Over the course of this book, Voya struggles with her indecisiveness and has to face the ways in which her sense of self has been defined by her family. If this isn’t hard enough, Voya has never been in love, so now she must find someone and fall in love with them within a month… all so she can kill them. Then Voya is given the hardest Task in witch memory: to kill the love of her life, or her entire bloodline will lose their magic. For Voya’s family, their gifts are used to keep the family together in their ancestral home, and the pressure to receive a good and profitable gift weighs on Voya, whose reputation for being indecisive already has her worried about completing her Task.

When a witch hits puberty they are given a Task by one of their ancestors and the completion of this Task will determine the strength of their magic, as well as the strength of the special power, or gift, they are given by their ancestors. This book deals with themes of growing up, defining yourself, and finding the balance between doing what’s best for you and what’s best for your family while also discussing the experience of Black communities in Toronto and Canada. Content warning: blood and gore, murder, racism, transphobia, police brutalityīlood Like Magic is a YA low fantasy novel set in a near-future Toronto, which follows Voya, a chronically indecisive Black witch, as she comes into her magic and struggles to define herself within a large and respected witch family.

Blood like magic book