Book Review - Blood Colony by Tananarive Due

It is really no secret that Tananarive Due is one of my favorite authors. Ever since reading her story about the African Immortals in high school, I have not only been addicted to her books but to the entire speculative fiction genre in general. To this day, if I absolutely had to choose one, 1997's "My Soul To Keep" is still my favorite book. Well, it has been seven years since the publication of "The Living Blood" by Tananarive Due, the second installment in the African Immortal series, but finally the third installment is here. "Blood Colony" is that novel.

It is hard for me to not love a book by Tananarive Due, but I'll only give this one 4 of 5 stars. "Blood Colony" is wonderfully written and more intriguing than the average novel, but after waiting such a long time for this third installment, when I finished, I still felt like I wanted more.

Set in 2015, we meet up with the Wolde family and the Life Brothers. While they have been distributing their healing "living" blood in secret to third world countries, plagued with sickness, an Underground Railroad of distributors in North America are selling the same thing under the street drug name of Glow. I can't say that I am disappointed, because I am not, but I didn't get a sense that I learned anything new from these characters. The book continues their stories, and we catch up with their lives, but none of the mysteries completely unfold. "Blood Colony" is written so that it could be a stand alone novel, but I think you need to read the other two books to get a full grasp of the characters and to really connect with them and all that they have been through.

Very good but not great. "My Soul To Keep" and "The Living Blood" set the bar up very high and I cannot help but to compare. I have read them both more than once, but unlike the other two, I may not be picking up "Blood Colony" again for a second go 'round. I'll wait until book four.