N.E. Davenport Books In Order

Publication Order of The Blood Gift Duology Books

N.E. Davenport
When N. E. Davenport is not busy writing, she enjoys skiing, vacationing with her family, and being a total foodie. Besides being a science fiction/fantasy author, she has also worked as a freelance reviewer for Booklist.

She went to the University of Southern California and studied Theatre Arts and Biological Sciences. She’s also got an MA in Secondary Education. Nia teaches Biology and English to some rather amazing students.

After finishing college, she worked and studied in the public health sector before she found a passion for teaching. Nia, being that she is an English and Biology teacher, strives to make a difference in young peoples’ lives, help. students realize their unlimited potential and dreams, and minimize the disparities in education for the youths of color.

She is a strong advocate for reflective and diverse perspectives and protagonists in literature, which is what she strives to put in her own novels.

The first time she picked up a paranormal series and saw herself, a Black woman, featured in the genre she loves was when she read L. A. Banks’ “Vampire Huntress Legend” series. It was when Nia was in college, and bought all of these books and read them one summer. These were the books that got Nia dreaming all about writing stories of her own on a professional level. They gave her Nia’s culture, her own unique experiences as a young Black woman, and a reflection of her relationships, friendships, and family in a novel.

Nia began querying agents with her eye set toward traditional publication back about 2016. It took her writing a total of three manuscripts and querying them to various agents before getting an offer of representation.

The first of these manuscripts that Caitie Flum, Nia’s fantastic agent at Liza Dawson Associates, and Nia prepped to submit to editors was a young adult contemporary fantasy book. It was a Persephone and Hades retelling that featured a Black girl. Unfortunately it didn’t sell. And it’s something that Nia’s crushed about because she adores that story, however in the end it all worked out for the best.

“The Blood Trials” is a fantasy novel that she wrote and revised as her Hades and Persephone book was on submission. She wrote the book attempting to pitch it to the adult market yet also wanting the book to fit well in some kind of crossover space.

David Pomerico, her brilliant editor at Harper Voyager, wound up acquiring the novel after Nia finished up revisions to the manuscript he’d suggested to her. Then her agent called her with the offer for the book back in April of 2020. so it took her a total of four years from seriously querying to a publication offer.

Before querying in the year 2016, she spent about three years writing novel after novel during summer and winter breaks off from her teaching job and just worked at trying to get better at the craft side of things.

“The Blood Trials” is the first novel in the “Blood Gift” series and was released in the year 2022. “The Blood Trials” blends science fiction and fantasy together in an action packed, fast paced debut that kicks off a duology of rebellion and loyalty, in which a young Black woman has to survive some lethal trials in a misogynistic and racist society in order to become an elite warrior.

It is all about blood. The blood spilled between the armies of the Blood Emperor and the Republic of Mareen long ago. The blood gifts of Mareen’s most lethal of foes. The blood which runs through the elite War Houses in Mareen, those rulers on the Tribunal that are dedicated to keeping the republic alive. The blood of Verne Amari, the former Legatus, who’s been murdered.

For Ikenna, his granddaughter, the one steady thing in her life was the guy that once saved Mareen. The guy that trained her in secret, not only in martial arts, but also in harnessing the blood gift which was coursing through her. And trained her to keep that a secret.

However there’s now too many secrets, and with her grandpa assassinated, Ikenna knows just two things: only a Praetorian Guard could have carried out the order that had to have come only from a member of the Tribunal.

Ikenna is bent on getting her revenge just as much as she is to learn the truth, and pledges herself to the Praetorian Trials; which is a brutal initiation which just a quarter of the aspirants manage to survive. Ikenna subjects herself to all the racism that is directed against her half-Khanaian heritage and the misogyny from a society that cherishes progeny over prodigy. All as it hides this power which (if it was discovered) would subject her to execution, or even worse. Ikenna’s willing to risk everything because she needs to track down the person that killed her grandpa. And then she’ll need to kill them.

Mareen’s been at peace for a long time now. Ikenna’s joining the Praetorians is going to change all of that. Magic and tech converge in part one of this stunning debut duology, where to loyalty to oneself, and to one’s own blood, is much more important than anything else.

Fans of the novel found this to have a tight narrative, some stunning action sequences, a fast pace, and some thrilling fight scenes fuel every bit of this debut read. Davenport’s world building is built into every moment and interaction that occurs in the novel. You wind up leaving every scene and moment knowing something new about the characters, mystery, and world.

Ikenna has a fantastic arc, as she comes into her own as a leader and an individual. She deals with discrimination and racism, with much of her ability to overcome these obstacles is because of her luck, endurance, skills, yet also the people around her. This is her core crew: Zayne and Seline, who are great contrasts to Ikenna and both are complex characters in their own way. And the red herrings and clues of the investigation clash with her own over confident personality.