Blood Rain

First, let me say I am not a reader of the science fiction/fantasy genre. I picked up Blood Rain by Nancy Gray somewhat reluctantly and was not expecting much at all out of it. I have never been so surprised by a novel in my life. Honestly, this novel is truly something special!

Mind of Mercy is the daughter of her chieftain who has, as of yet, not acknowledged her as per the custom of her tribe. She is training to be a healer, a shaman, of her people, and he loves her but she must prove herself first. Unfortunately, there is a devastating raid on her village that sets her on that path much earlier than expected. She must learn to trust those other creatures she has been raised to hate if she hopes to complete her quest and save not only her people but creatures everywhere.

From the first sentence, Gray pulls you in and makes you want to know what happened to put her ingenue in such a precarious position. Her characters are created so fully, so carefully, that the reader cannot help but truly care about what happens to them. We want to know their backstories and we want understand why we cannot make ourselves accept them as good or evil but only as complex and flawed beings.

Gray has developed settings that come to life in your imagination. From Mind of Mercy’s forest village to the caves of the Blood Wings and everywhere else the characters travel, the reader is immersed in vivid images. The descriptions are lush and detailed and are as important in engrossing the reader in the story as the characters themselves are. Each new location unfolds more impressively than the last.

Though not usually my choice of genre, as I said, I truly cannot wait to read the next books in this series. Thank you, Nancy Gray, for a most enjoyable read!

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