radiating off the page. They felt like characters motivated by what they desired. I would have wanted characters like Lusha and Avalon to have more of a personality on them. Also, some of the dialogue in this book did not feel very conversational to me. There were multiple times that I felt that some of the dialogue for some of the main POV characters was there just to remind the reader of their motivations, which in one way was nice because it made me remember character motivations much more easily, but also felt unneeded because I am not the kind of reader who needs their hand held.
Overall, I would be interested in checking out the sequel to this book when it becomes available, I look forward to see where the author takes the story next.
In terms of what didn't work for me in the book, I found the pacing of the opening few chapters to be really really fast. I think it would have served the book better to have started the story off with the tribal ceremony that appears early on in the book, then flash to Avalon's opening scene and then Lusha. In the scene order that was given, I found that the fast pacing didn't give me much time to get my feet established in the world right away and that the only thing that was keeping me reading early on was to see where the plot went. I also found that the other main POV characters (exception being Bassalt because he's amazing) didn't really have much personality radiating off the page. They felt like characters motivated by what they desired. I would have wanted characters like Lusha and Avalon to have more of a personality on them. Also, some of the dialogue in this book did not feel very conversational to me. There were multiple times that I felt that some of the dialogue for some of the main POV characters was there just to remind the reader of their motivations, which in one way was nice because it made me remember character motivations much more easily, but also felt unneeded because I am not the kind of reader who needs their hand held.
Overall, I would be interested in checking out the sequel to this book when it becomes available, I look forward to see where the author takes the story next.
February 27, 2022
**Mild Spoilers for The Heart of the Bloodstone below** - Marked by **SPOILERS**
Philinna Woods debut novel is charming with beautiful prose, worldbuilding and atmosphere.
We follow three main characters and their POV’s in what I would classify as an adventure borderline quest fantasy. Avalan our main protagonist is set to stage a coup over the chief of Hydrus’s rein. No longer will he put up with the increasing restrictions of his people and longs to set them free and return them a life of freedom. Bassalt the current chief claims that he is just trying to protect them all from the feared Onyx. The one birthstone which could ruin everything they have built.
Lusha longs for a life of the moonstone, she wishes to escape with Ronan to visit her aunt who could teach her more about her healing capabilities in the homeland. Under the scrutinising gaze of her father this would prove no easy feat.
**SPOILERS**
Suddenly Ronan turns up dead, a face from the past blamed for the death based on the colour of his eyes. Bohran has been wrongfully charged returning to Hydrus after 6 years in exile. Avalan, Lusha and Bohran fight to escape with their lives, to learn the truth of their stones and set the village free.
**END SPOILERS**
There were two standouts for me in this book. The prose and the magic system. The prose was beautiful, it felt like the author put real effort into making the world flow almost lyrically off the page. It was a joy to read and a nice break for someone who tends to read grimdark fantasy.
I thought the magic system of the bloodstones to be unique and interesting. Each individual carries the truth of their stones in their eyes, but the powers they can access remain relatively hidden due to Bassalt's rule over Hydrus. I personally would have liked to have seen more development within the magic system but we did get a glimpse of what those powers could to towards the end of the book (with the exception of the moonstone which was explained quite well throughout).
I thought the characters were a little two dimensional and didn't develop a whole lot throughout this first instalment, however they remained true to their initial character. I am interested to see how they develop in the next instalment.
Another quick positive I will mention is the animal companions. I don't know that I have ever rooted for a snake before.
Overall, while the tone of this book was lighter than what I would generally pick up I had a good time and look forward to reading book two.
P.S. Highly recommend reading the Goat Game which can be found on Philinna's website for free for some background into the three main characters.
Philinna Woods debut novel is charming with beautiful prose, worldbuilding and atmosphere.
We follow three main characters and their POV’s in what I would classify as an adventure borderline quest fantasy. Avalan our main protagonist is set to stage a coup over the chief of Hydrus’s rein. No longer will he put up with the increasing restrictions of his people and longs to set them free and return them a life of freedom. Bassalt the current chief claims that he is just trying to protect them all from the feared Onyx. The one birthstone which could ruin everything they have built.
Lusha longs for a life of the moonstone, she wishes to escape with Ronan to visit her aunt who could teach her more about her healing capabilities in the homeland. Under the scrutinising gaze of her father this would prove no easy feat.
**SPOILERS**
Suddenly Ronan turns up dead, a face from the past blamed for the death based on the colour of his eyes. Bohran has been wrongfully charged returning to Hydrus after 6 years in exile. Avalan, Lusha and Bohran fight to escape with their lives, to learn the truth of their stones and set the village free.
**END SPOILERS**
There were two standouts for me in this book. The prose and the magic system. The prose was beautiful, it felt like the author put real effort into making the world flow almost lyrically off the page. It was a joy to read and a nice break for someone who tends to read grimdark fantasy.
I thought the magic system of the bloodstones to be unique and interesting. Each individual carries the truth of their stones in their eyes, but the powers they can access remain relatively hidden due to Bassalt's rule over Hydrus. I personally would have liked to have seen more development within the magic system but we did get a glimpse of what those powers could to towards the end of the book (with the exception of the moonstone which was explained quite well throughout).
I thought the characters were a little two dimensional and didn't develop a whole lot throughout this first instalment, however they remained true to their initial character. I am interested to see how they develop in the next instalment.
Another quick positive I will mention is the animal companions. I don't know that I have ever rooted for a snake before.
Overall, while the tone of this book was lighter than what I would generally pick up I had a good time and look forward to reading book two.
P.S. Highly recommend reading the Goat Game which can be found on Philinna's website for free for some background into the three main characters.
January 25, 2022
"The heart of the bloodstone" is the first book in a new fantasy series and also the debut novel for Philinna Wood. As always, I like to point out when a book is a debut novel, since little details that I was not the biggest fan of can be caused by that. I'm sure the author will keep on improving the more she writes.
Let's start with worldbuilding. The world we are situated in is very interesting. We do get to see a big part of it, but there are still a lot of questions for future books.
The magic system was one of the things that interested me the most about this book. I thought it was very intriguing with the use of gemstones but I ended up feeling like we didn't learn much about their powers. I hope that is explained better in future books since there is a lot of potential.
The characters are probably my biggest issue. I really didn't enjoy the female characters in this book with the exception of Farmera. Lusha felt very undeveloped as a character and Crystal was just used to develop the male character's arc. Also, part of her plot is a very used trope that I personally dislike.
The male characters were a bit better, especially Avalan, but still felt a bit too cliche. And the dialogue between them felt a bit off at times.
When it comes to other types of content, I was a bit confused by the change of tone in-between parts. When it came to the sexual content, for example, at times it felt like the author didn't know whether to make the book more explicit or not. And it just felt unnatural.
All in all, it's a decent debut novel. And being the first book in a series, there is a lot of room for improvement.
Thank you to the author for providing me with an early copy of the book.
Let's start with worldbuilding. The world we are situated in is very interesting. We do get to see a big part of it, but there are still a lot of questions for future books.
The magic system was one of the things that interested me the most about this book. I thought it was very intriguing with the use of gemstones but I ended up feeling like we didn't learn much about their powers. I hope that is explained better in future books since there is a lot of potential.
The characters are probably my biggest issue. I really didn't enjoy the female characters in this book with the exception of Farmera. Lusha felt very undeveloped as a character and Crystal was just used to develop the male character's arc. Also, part of her plot is a very used trope that I personally dislike.
The male characters were a bit better, especially Avalan, but still felt a bit too cliche. And the dialogue between them felt a bit off at times.
When it comes to other types of content, I was a bit confused by the change of tone in-between parts. When it came to the sexual content, for example, at times it felt like the author didn't know whether to make the book more explicit or not. And it just felt unnatural.
All in all, it's a decent debut novel. And being the first book in a series, there is a lot of room for improvement.
Thank you to the author for providing me with an early copy of the book.
January 25, 2022
I enjoyed the world and the premise. And the cover illustrator killed it.
I think what made this book a frustrating read for me is that there are two technical writing problems: 1) the inciting incident takes place approximately 60 pages (11%) into the novel. This incident affects supporting characters more than it does the Avalan (MC), which further undermines any empathy the reader has for him.
2) The Promise of the premise of the book. It felt like that book was spending far too much time on what felt like a sub-plot while everything kept hinting at a larger plot. While altogether it's good to hint at a big plot for any series, it felt like the characters were dawdling and wasting our time rather than getting to the "interesting" plot hinted at.
I believe Philinna Wood does have a writing future ahead of her, but perhaps a developmental editor will help her catch these problems, so that her ideas and book can live up to their potential.
I think what made this book a frustrating read for me is that there are two technical writing problems: 1) the inciting incident takes place approximately 60 pages (11%) into the novel. This incident affects supporting characters more than it does the Avalan (MC), which further undermines any empathy the reader has for him.
2) The Promise of the premise of the book. It felt like that book was spending far too much time on what felt like a sub-plot while everything kept hinting at a larger plot. While altogether it's good to hint at a big plot for any series, it felt like the characters were dawdling and wasting our time rather than getting to the "interesting" plot hinted at.
I believe Philinna Wood does have a writing future ahead of her, but perhaps a developmental editor will help her catch these problems, so that her ideas and book can live up to their potential.
November 6, 2024
The Heart of the Bloodstone by Philinna Wood is the first book in The Stone Tribes series.
The Village of Hydrus used to be a place of freedom, but slowly, the Chief has been putting more and more restrictions on the people and they are starting to feel trapped. Avalan is a hunter and he has taken it upon himself to free his village from the Chief’s madness.
An interesting magic system where their power is linked to their birth stone which each of them should be given when they are born. The world-building is well-written, even including some technical aspects of the world.
The characters are well-developed their interactions are believable. Each of the character’s journeys was interesting and I am interested in seeing if there will be a sequel. I did enjoy the prequel novella, The Goat Game, and hope to read more in this world.
The pacing was a bit up and down and the overall book could have been cut down by a chapter or two, but overall I loved the story.
The Village of Hydrus used to be a place of freedom, but slowly, the Chief has been putting more and more restrictions on the people and they are starting to feel trapped. Avalan is a hunter and he has taken it upon himself to free his village from the Chief’s madness.
An interesting magic system where their power is linked to their birth stone which each of them should be given when they are born. The world-building is well-written, even including some technical aspects of the world.
The characters are well-developed their interactions are believable. Each of the character’s journeys was interesting and I am interested in seeing if there will be a sequel. I did enjoy the prequel novella, The Goat Game, and hope to read more in this world.
The pacing was a bit up and down and the overall book could have been cut down by a chapter or two, but overall I loved the story.
January 2, 2022
➶➶arc provided by the author through Petrik Leo
First off, that cover is gorgeous. 🥺
I find myself torn. I really enjoyed this and will be picking up the sequel but some elements didn't really work for me and that lowered the rating. I'm hoping characterization will be fleshed out more in the next one.
It comes out 25th January and I highly recommend.
*3.5
First off, that cover is gorgeous. 🥺
When the stone speaks, the heart listens. It is the silence the stone bearer fears.
I find myself torn. I really enjoyed this and will be picking up the sequel but some elements didn't really work for me and that lowered the rating. I'm hoping characterization will be fleshed out more in the next one.
It comes out 25th January and I highly recommend.
*3.5
December 16, 2021
I received an early copy after watching one of my favorite book tubers Petrick. I found the story somewhat enjoyable but I struggled to finish. I can already tell I won't be picking this up or any of it's sequels. There were a lot of good ideas but it just didn't click for me.
The prose was good, the romance uninteresting, but the main character was likeable.
Edit 12/14/21 - ok I re-read the book because I wanted to give it another chance. While I won't increase my star rating I will say I would read the sequel because I want to see what happens next.
The prose was good, the romance uninteresting, but the main character was likeable.
Edit 12/14/21 - ok I re-read the book because I wanted to give it another chance. While I won't increase my star rating I will say I would read the sequel because I want to see what happens next.
December 24, 2021
I was able to read this book as an ARC through Petriks YouTube channel in exchange for an honest review.
While I get the reviews some others have presented (e.g. too much happens of page and is not explained) I did not find this as troublesome as some other people did. As I am having a hard time focusing on some other epic fantasy reads I was kind of a nice change to just let the story flow even if I thought I might have missed something. It was a quick and easy read (despite the page count) and I am very curious to see where this story, and the author, are heading towards. Was this book flawless? No. Was in entertaining and a nice escape from daily realities? Yes.
While I get the reviews some others have presented (e.g. too much happens of page and is not explained) I did not find this as troublesome as some other people did. As I am having a hard time focusing on some other epic fantasy reads I was kind of a nice change to just let the story flow even if I thought I might have missed something. It was a quick and easy read (despite the page count) and I am very curious to see where this story, and the author, are heading towards. Was this book flawless? No. Was in entertaining and a nice escape from daily realities? Yes.
February 12, 2022
3.5/5 stars.
Thanks to the author Philinna Wood for providing an advance copy via Petrik Leo's Booktube channel for an honest review.
At the beginning I was having mixed feelings about this book, it is true that the story is interesting, and the magic system is good, but the prose and the decision making of the characters went down a different path then I was expecting.
About the prose I have to say it was a little hard for me to get invested in the book, it wasn’t such an easy read and there was a word I started to hate because it repeated sooooo many times in the descriptions…
The characters weren’t that interesting, and I honestly would like to see them making decisions for more deep reasons, especially the main characters Avalon, Lusha and Bhoran. The character development wasn’t thar great but for that same reason I think we are going to get to see them with a great development later, hopes up.
The magic system is very interesting and unique, I would love to see more of that and of the magical creatures in the future.
We don’t get to see much world building since the books focus is around politics and magic.
The story is interesting, but I have to say I lost interest after the middle part of the book because the romance and the decisions weren’t strong enough to support the story even though I understand that it was necessary to set on the base for the next books.
Anyway, I enjoy the reading and I’m interested enough to read part 2.
Thanks to the author Philinna Wood for providing an advance copy via Petrik Leo's Booktube channel for an honest review.
At the beginning I was having mixed feelings about this book, it is true that the story is interesting, and the magic system is good, but the prose and the decision making of the characters went down a different path then I was expecting.
About the prose I have to say it was a little hard for me to get invested in the book, it wasn’t such an easy read and there was a word I started to hate because it repeated sooooo many times in the descriptions…
The characters weren’t that interesting, and I honestly would like to see them making decisions for more deep reasons, especially the main characters Avalon, Lusha and Bhoran. The character development wasn’t thar great but for that same reason I think we are going to get to see them with a great development later, hopes up.
The magic system is very interesting and unique, I would love to see more of that and of the magical creatures in the future.
We don’t get to see much world building since the books focus is around politics and magic.
The story is interesting, but I have to say I lost interest after the middle part of the book because the romance and the decisions weren’t strong enough to support the story even though I understand that it was necessary to set on the base for the next books.
Anyway, I enjoy the reading and I’m interested enough to read part 2.
February 8, 2022
Dnfed it after 27%
Nothing much happens in the begining.
It was exhausting to continue to read this.
Nothing much happens in the begining.
It was exhausting to continue to read this.
June 15, 2022
Read for SPFBO8 - review to come later
This is my personal rating not team outcome.
This is my personal rating not team outcome.
February 4, 2022
I received an e-ARC copy of this book for free from a tie-up between the author and Petrik Leo’s BookTube channel in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to fall in love with this book. I really did. The prequel novella, The Goat Game, was an interesting introduction to the isolated village of Hydrus, and gave me plenty of reasons to raise my expectations for The Heart of the Bloodstone. But, in the end, it turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag, and I merely enjoyed it.
Although the book’s synopsis might lead you to the conclusion that the story will be told entirely from the perspective of Avalan, in reality, three more perspectives get almost equal weight-age. Among them, Bassalt, the antagonist who holds the village in a vice-like grip, stands head and shoulders above the others. It isn’t even a remotely close contest. His paranoia, fear of widespread magic, palpable nightmare of an ancient threat that might return, and desire to remain as chief and to enjoy all the perks that come along with it are all brilliantly conveyed. From the very first page in his voice, I felt as if his enormous figure leaped off the page and paced to and fro in front of me, deliberating his next move to make life for his tribe even more miserable.
Unfortunately, the best element of the story — the chapters dedicated to Bassalt — also gets the least page count.
On the other hand, Avalan and Lusha and Bhoran’s chapters feel like different parts of the same character. Sure, they harbour motivations unique to each of them. But they are also ready to agree with each other at the drop of a hat, speak and think similarly, are only intermittently interesting, and constantly fill in each other about events that took place when one of them was away from the other two for a bit. I, as the reader, sometimes had to experience certain events from a certain character’s perspective, and then read an oral re-telling of the same events in a subsequent chapter. This got tiring after a while.
In fact, I have no clue why Bhoran’s perspective was included from the start. Mind you, the prequel novella is entirely from his point-of-view, and an element of mystery surrounds him at the start of The Heart of the Bloodstone, which should ideally have been slowly revealed towards the latter half of the book. Instead, he pretty much reveals it all over the course of a couple of chapters. During a few reading sessions, I simply resigned myself to the fact that I had to endure three mundane chapters just to get a delicious scoop of Bassalt.
As far as other aspects of the book are concerned, the author is far more assured in her handling. When it comes to the world-building, I feel like I’ve explored only a tiny part of the world of the Stone Tribes, despite the 600-page length of the first book and nearly a third of all important locations already featuring at some point. Also, it became pretty obvious early on that the magic system would be revealed gradually, only to reach a crescendo towards the end. The author fully delivered on this promise and provided plenty of room for more exploration. I really liked the fact that each type of magic was vaguely defined and left to the reader’s interpretation to a certain extent, and not set in stone with a bunch of rules governing its practice.
Finally, we come to the writing itself. It’s always difficult to judge the craft of a debut author, and this book is certainly not an exception to it. The strengths lie in the vividness of descriptions, gradient of emotional experiences, and action scenes; the weaknesses lie in repetition of certain connotations (‘sweet’ is almost always associated with ‘decay’ or ‘rot’ or ‘stench’), penchant to make characters bleed (the protagonists should have dropped dead at least twice during the length of the story due to excessive blood loss), and sex scenes (the less said, the better).
Overall, I’m cautiously excited for the rest of the entries in the Stone Tribes series, and genuinely can’t wait to see the author sharpen her skills. There is plenty of quality story-telling to come from both.
I wanted to fall in love with this book. I really did. The prequel novella, The Goat Game, was an interesting introduction to the isolated village of Hydrus, and gave me plenty of reasons to raise my expectations for The Heart of the Bloodstone. But, in the end, it turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag, and I merely enjoyed it.
Although the book’s synopsis might lead you to the conclusion that the story will be told entirely from the perspective of Avalan, in reality, three more perspectives get almost equal weight-age. Among them, Bassalt, the antagonist who holds the village in a vice-like grip, stands head and shoulders above the others. It isn’t even a remotely close contest. His paranoia, fear of widespread magic, palpable nightmare of an ancient threat that might return, and desire to remain as chief and to enjoy all the perks that come along with it are all brilliantly conveyed. From the very first page in his voice, I felt as if his enormous figure leaped off the page and paced to and fro in front of me, deliberating his next move to make life for his tribe even more miserable.
Unfortunately, the best element of the story — the chapters dedicated to Bassalt — also gets the least page count.
On the other hand, Avalan and Lusha and Bhoran’s chapters feel like different parts of the same character. Sure, they harbour motivations unique to each of them. But they are also ready to agree with each other at the drop of a hat, speak and think similarly, are only intermittently interesting, and constantly fill in each other about events that took place when one of them was away from the other two for a bit. I, as the reader, sometimes had to experience certain events from a certain character’s perspective, and then read an oral re-telling of the same events in a subsequent chapter. This got tiring after a while.
In fact, I have no clue why Bhoran’s perspective was included from the start. Mind you, the prequel novella is entirely from his point-of-view, and an element of mystery surrounds him at the start of The Heart of the Bloodstone, which should ideally have been slowly revealed towards the latter half of the book. Instead, he pretty much reveals it all over the course of a couple of chapters. During a few reading sessions, I simply resigned myself to the fact that I had to endure three mundane chapters just to get a delicious scoop of Bassalt.
As far as other aspects of the book are concerned, the author is far more assured in her handling. When it comes to the world-building, I feel like I’ve explored only a tiny part of the world of the Stone Tribes, despite the 600-page length of the first book and nearly a third of all important locations already featuring at some point. Also, it became pretty obvious early on that the magic system would be revealed gradually, only to reach a crescendo towards the end. The author fully delivered on this promise and provided plenty of room for more exploration. I really liked the fact that each type of magic was vaguely defined and left to the reader’s interpretation to a certain extent, and not set in stone with a bunch of rules governing its practice.
Finally, we come to the writing itself. It’s always difficult to judge the craft of a debut author, and this book is certainly not an exception to it. The strengths lie in the vividness of descriptions, gradient of emotional experiences, and action scenes; the weaknesses lie in repetition of certain connotations (‘sweet’ is almost always associated with ‘decay’ or ‘rot’ or ‘stench’), penchant to make characters bleed (the protagonists should have dropped dead at least twice during the length of the story due to excessive blood loss), and sex scenes (the less said, the better).
Overall, I’m cautiously excited for the rest of the entries in the Stone Tribes series, and genuinely can’t wait to see the author sharpen her skills. There is plenty of quality story-telling to come from both.
January 26, 2022
I received an ARC of this book via booktuber Patrick Leo. This is the first ARC I've ever read so that was a fun experience. Unfortunately the book didn't really live up to my expectations.
I'll start with my favourite part of the book - the plot. It was engaging throughout, well thought out and not too predictable. The concept - a small village with a tyrannical leader who is starting to turn the residents against him - is one that I find very interesting. The story that emerges largely follows villagers Avalan and Lusha on their adventures trying to free their village and chief Bassalt who is trying to hold on to power.
Unfortunately I couldn't really get myself too invested in the plot, mostly because I didn't connect with any of our main characters. Especially Avalan was really getting on my nerves and made it hard for my to care if he lived or died. At no point did he show the leadership qualities that he supposedly possesses. Bassalt was probably the most complex character but his story largely took place away from the other characters which made him a bit isolated.
Another thing that really didn't work for me were the romances. The book wants you to believe that these couples are basically soulmates that would die for each other but doesn't show why they even like each other. (The sex scenes were also very cringy. The mention of 'love juices' made me want to die).
The world building is okay and has some cool concepts like the stone magic but failed to convince me in the details. Maybe the author is planning to explore this more in the future books but I didn't really understand how the magic system works, what powers the different stones grant and where they come from.
I'll start with my favourite part of the book - the plot. It was engaging throughout, well thought out and not too predictable. The concept - a small village with a tyrannical leader who is starting to turn the residents against him - is one that I find very interesting. The story that emerges largely follows villagers Avalan and Lusha on their adventures trying to free their village and chief Bassalt who is trying to hold on to power.
Unfortunately I couldn't really get myself too invested in the plot, mostly because I didn't connect with any of our main characters. Especially Avalan was really getting on my nerves and made it hard for my to care if he lived or died. At no point did he show the leadership qualities that he supposedly possesses. Bassalt was probably the most complex character but his story largely took place away from the other characters which made him a bit isolated.
Another thing that really didn't work for me were the romances. The book wants you to believe that these couples are basically soulmates that would die for each other but doesn't show why they even like each other. (The sex scenes were also very cringy. The mention of 'love juices' made me want to die).
The world building is okay and has some cool concepts like the stone magic but failed to convince me in the details. Maybe the author is planning to explore this more in the future books but I didn't really understand how the magic system works, what powers the different stones grant and where they come from.
December 15, 2021
First of all, how awesome is the cover! Looking at the artwork, you can almost feel the sea spray and the harsh wind--and the fact that the character's knife seems to be made out of a goat's leg makes it all the more intriguing.
The Heart of the Bloodstone introduces the reader to a world of some interesting traditions. In Hydrus, the first day of summer is commemorated by an event called the Goat Game, where the boys of the tribe fight to draw first blood with only a goat's skull as a weapon. That's only one aspect of the worldbuilding that the author has put into this story.
However, a main drawback of this book was that a lot of the characters' behaviors and motivations are shaped by events that happened in the past. I felt that these past events weren't explored in much detail and so had less of an impact on me as a reader. Before reading this book, I read the prequel story The Goat Game which helped to give some more backstory to the characters and the world, but even still, that emotional connection to the characters was lacking.
For example, two of the main characters, Avalan and Lusha, have been profoundly affected by their relationships to another character (and certain events that happen before this story begins). This is explored more in the prequel story, but since these past events don't occur in the actual book, and aren't really described that much at the beginning, I didn't feel those same profound emotions as Avalan and Lusha when the 3rd character made an unexpected appearance. All in all, I just wasn't invested enough in any of the characters to truly care about what happened to them.
Like the characters, the plot is also tied into events that happened in the past. A main point of the book is an event called the War of the Stones that happened some time before the story begins, but since that event isn't described in detail, it made the character's motivations, and the plot as a whole, feel shallow.
While The Heart of the Bloodstone introduces an intriguing world and interesting ideas, they just weren't executed as harmoniously as I'd hoped. Overall, the story lacked the most important elements of any fantasy novel--a compelling plot and characters to root for.
*Thank you to author Philinna Wood and booktuber Petrik Leo for providing me with a copy of The Heart of the Bloodstone in exchange for an honest review.*
The Heart of the Bloodstone introduces the reader to a world of some interesting traditions. In Hydrus, the first day of summer is commemorated by an event called the Goat Game, where the boys of the tribe fight to draw first blood with only a goat's skull as a weapon. That's only one aspect of the worldbuilding that the author has put into this story.
However, a main drawback of this book was that a lot of the characters' behaviors and motivations are shaped by events that happened in the past. I felt that these past events weren't explored in much detail and so had less of an impact on me as a reader. Before reading this book, I read the prequel story The Goat Game which helped to give some more backstory to the characters and the world, but even still, that emotional connection to the characters was lacking.
For example, two of the main characters, Avalan and Lusha, have been profoundly affected by their relationships to another character (and certain events that happen before this story begins). This is explored more in the prequel story, but since these past events don't occur in the actual book, and aren't really described that much at the beginning, I didn't feel those same profound emotions as Avalan and Lusha when the 3rd character made an unexpected appearance. All in all, I just wasn't invested enough in any of the characters to truly care about what happened to them.
Like the characters, the plot is also tied into events that happened in the past. A main point of the book is an event called the War of the Stones that happened some time before the story begins, but since that event isn't described in detail, it made the character's motivations, and the plot as a whole, feel shallow.
While The Heart of the Bloodstone introduces an intriguing world and interesting ideas, they just weren't executed as harmoniously as I'd hoped. Overall, the story lacked the most important elements of any fantasy novel--a compelling plot and characters to root for.
*Thank you to author Philinna Wood and booktuber Petrik Leo for providing me with a copy of The Heart of the Bloodstone in exchange for an honest review.*
January 17, 2022
I recieved an E-ARC from the author through the booktuber Petrik Leo's channel, for an honest review.
This was a good start to a new series and the author had some amazing ideas that went into this story. The world, magic system and characters were all interesting. There were some times when I thought the pacing was a little slow and I feel this is because the writing is very descriptive.
The romance and some if the characterisation didn't really work for me however these may be done more so and better in coming books.
All in all this is a good fantasy and debut of the author so I am looking forward to what comes next.
This was a good start to a new series and the author had some amazing ideas that went into this story. The world, magic system and characters were all interesting. There were some times when I thought the pacing was a little slow and I feel this is because the writing is very descriptive.
The romance and some if the characterisation didn't really work for me however these may be done more so and better in coming books.
All in all this is a good fantasy and debut of the author so I am looking forward to what comes next.
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