Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye is a new YA fantasy novel that draws from Yoruba mythology.  It will be published on March 8 by HarperTeen. The debut novel is the first of a duology centered on a descendant of the Orisha named Sloane.

Full of magic, military elements, and timely social commentary, Blood Scion evokes fan favorites such as Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone, Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes, and Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone. The book explores “themes of relationship skills, self-management, and social awareness.”

Falaye, a Nigerian Canadian, grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, “where she spent her time devouring African literature, pestering her grandma for folktales, and tricking her grandfather into watching Passions every night.” She currently lives in Toronto.       

Read the publisher’s description and see below for pre-order options:

This is what they deserve. They wanted me to be a monster. I will be the worst monster they ever created. Fifteen-year-old Sloane can incinerate an enemy at will—she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods. Under the Lucis’ brutal rule, her identity means her death if her powers are discovered. But when she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army on her fifteenth birthday, Sloane sees a new opportunity: to overcome the bloody challenges of Lucis training, and destroy them from within. Following one girl’s journey of magic, injustice, power, and revenge, Deborah Falaye’s debut novel, inspired by Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, is a magnetic combination of Children of Blood and Bone and An Ember in the Ashes.

Pre-order Blood Scion: Amazon | Bookshop.org