Three months ago, I was honored to be invited on as a contributor to a blog called Burning Youth. This blog is not just a website on the Internet—it is a community of young women who see things many people don’t see. They see possibility and purpose, light and darkness, color and shadow in what others may call mundane routines and everyday relationships. Kate Emmons and her sister Abbie are the cofounders of this online haven, and having them invite me to join them was an overwhelming privilege. Therefore, when Abbie emailed me about writing a blog post about Kate’s debut novel The Blood Race, I jumped on the chance, both to help a fellow young creative and to read a good book.
What I read was far beyond a good book.
It was the best book I’ve ever read.
The Blood Race is the story of two lives intertwining—one who has known her destiny for a century, and another who is just figuring out his own. Hawk and Ion are from different dimensions and are vastly different from each other—but they are both searching for the answers to their deepest questions of identity, purpose, and capability. In this first book of the series, they begin to see the light of those questions being answered. But not before betrayal, heartbreak, and confusion sweep in and threaten to destroy every normality either of them have ever known.
Kate Emmons is a master young author. As an editor-in-training, I often catch myself searching for errors, plot holes, or inconsistencies. The Blood Race is nearly flawless. I loved it from start to finish—it kept me on the edge of my literary seat, and when I read it, I felt that I was no longer living in Mississippi, but in Los Angeles, or in the Dimension, wherever Ion and Hawk took me. I was a silent but participating member of this book, and I didn’t want it to end. But the novel’s technical excellence and literary powers were not the factors that most stood out to me.
What most drew me into The Blood Race was Kate’s understanding. She gets it. She gets that life is not what it seems, that every human being has the capability to be extraordinarily powerful if he believed in the true reality, and that we are the protectors of light. I resonated with every word of wisdom in this book and will be going back through it to write down all the amazing maxims throughout this book, because I know they are truth and apply not only to life in the Dimension, but life here on earth. I am so excited to introduce to you . . .
The Blood Race.