Disclosure: Some of the links in this Blazewrath Games review are affiliate links. If you click them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. The decision of whether or not to buy something is completely up to you.
I received an ARC for the Hear Our Voices book tour. Thank you so much to them and the publisher for this opportunity. Let’s dive in!
Summary of Blazewrath Games
Lana Torres has dreamed of playing in the Blazewrath Games since she was a child and to represent her home country of Puerto Rico. When she catches the eye of the International Blazewrath Federation’s president and gets chosen as team Puerto Rico’s runner, she thinks all her dreams are coming true. But when she learns the sinister truth, she must fight against a system and people she’s admired all her life.
Characters
The protagonist Lana Torres is easy to root for. She’s spunky, brave, strong and smart. Her character also brings to light a discourse about what makes someone Latinx. Her teammate Victoria scrutinizes her for not having lived on the island her whole life. While Lana was born in Puerto Rico and lived there as a child, she hasn’t set foot on it since she left. Victoria calls into question if she deserves to represent Team Puerto Rico. She considers Lana an outsider. The book doesn’t delve too deep into the theme, but readers get a taste of a bigger discussion on identity within diaspora.
There are so many characters between the different Blazewrath teams that it’s hard to keep track of sometimes. But each one Ortiz introduces gets a chance to shine in their own way for at least a scene or two. It gives the story and Lana’s development just enough support to show she’s not in it alone. Team Puerto Rico gets the most stage time of course. It feels like Victoria gets the most though, as she represents the inner confrontation about Lana’s identity.
Victoria is a hard character to gravitate toward. It never goes into full detail, but her narrative does tell a story of abuse and survival. So, it’s easy to understand her harsh demeanor. However, the story felt like it lacked an important discussion: victims becoming abusers. While one can see and understand why Victoria would be so quick to judge and distrust, it doesn’t give her the right to verbally and emotionally abuse others the way she does to Lana. And by the end of the book, Victoria and Lana come to an understanding, but it happened too quickly to feel organic or earned.
Throughout the book, there are various characters that are queer and/or PoC. I appreciated the way Ortiz wove them into the tapestry of the story without making it a story about acceptance and tolerance. There were hints that homophobia exists in this world, but the story doesn’t go into detail with that. Instead, Ortiz chose to focus on the support such characters had from friends and family. It felt like an honest way to address the issues without making the characters live out their trauma on the page.
Plot of Blazewrath Games
Ortiz creates a contemporary world in which Regulars (non-magical people) and witches and wizards exist side by side. And of course, dragons. She creates an interesting point in her magic system, in which dragons mostly Bond with Regulars. This makes it possible for people without natural, magical abilities to experience it. But as with all worlds like this, not everyone’s on board. Some, like Lana’s mother and, later, her cousin, consider dragons dangerous creatures that cannot be trusted, even if they do Bond with a rider.
The way Ortiz opens each chapter of the book with an excerpt from a textbook, article or interview in-world helps flesh out the reader’s understanding of dragons and magic. It’s actually a clever way to offer background details without letting them bog down the narrative and action. And there is plenty of action. The details Ortiz provides when Lana’s on the field and when the final showdown happens leaves readers with a rush. It feels very much like they’re running right beside the characters.
Rating
Overall, it’s a fun book with a set of characters you can relate to and get invested in. There are certain themes and characters that feel like they could have gone deeper, but it doesn’t detract from the magical world Ortiz created. I’m looking forward to more from this author and this world.
Grab a copy of Blazewrath Games here!
About the Author
Amparo Ortiz was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and currently lives on the island’s northeastern coast. Her short story comic, “What Remains in The Dark,” appears in the Eisner Award-winning anthology PUERTO RICO STRONG (Lion Forge, 2018), and SAVING CHUPIE, her middle grade graphic novel, comes out with HarperCollins in Winter 2022. She holds an M.A. in English and a B.A. in Psychology from the UPR’s Río Piedras campus. When she’s not teaching ESL to her college students, she’s teaching herself Korean, devouring as much young adult fiction as she can, and writing about Latinx characters in worlds both contemporary and fantastical. Her debut novel, BLAZEWRATH GAMES, hits shelves on October 6, 2020 from Page Street Kids.