Joniece Abbott-Pratt and Zeno Robinson capture the voices of Cristina and Clement Trudeau, Black teenage twins who are growing up in a New Orleans family that practices magic. A year after their father's death, their mother is sick, and they fear she'll succumb to her mysterious illness. Then they discover she's actually cursed--and they're targets, too. As Cris and Clem set out to identify who is after their family, they discover connections to their grandmother's lynching 30 years earlier. Robinson and Abbott-Pratt alternate the first-person chapters with skill, pulling out every emotion in the story's closely held secrets, romance, and magic. Bahni Turpin and Torian Brackett narrate third-person perspectives that give insights into additional characters, including determined antagonists and a terrifying god. E.E.C. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

★ 02/27/2023

Walker’s scintillating debut follows the Trudeau twins, members of a once-powerful magical New Orleans family. Thirty years after Cristine Dupart, the queen of the city’s Generational Magic Council, was lynched for allegedly murdering the white mayor’s daughter, her descendants live in enmity. Clement Trudeau, a young Black man with chronic anxiety, is a devoted practitioner of generational magic, while his gifted twin sister Cris swore to never use magic again following their father’s tragic death. But when the siblings learn that their mother is dying of multiple organ failure, they perform a good luck spell in hopes of healing her, only to discover that their mother’s mysterious illness isn’t incidental: it’s a curse, and she isn’t the only target. Together, the pair must uncover the truth of Cristine’s tragic history to ensure the surviving Trudeaus don’t share her terrible fate. Steeped in spiritual lore that takes cues from the rich cultural history of the Black diaspora, Walker paints an evocative picture of an enchanted New Orleans as earthly as it is divine. Walker effectively parallels contemporary politics with heady alternate magical history to create a layered world that is more than the sum of its mercurial characters and its many moving parts. Ages 13–up. (Apr.)

Riveting and relevant.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"Steeped in spiritual lore that takes cues from the rich cultural history of the Black diaspora, Walker paints an evocative picture of an enchanted New Orleans as earthly as it is divine." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Benton-Walker creates a fantastical thriller and deftly weaves in historical and current-day social issues, including racism, cultural appropriation, sex work, mental health, and homophobia. A complex and intriguing fantasy that is sure to be popular with teens.”—School Library Journal

"Blood Debts takes on issues of racism, intergenerational trauma, assault, and homophobia through the fantastical lens of magical families in conflict, but it also finds joy in the power of reclaiming lost knowledge and rebuilding community." —NPR

"Blood Debts is flooded with Southern culture and a magical system inspired by Afro and Afro-Latinx rituals and practices." —Shelf Awareness

“Fully charged with magic and mystery. Blood Debts is an extravaganza from start to finish, weaving age-old family history alongside the tender feelings of new love. Terry J. Benton-Walker will have you breathless by the end.” —Chloe Gong, New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights

"Riveting. Unflinching. Powerful. Truly, a masterful debut." —Ayana Gray, New York Times bestselling author of Beasts of Prey

"Blood Debts is a force and Terry J. Benton-Walker is truly an author to watch." —Roseanne A. Brown, New York Times bestselling author of A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

"Benton-Walker has crafted a narrative that moves as swiftly and, at times, as devastatingly as a forest fire. Blood Debts sings with hope and barely disguised rage. Fantastic from start to finish." —TJ Klune, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Cerulean Sea

"Blood Debts is a beguiling family saga, steeped in magic that’s every bit as dark as it is moving." —Alexis Henderson, author of The Year of the Witching and House of Hunger

"A stunningly complicated, delicious family drama that readers are going to devour. Clem and Cristina are beautifully nuanced, real characters, and the world they’re in crackles with mystery and ferocity. The real magic is this book—don’t let it slip through your fingers." —Mark Oshiro, author of Anger is a Gift

"The intricately woven threads of magic, intergenerational trauma, and well-placed social commentary make it impossible to ignore or deny one very simple truth: even those perceived as the-least-of-these are deserving of true justice." —Nic Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin

"Sharp and searing, Blood Debts is an unforgettable thrill ride bristling with intrigue, magic, and justice. Impossible to put down." —J. Elle, New York Times bestselling author of Wings of Ebony

04/01/2023

Gr 9 Up—Benton-Walker's fantasy debut offers up political intrigue and drama set against the backdrop of a New Orleans steeped in magic. Clem and Cris Trudeau are 16-year-old twin scions to a Black generational magic family, conjurers who channel power through their ancestors and the moon. They live with the consequences of the brutal lynching that killed their grandparents 30 years ago—and led to another family taking their grandmother's throne. Tragedy continues to befall the Trudeau household: their family has scattered, their father died suddenly, and their mother's health continues to decline mysteriously. But when they discover that their mother isn't sick but cursed, they begin unravelling a plot that could tear their family, and New Orleans's magical and nonmagical populations, apart. Benton-Walker creates a fantastical thriller and deftly weaves in historical and current-day social issues, including racism, cultural appropriation, sex work, mental health, and homophobia. Readers will find Clem and Cris relatable, as both deal with grief and pressure in different ways. Secondary characters are mostly well-fleshed out, though some point-of-view characters, especially those we only see briefly, feel extraneous. VERDICT A complex and intriguing fantasy that is sure to be popular with teens.—Ness Shortley

Joniece Abbott-Pratt and Zeno Robinson capture the voices of Cristina and Clement Trudeau, Black teenage twins who are growing up in a New Orleans family that practices magic. A year after their father's death, their mother is sick, and they fear she'll succumb to her mysterious illness. Then they discover she's actually cursed--and they're targets, too. As Cris and Clem set out to identify who is after their family, they discover connections to their grandmother's lynching 30 years earlier. Robinson and Abbott-Pratt alternate the first-person chapters with skill, pulling out every emotion in the story's closely held secrets, romance, and magic. Bahni Turpin and Torian Brackett narrate third-person perspectives that give insights into additional characters, including determined antagonists and a terrifying god. E.E.C. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

★ 2023-01-12
Twins with a lineage of magic and a family history stained by violent betrayal pursue blood and justice in this bewitching contemporary fantasy.

Secrets and grief have torn Cris and Clem Dupart’s family into pieces. All the people Clem loves die or abandon him. The doctor says his mother has weeks to live. His aunt left their family’s estate and won’t explain why. Ever since their father’s fatal heart attack 11 months ago, his twin sister has shut him out. But no matter how much she misses her brother, Cris can’t bear to tell him the truth about why she’s given up practicing generational magic. When Clem and Cris find a hex doll beneath their mother’s bed, they realize their survival depends on reuniting their estranged relatives. Someone wants to destroy their family, perhaps the same someone who blamed their grandmother for murdering the mayor’s daughter 30 years ago. Set in New Orleans during an election year, realistic, magically charged political intrigue surrounds this high-suspense mystery about a justice-seeking family of Black gen—conjurers who channel power from ancestors and the moon. Writing from multiple perspectives with trauma-informed care, Benton-Walker develops each character with emotional complexity, including those with insidious intentions. Social themes, including cultural appropriation of sacred practices, racism, mental illness, sex work, sexuality, and consent, adeptly intertwine with the story’s conflict. This page-turning debut demands a sequel.

Riveting and relevant. (author’s note, magic chart, family trees) (Fantasy. 14-18)