Reviewed by Ian Lipke
One should be warned by the title and general appearance of the title On Wings of Blood that this book is not for the fainthearted. Until now I have steered clear of the blood-and-guts variety of fantasy novel. More accurately, I have avoided the fantasy genre almost entirely.
On Wings of Blood is a dark academia fantasy romance set in an intricately crafted world meant to represent a type of university campus. Its purpose is more the campus of a terrorist organization, while its structure’s similarity to a western style campus is more coincidental than planned. The crafted world features a bully villain with the energy expected of a ‘main character’. He embodies all the tension and banter, and a tantalizingly dangerous blend of court and school intrigue a reader might expect to find in an intricately crafted world with unique vampire and dragon lore. If you’re a fan of original mythology, unique world-building, and character-driven romantasy books, you will anticipate a book such as this.
The worlds of Medra Pendragon and Blake Drakharrow are not pleasant places to inhabit. Medra is regarded as blightborn, as something less than a highblood the caste who make all the decisions. Blightborns, by contrast, are described as mere blood in the highblood’s veins. Deadly competitions at which the highbloods excel (since they have all the training, make all the rules, and have a stern monopoly of the judges) are the curse of blightborn existence, but are eagerly anticipated by the upper sect. Medra, like her caste, is threatened constantly with execution. Further, she holds a secret that, if revealed, would require her immediate extermination. She is surrounded by a civilization that is driven by a twisted game of power.
Although Blake Drakharrow does not know it, he would be the delight of twenty-first century psychoanalysts. He is cold and arrogant, and in Medra’s opinion, way too gorgeous for his own good. She knows the male gender far better than the males know hers. He has been tormenting her since the moment they first met and secretly welcomes the fact that they have become betrothed. By contrast Medra is angry at the presumptuousness of his society’s leaders.
The narrative drives the dynamic of the story. To find a resurrected dragon, complete with functioning voice-box, was a surprise. I suppose some sort of action had to be instituted to relieve the hundreds of pages of ‘talk’. Since Medra has been labelled the last of the dragon riders throughout the story we should have expected some such trick.
It would be inappropriate to describe many of the characters as minor. At the various times that they inhabit the story they play a major role if only for a short time. A good example is Kage Tanaka the leader of Avari House, who upsets Blake when he partners Medra to the ball. Another very important minor character is Florence, another the unfortunate Naveen. All of these, and many others, played a minor role of varying lengths. Finally, requiring special mention, is the school principal, Headmaster Kim. Grossly overweight and living perpetually stressed, he can find no ways of coping with the demands of his job.
“Bloodwing Academy isn’t just a school – it’s a battlefield.” Populated in the main by beasts, whose goals are driven through self-interest, the minority who care for others, face a dim future.
On Wings of Blood
(2025)
by Briar Boleyn
HQ Stories (Harper Collins)
ISBN:978-0-00-879207-7
$34.99; 590pp