Breakaway Books

Authored by Tiffany Jackson; Published 2022; Horror

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️

I’m not sure I’ve ever enjoyed a horror novel as much as I enjoyed The Weight of Blood. I listened to this one as an audiobook, and I cannot recommend that format highly enough. It was perfect for the way this story was told, through podcasts, interview, and third person narration.

The Weight of Blood follows Maddie Washington, a mixed girl who has been passing as white, as her heritage is discovered, and she is bullied by students at her southern high school. It is highly reminiscent of Carrie, an homage of sorts, with added strong themes of racism. The tension in this novel was delicious, building with every chapter.

I wouldn’t say the substance of the novel is enjoyable to contemplate—teenage bullying, racism, and high school politics—but the author treated these subjects with subtlety and realism. We watch the teenagers really struggle with defining right and wrong and how to make change in their small town the right way. And of course, there is plenty of teen drama to delight in (if that is something that you delight in!).

The supernatural elements to this novel are almost superfluous, until the ending, when, again mirroring Carrie, they play a far more significant role. I was nearly satisfied with the purely human drama, but of course, the powers that Maddie discovers add the air of mystery and bring it to the very Stephen King type ending. But, unquestionably, it should be the horror aspects and not the sci-fi ones that draw you to this novel.

Listen to The Weight of Blood, and you’ll fly through it.