Blood Triad, by Raven Belasco
10 Sept 2024The Book
Synopsis:
BLOOD TRIAD is a collection of three novellas from the Blood & Ancient Scrolls series by Raven Belasco, giving a more intimate view into the lives of some of the am’r (the vampires’ name for themselves) that readers have met along the way. Standalone novellas, each story can be enjoyed without having previously read any of the series.
TEETH ARE BONES is set after the events of Blood Ad Infinitum. Librarian Anushka “Noosh” Rossetti finds herself on a yacht with Zoraida, a mysterious am’r she admires but barely knows. To pass the time, Zoraida confides the story of her life first as a human and then an am’r, through the bloody events of the Haitian Revolution through the U.S. Occupation of Haiti, profound love and devastating loss made only more intense by the passion of a vampire’s heart.
In BLOOD BROTHERS, Noosh finally gets Wulfhram and Dubhghall to confide in her the tale of their centuries-long-partnership. Meeting in opposing sides of a battle in the A.D. 900s, the two men take an unlikely path to both the am’r life and to a lasting love, fighting together as mercenaries across Europe and the Middle East in the last century of the first millennium before nearly losing each other in their calamitous transformation into am’r.
ABYSSINIA is a story from the life of Astryiah, a powerful and important am’r. Set in 1930’s Philadelphia, Palmina is working at the Nabisco factory…and helping women who are “in a fix.” Palmina is feeling run down by all the pressures in her life…until a striking, mysterious woman shows up to change her life in astonishing, sensual, and dangerous ways. Palmina is confronted by the seductive power of the am’r world. Will she choose to join the am’r for strength, autonomy, and eternal life…or will she choose to stay in the human world, helping those in need?
My Review
Blood Triad is a collection of three short novellas set in the shared universe of the Blood and Ancient Scrolls Series, written by Raven Belasco. A great introduction to her world, that allows us to know more about the background of the characters through stories that put an incredible attention to the setting, and that are put together in a really smooth way, using the resource of the story into the bigger story.
Three novellas that share the intensity and the well-researched historical setting; sometimes going into how the characters became am'r (vampires in this universe), but also putting a big emphasis on the personal relationships.
Not especially long pieces, well paced, and that also proves Belasco's talent to write well depicted action scenes; you might feel a bit confused with some terms, but my recommendation is to use the glossary that is part of the book (however, some discovery might be good to the experience).
A sweet and intense collection that can be read as an introduction to Raven Belasco's universe; definitely I have curiosity to know more about the am'r, so it won't be my last foray into her books.
The Author/s
Raven Belasco
Raven Belasco has been fascinated by vampires since she was 12 years old. You probably shouldn’t let 12-year-olds read Stoker’s Dracula, but Raven grew up in a house where, if she could get the book off the shelf, she could read it. Anyway, the bloody seeds were planted both for her to become a fan of the paranormal, and a verbose writer. 😉
Raven also grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, with her backyard mostly comprised of a cemetery filled with graves ranging from the late 1600s through 1800s. If spending your childhood playing on old graves doesn’t prepare you for a career writing about the (un)dead, then probably nothing will.
Continuing in this vein (puns are not optional; sorry—not sorry!) Raven danced and performed for a number of years at the (in)famous ManRay nightclub in Cambridge. In college, she discovered that the nickname bestowed upon her on campus was Queen of the Children of the Night. She was not dismayed by this fact.
For someone who spends so much of her time thinking about blood and violent deaths, Raven actually likes a lot of very life-affirming things: long walks with her dog in the woods, cooking and baking, and yoga. Just to keep things spooky, she still loves heading out to the local goth night at the club for dancing to songs about vampires and other things that go bumpa-bumpa-bumpa in the night.
Raven writes not just for her own pleasure, but to make books that give any-and-everybody an enjoyable escape, and to delight fellow geeks with weird historical details and multi-level puns. She wants to pay forward the joy that books have brought her through tough times or otherwise boring waiting-rooms. Please enjoy her words—and feel free to write in and let her know, or ask questions. Fans are the bestest!