The Weight of Blood audiobook

4.5 starsAhhh this was so good! Tiffany D Jackson has done it again. This is probably one of my top faves from her. I love the idea of a retelling of Carrie, because I wasn’t a huge fan of the actual book Carrie, but I love the idea of it! Also, the audiobook is fantastic and I highly recommend listening to it! There is a really cool podcast element, with sound effects and music and multiple narrators, it’s really awesome and so engaging! Also, random side note but I usually don’t like romance in YA books, but I actually found myself really enjoying the romance that was happening in this book 👀 also the ending was so wild and entertaining.

cws. n word usage, racism, bullying, child abusegod, TDJ does it again and again and again. in her latest blockbuster, TDJ explores the darkness that resides in suburbia. the weight of blood is a forceful twist on Carrie, full of the things that make it such a remarkable horror, while leaving Jackson’s creative stamp on every page. LOVED the podcast element, the multi POVS, the surprising revelations and witchery. and character work that was EXQUISITE on top of that? Jackson straight up spoiled us. every page was so suspenseful. some scenes were psychologically scarring, others gruesome and twisted. the horror in The Weight of Blood takes many forms - all of them sinister. go off, Tiffany.

Reread immediately to annotate!There are things I grasped on the second read that flew right over my head on the first.Love this book.TDJ has solidified herself as one of my favorite authors. Reading Vlog: https://youtu.be/fUMwBf0KL9II loved this book so GDDAMN MUCH!TDJ took all the elements of Carrie and perfected them. Then she added some new layers to the pot and did all of those exquisitely as well. I want to mention, I'm white. I can't speak for the representation of the black experience or the experience of racism. I will say, however, that I recognized a lot of phrases, attitudes and beliefs in the white characters from people I grew up with in the south. TDJ nailed southern middle class racism on the head.Even though I knew the way the book would end, I was so excited for it. I was wringing my hands WAITING for it to happen. And pumping my fist in the air during the entire climax.This conversation between a student and teacher was really well phrased."Well, just because I don't want to combine proms doesn't make me a racist.""I didn't say you were a racist. I said the traditions that you're trying to uphold are rooted in racism."

4.5⭐️ That cover though!! When you finally get to the scene that explains the cover???! Jaw-dropping moment!!So we are thrust into the book knowing that something dramatic happened. This was great because the whole book was just me anticipating this great big dramatic moment. I haven’t read the inspiration for the book, Carrie by Stephen King, so I don’t know how similar it is, but I still think this one was exceptionally good. I’m sure it’s not easy to seriously depict racism and its impacts in a very dramatic way while adding some supernatural aspects. Every single character was well-written. Most of them are “just” high school kids but they each illustrate several facets of deep issues. At first, I honestly thought most of this felt really exaggerated but didn’t feel that way for long. Great ending! I highly recommend this one!

This is such a deeply affecting book. Yes, on the surface it appears to be a modern re-imagining of Stephen King's Carrie, but if you look at it only as that you will appreciate the story but miss the deeper examination of racism and privilege.I have long been a fan of Tiffany D. Jackson, and this book totally cemented my adoration of her writing. The general premise of this book: Maddy is biracial, but her domineering father has forced her to cover her true identity and pass as white. One day in school Maddy's hair gets wet and her secret is revealed. The white students make fun of her. The Black students wonder why she was so ashamed that she felt she needed to cover it up. Maddy becomes the target of bullying, and a video starts to peel back the racism of the town and its residents. And then comes prom...So many deep themes here. The "I was just joking" message. One of the Black students pushing back against those unwilling to challenge the racial status quo--even her own Black brother. The actions of everyone trying to preserve a way of life that supports their privilege. I didn't love the podcast episodes scattered throughout, it felt like a cheesy way to do an info dump, but in the end it ended up being worth it overall. I listened to the audiobook and the full cast recording was totally worth it and added to the overall reading experience immensely.Highly recommended. Both for the homage to Carrie and for the very astute examination of racism in the world today.I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

nobody is mothering the way Tiffany D Jackson is mothering. a mother amongst mothers. a grandma if you will.

The Weight of Blood is a re-telling of Stephen King's Carrie with a twist, and it was entertaining as hell. I was taken in right away by this YA horror. The characters were vivid and flawed...some more than others, and the setting was one we all know and understand.Mrs. Morgan had turned around just in time to see the second pencil sail and disappear into a forest of tight black coils and curls. The class all but rolled in the aisles, laughter echoing down the hallways.I'm not sure if the podcast aspect really added to the story, but I didn't dislike it either. When I asked him what happened . . . he just kept mumbling, “Maddy did it.”The story itself was heartbreaking, much like the source material, full of bullying, isolation and child abuse. Throw in a little pre-destined superpowers and a whole lot of vengeful wrath and you end up with book both fun and memorable. 5 stars for me. I think the King would appreciate this one.

I cannot imagine giving this book anything but five stars. This retelling of Carrie rivals the original, in that it had so much more to say. The racially motivated abuse and bullying was extremely hard to read, but IMPORTANT because white complacency is such a real problem and this book did wonders

What a brilliant and topical overhaul of Stephen King's Carrie. When a high school decides to have a joint prom instead of segregated ones in a supposed show of racial solidarity, the deep divide between black and white surfaces in a terrifyingly ugly way. I had no idea segregated proms were a thing but according to Mrs Google, over the last decade a small number have still been held in the US. The characters were complex and incredibly well written and the audiobook was phenomenal. Tiffany draws attention to the casual racism that is laughed off as a joke in the local high school, whilst also showing that a clear sense of white superiority underpins these interactions. Moreover, this underlying racial hierarchy is present at all levels within the community. Alongside all of this is also of a story of a sheltered girl hoping to find acceptance and love. However, within this girl lies a dark power and when her rage and fury come forth, blood and terror follow. As prom night descends into chaos a clear line between black and white is scorched on the ground. This is an amazing novel and I thoroughly recommend it.CW: (view spoiler)[child abuse, racism, bloody injuries, death of loved ones (hide spoiler)]

ALL THE EMOTIONS!!! This is a modern retelling of Carrie with a biracial MC that made me feel just about everything. Mostly anger and sadness, but there was plenty of annoyance interspersed throughout. I HATED these f’ing kids OHMYGOD. This is the third book that I have read that’s partially written in a podcast format, and it just never works for me for some reason. I don’t want to spoil what ends up happening if you’re not familiar with the story, but the book is essentially leading up to this massacre at senior prom, and it just didn’t hit as hard as I was hoping, mostly because the action was broken up with segments of the podcast and eye witness reports (the latter worked a lot better than the podcast sections imo.)ALSO, I cannot mention the specifics for spoilers, but the fate of one of the characters had me FUMING!!! And not in a good way!!! I hated it!!! I was so mad!!! 😂😅 But, I do highly recommend this story, and will be recommending it often. If you couldn’t tell, this is a VERY emotionally charged story and was 100% worth the read, even if a few things didn’t work out the way I wanted them to. The payoff/ending sequence as a whole was still well worth the experience imo. 4.5 stars rounded up.

This Carrie retelling is everything I would expect it to be coming from Tiffany D. Jackson: horrific, thought-provoking, and gloriously unapologetic. After reading the author's note prior to cracking open the actual book, I felt like the tone was set, as it should be, for what the journey ahead would be. If you've read Stephen King's first novel, then you'll have a good idea of what to expect here. In fact, my only slight criticism is that there isn't really any unexpected twist here as The Weight of Blood stays on par with its predecessor, but perhaps that is how the author intended it to be read. Regardless, another excellent read from the queen herself, and I hope to see her write more in the horror genre in the future. *Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.

Rating it already because I’m really excited and a Karen decided to rate the book three stars for no reason.Edit: The book is phenomenal.

Tiffany D. Jackson is a must read author for me and this one didn’t disappoint. I loved Carrie and this retelling with a racism twist was equally horrific and twisty as the original. I will admit I had to check the dates several times because all of the talk of “white prom” and “black prom” were disgusting and felt more 50’s than 2014, but as disgusting as it is I’m sure that was the response of many southern schools - if they have to segregate they’ll privatize the fun things and exclude the African American children. Maddy (the Carrie of this story) is biracial but her father has made her keep her African American heritage a secret and she is light skinned enough to manage this until one day in gym she is caught out in the rain. I loved that the story was told in two ways - direct story telling of what happened and through a podcast exploring the incident of prom night when most of the senior class and a lot of the town died.

This was SO good and I loved the ways it took the Carrie plot and turned it into something totally fresh and new. Full review to come!

This was phenomenal. What a ride. I’m gonna come back later when it’s been more than 5 minutes since I finished with an actual review but for now…wow. (I know I say that all the time but I swear I’m gonna come back for this one)

Wow!!! Just wow! Maddy is such a force of nature. The entire time I was literally enthralled. This book is a literal masterpiece. If you're into supernatural/sci-fi/suspense this book is you're next favorite read. Even if you are not, this book was so suspenseful it'll keep you completely hooked! I completely loved the author's writing style. I truly was thrown off my feet by the social racist injustice and assumed this book was set in the 60-70s. However, it's set in 2014 in a backwards town. I loved that Maddy took charge and raged, even though it was tragic for others. The prom scene reminded me of Carrie but with crazy powers. The ending shook me to the core. If there isn't a sequel to this book coming out eventually I'll absolutely cry. I NEED to know more about what's happening after what was covered in the book (cannot be too specific or it would be a spoiler). This is a hands down masterpiece. 5 star! This needs to be a movie! I read this in 1 sitting, it's now 2am and I need to sleep. Lol So fair warning, start it the moment you wake up so you don't lose sleep. You will NOT be able to put this one down.I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publishers to read and review. All of the statements above are my true opinion after fully reading this book.

An updated homage to Stephen King's Carrie with a more modern twist that explores racism and a small town with deeply rooted racist traditions. Although this is set in 2014, it felt more like the 50's or 60's with segregated proms and ignorantly racist characters. If you can chalk that up to fiction, then you will enjoy this.I've read several books over the past year that attempted to tackle similar topics, but walked away with nothing. Where The Weight of Blood succeeds and others have come up short is showing, not telling. Tiffany Jackson did a fantastic job setting the scene and showing us how these people think - the racist queen B Jules, the black star athlete who brushes off his friend's racist comments/actions in order to be accepted Kenny, and the racist's best friend sympathizer Wendy. It wasn't a one sided story. And, more importantly, it wasn't preachy in the "woke" way that is so popular (I hate the word "work" btw, but at the moment lack a better word to draw the connection). This book would make for great conversation in a book club, especially a character study of Wendy. A character who wanted to be good and thought so diligently that she wasn't one of the racist in town because she was dating a black guy, yet condoned her racist best friend's awful behavior. An eye-opening, thought-provoking exploration of racism... oh yeah, and there's some cool telekinesis/witchcraft/fire wielding stuff in there too. I loved how Jackson broke up the text with podcast scenes, news clippings, and book excerpts AFTER the events of that night. Don't be scared off by the YA genre slotting. I don't usually enjoy YA novels, but I really couldn't tell here. Reads more like adult fiction with a sci-fi twist that centers around high school kids.4.5 stars, rounding up. Cheers!