The Blood Plagues: Blood Demands Blood: Book I

Name: The Blood Plagues: Blood Demands Blood: Book I
Price: 5.39 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.6 (48 reviews)
Author: Anavrin Jay

by Anavrin Jay

4.6

Published Apr 18, 2026

About this book

Dying women care not for the rulebooks of men, living women less still. Ashara and Demetri dare only the briefest of touches, each kiss stolen under the cover of dusk. Tired of crumbs, they make a vow to indulge in the sin they both crave the night before their offering; one final act as living flesh before they are sacrificed to the Blood God. But that was before. Before the acolytes. Before the inquisition. Before the penance. Estranged for eight years, they reunite within Dendra’s Grand Templum mere hours before they are destined to die. When a druid is found slain inside its sacred walls, the sanctity of the Last Rite twists into a vicious hunt for answers only a brutal awakening can provide. The druids will learn how a woman’s rage can rival the wrath of a god.

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What readers are saying

Rebekah

Amazing read

"What a whirlwind. The Blood Plagues was a twisted and wild read. The whole story felt wrong in the best way possible. It left me feeling uneasy everytime I tried to put it down. The entire book I was suspended hoping for well freedom i suppose. The tourture was rather creatively morbid and grotesque in this book. The Religious trauma aspect of this book was amazingly well written. From all of the secrets that are revealed to all of the horrific things they did in the name of the Blood God. The feminine rage in this book was quite literally earth shattering. The entire read I had a never ending sense of impending doom and dread. The entire ending I was so angery and felt just as crazed as Ashara probably was. I am left with many questions, and many hopes. ["

April 20, 2026 Verified Purchase

Spotts007

Unique and enthralling

"The prologue of this book is a nightmare fever dream, and the perfect introduction to this world. I genuinely loved this book, I found the story to be a wholly unique and well crafted tale. It's a horror story, a love story (platonic and familial as well), a tale of control and wrath and ruin and hope, I laughed out loud, I cried, I gasped, I cringed, I raged. 100% would recommend ["

April 26, 2026 Verified Purchase

Alyssa

Gritty, Dark and Deeply Gutting Read

"”But dying women care not for the rulebooks of men.” If you know me at all you know that I do not start a series before every book in the series is published. This is not only due to the fact that I have swiss cheese for brain and thus forget everything, but because I hate waiting. I can’t stand it. Cliffhangers? NONE FOR ME, THANKS! But woe is me. Anavrin Jay pulled me in like a spider to the fly with her amazing aesthetics and snippets. She wove her web of quotes and character art. She got me, folks, and I am so happy to be devoured by The Blood Plagues. Quite frankly, I don’t even know how to write this review. I am still reeling from finishing the book last night and it has been a very long time since a book took over so much of my brain. There is so much to learn about this world and the magic (?) but it is a very character-driven story at its core. Ashara is a perfect dichotomy of warm kindness and bloodthirsty feminine rage. I love her. She is every woman spitting in the face of the patriarchy. I loved her missteps and her blind loyalties because they made her human. I loved her wrath because it made her a goddess refusing to bend to worship a false god. I don’t know that I want to even get into the two MMCs because they have both rooted themselves so deeply into my soul that it hurts. Let’s just say that they both have silver tongues in…different ways. Demetri knows just what to say to get (me) Ashara squirming in the best way. His use of “darling girl” has me kicking my legs in delight. I know he has his secrets and I really cannot wait until we get to unravel them. What are you hiding, Demetri? I am, however, a Lycandor girlie through and through. He’s complicated…brutal, and morally grey but also somehow soft and thoughtful. He licks her wounds, (iykyk) but helps Ashara find her strength. While Demetri is part of what feels like “home” and does his best to protect her (“don’t look, don’t look”) Lycandor makes her handle things head on and pushes her to her higher power (“Look. We must look.”) Honestly everyone feels like an unreliable narrator and I don’t know who or what to trust. There were many MANY things left unanswered here and I can fully say that the rest of the series is on my most anticipated shelf with books by my absolute favorite authors. This book totally knocked me out. I don’t think I have ever highlighted so many parts of any novel ever. Honestly it felt like one of the fantasy novels that first got me into reading decades ago. Deep, gritty writing that is both lyrical and absolutely gutting at times. I do want to say that things are not resolved here, friends, this book reads like a really delicious prologue in the very best way. Do not come here looking for answers because the ending is going to make you stare at a blank wall for hours and wonder. I am genuinely going through the stages of grief today after finishing the book last night and am about to enter bargaining…please Anavrin, say it ain’t so. If you like Rachel Gillig, Juliet Marillier, divine feminine rage, corrupt theocracy, medieval settings, and a microtrope of “he heals her” then you are going to want to read this one. ”Watch as the world soon tires of meat if butchers could taste the fear of the lambs.” ["

April 24, 2026