Twelve years after being bargained to the Base, the Blood Oath is born to protect a family who are the cause of his death only hours later.
After escaping the Dead Side and being thrown out to face the horrors of the world, Vex is given a second chance at life by stealing it from the Soul and demon who killed him.
But when forced alliances test Vex's forbidden feelings for another boy, and sends murderous Missions after his family, Vex must make choices that put him against the whole Base.
Can stolen memories become more than deadly mistakes?
Are delusions of happiness stronger than the trauma?
Is a mutilating exile really worth it for a friend?
Is a Blood Oath worth breaking?
Twelve years after being bargained to the Base, the Blood Oath is born to protect a family who are the cause of his death only hours later.
After escaping the Dead Side and being thrown out to face the horrors of the world, Vex is given a second chance at life by stealing it from the Soul and demon who killed him.
But when forced alliances test Vex's forbidden feelings for another boy, and sends murderous Missions after his family, Vex must make choices that put him against the whole Base.
Can stolen memories become more than deadly mistakes?
Are delusions of happiness stronger than the trauma?
Is a mutilating exile really worth it for a friend?
Is a Blood Oath worth breaking?
After twelve years, I was born into a world that wasnât ready for me.
My first breaths were laced with the blood of the people who had sacrificed their lives for mine, my naked body stained with the burning scent of my home as it was destroyed around me.
I had barely been alive for an hour and already I wanted to be taken out of existence.Â
I didnât want to hear their screams in my mind anymore or feel the bloody hands gripping my shoulders as I was shaken back to reality.Â
The jumbled emotions within me were tumbling out in sobbing screams as the soulless eyes of the Second tried to snap me from their grip. The blood of those he had slaughtered dripped over my body and from his mouth that was urging me to focus on my surroundings; the torn insides of a beaten car we were trying to flee our deaths in.
Was this the way it was going to be?Â
Was I born for nothing more than to become a monster just like him?
I was having my eyes opened to the cruelty of the world for the first time and experiencing the pain of it crashing down on me all at once.
The dreams I had been fed could never have prepared me for this. Eventually I would have had to wake to the truth before me.
I was nothing more than a Blood Oath; created to benefit the lives of others instead of my own.Â
My father had begged for his death, so he would never have to face the consequences of the lives he had torn apart.Â
He had never wanted a son, only a sacrifice.
I looked up at the pleading eyes of the Second before me then to the rainbow ones of my brother who watched me from the rear-view mirror between them.Â
How come they had risked their lives for mine when my family had given up on me? Why were they driving me away from danger when they could be protecting what mattered to them most?
Tears blinded my sight and stung my cheeks as they rolled down them, dropping onto the torn seats below me.
âT-tha-nk y-ouâ I choked out, feeling my mouth struggle to form the words I had only seen in memories.
I saw Talow smile back at me and relax his stiffened posture. The Second glanced at him before climbing into the back seat beside me so that he could caress my face in his hands and wipe the tears away with his thumbs.Â
âItâs toughâ he spoke, sending a wave of sadness shaking through my body âbut you need to be strong. Emotions make a person weak.â
Emotions⌠made a person weak?
I nodded and wiped my eyes of the tears and blood quickly. My hands found my smeared cheek to wipe that too before I froze up.
Hands. I already had both of them on my eyes. Where had these ones come from?
I peered through my fingers to glance downwards at the hand that responded when I shook mine. I held them out and counted each blood-smeared limb flexing its fingers.
One, two, three, fourâŚ
One, twoâŚthree...
Four?!
FOUR?!
 âN-noâ I whimpered, checking the Secondâs limbs.
Apart from a few missing fingers, he only had two. My brother was the same.
Two. Two. Four.
âRelaxâ the Second soothed and held the two extra hands in his own to keep me anchored on the spot âyouâre special.â
I saw him tilt his head to my legs and I followed his gesture to find that they both had a gaping hole in both that ran from under each kneecap to my ankles. It was as if they tried to split during development but gave up.
This wasnât right. None of the others in my dreams had such odd appearances, let alone my real parents.Â
I could wrap my hands around each bowed bone in my legs. I could fit my hands through the hole as well. Neither my brother or the Second had the gap in their legs.Â
âStop jumping aboutâ the Second grunted as he took his hands from mine to shield his eyes âyou are still naked, you know.â
Naked.Â
I pulled my focus to my arms and legs and ran my hands over the smooth skin, feeling each goose-bump of my cold skin ripple under my fingertips. My face was completely smooth as well, my ears ending in tiny points at the sides of my head that was covered in coarse hair.
No, this definitely wasnât right. I looked nothing like my parents or even my brother before me. How was this even possible? What did I have that was the same as them?
I stared at my brotherâs eyes glancing at me from the mirror and felt my heart skip.
My eyes!
Maybe I had his rainbow ones?
He saw what I was trying to achieve and tried to direct it away from me before I pulled it back towards myself while grasping his hand with my other to prevent further interference.
What I saw staring back at me made my blood run cold.
The rainbow eyes I had been hoping for were there but the pupil that ran through the middle had been split and bent down the middle to bow outwards.Â
How on earth could I see with eyes so disgusting?Â
It looked like they were trying to split into others but failed as well.
I was a living nightmare; a failure.Â
âIâm a m-mon-sterâ I mumbled and retreated to the seats, covering myself with my arms while drawing my legs up in an attempt to hide them from sight.
There was silence as I listened to the car engine roaring outside and the whistling of the wind trying to squeeze through a crack in the window.Â
Anything to take my mind off the ugly truth that was me.
âAll the best people areâ I heard Talow speak.
I peered over my arms to find him smiling at me through the mirror.Â
âThe Base isnât ruled by beauty. Itâs filled with monsters and nightmares that the world doesnât want to face. It has creatures that make you wish you were dead, and people who can make it come true. It is where you can hide from the hate or stand up and embrace it.â
I looked over to the Second to find him smiling at Talow as he licked the blood from his fingers. Talow shook his head at him as he gently slowed the car to a stop and then turned to face me for the first time.
âAll the best people are monstersâ he spoke as he removed his shirt to hand it to me, his hand opening the door for me âyou just need to see that not all monsters are bad.â
In my original read through of this novel, I did no research in an attempt to keep my review unbiased (like I do with any of my reviews), and had zero indication of this being a second installment in a series. However, I've now come to find out it is book two in a series, and have since read book one (which I've also reviewed through Reedsy).
I found this novel to be messy and just an absolute information overload when I read it, especially the prologue chapter. However, I now understand that is because the prologue is acting as a recap of book one, in which case it isn't an overload of information. It's the exact recap episode you need to broadly cover the information from book one. And the seemingly overwhelming number of characters feels less overwhelming when you've thoroughly met them before. Now, they seem like old friends.
The gore, blood, and fighting creates an incredible dystopian world, and that the character are horrific creatures with an untold number of creative abilities between them, all of which is what kept me hooked on the first place. It's dirty and awful, and makes me wonder how the world got to be so nasty. However, the existence of light and happiness in such a cruel, dark world is a nice touch. It's sweet and gives a glimmer of hope to watch Vex and his family find even just pieces of happiness in the midst of so much bloodshed. It gives the idea that maybe there can be a better existence.
And like in the first book, we get the overarching search for companionship and belonging, and how fragile that is in the world of Transamagei. The Base continues to use these creatures, especially Vex, to gain what they want at any cost, and they continue to foster the idea of one for all. At any given moment, the people you thought were your friends and family are more than willing to betray and degrade if it means they survive. Vex can't even comfortably fall in love or navigate the feelings and questions he has about those feelings. He can't just be. It's an exhausting and cruel world.
Now that I have the whole picture, I have to say I enjoyed this novel (and the first one). It's gross and horrible, but paints a great picture of hope and despair.