BookBrowse Reviews The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le

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A Vietnamese-inspired steampunk thriller, this first book in a YA duology immerses the reader in an exciting, complex world combining ancient magic with modern science.

The city-state of Theumas is a gleaming metropolis of advanced technology and innovation where the use of automatons is commonplace and modern medicine is seemingly developing at a rapid rate. However, alongside the opulent wealth and industrialists exists another Theumas of impoverished boroughs, black market trading, and violent crime. In this indigent part of the city, 18-year-old Nhika scrapes a living under the radar as a homeopathic healer, called upon in secret when even Theumas' highly advanced medicine fails to cure the ill and dying.

But Nhika's on-the-surface talent for homeopathic remedies is a disguise for her true ability. For she is what is known in Theumas as a bloodcarver: a magical being who can alter human biology with just a touch, for good or bad; someone who can heal the sick or wound fatally if they so wish. Bloodcarvers are not native to Theumas. They are people from the island of Yarong, which was conquered and colonized by Theumas' warring neighbor Daltanny, and they were rounded up, experimented on, and ultimately believed to have disappeared completely. They are creatures of legend, feared as blood-hungry vampiric monsters, but belief in them endures in Theumas, where, the author tells us, "people worshipped the scientific method over the gods of old and ignorance followed faithfully in the shadow of achievement." She continues, "They claimed that innovation conquered all, but Nhika knew best that fear and superstition were immortal." The daughter of Yarongese refugees, Nhika has inherited her abilities as a bloodcarver from her mother and grandmother, and believes herself to be the last of her kind. When she is discovered, betrayed, and captured by a gang known as the Butchers, she is sold to the highest bidder with far-reaching and devastating consequences.

The worldbuilding of The Last Bloodcarver is vivid and potent, with picturesque, evocative descriptions contrasting the wealthy milieu of Theumas' elite with the gritty, often gruesome world of its underclass. Adding depth and resonance is the portrayal of racial differences and prejudices established within this secondary world, with Nhika described as having "golden-brown skin, dark irises, and hair the color of coffee rather than ink," which sets her apart from the pale-skinned, black-haired people of Theumas, and often causes her to be regarded with suspicion and hostility. Nhika is a sympathetic and engaging heroine, tough and resourceful owing to her circumstances, and also intensely lonely and vulnerable, believing that there is no one else like her left alive, and carrying with her the grief and guilt of being unable to cure her dying mother despite her magical abilities.

The supporting characters are also well-drawn, nuanced, at times mysterious, and convincingly unpredictable as we see them through Nhika's eyes. The detailed anatomical descriptions of Nhika's blood magic surging through human bodies are lucid and eloquent, combining beautiful phrasing with intricate medical and biological knowledge, lending the magic a sense of heightened realism. It is emphasized that in Yarongese culture bloodcarvers "call themselves heartsooths," and that Nhika's grandmother has taught her that the ethos of heartsoothing, like medicine's Hippocratic oath of "First, do no harm," is to help people, not hurt them: "That is the core of heartsoothing. Not to harm. To heal." Heartsooths see their abilities as both magical and scientific, requiring study and practice, just like conventional medical surgery. Magic and medicine intertwine throughout the story to poetic and powerful effect, and this interconnection is key to the mystery at the heart of the plot.

There are scenes of extreme violence that are on occasion quite graphic, particularly towards the beginning during Nhika's capture and incarceration by the Butchers. These scenes do, however, establish in no uncertain terms just how dark and perilous Theumas can be beneath its shiny veneer of modernity and progress, how high the stakes really are, and the nature of the terrible dangers Nhika faces. As the first in a duology, with several unexpected twists and a tantalizing cliffhanger, The Last Bloodcarver is an excellent debut that bodes well for the second book.

This review first ran in the April 3, 2024 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.