The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures.Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden.Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.
Blurb from Goodreads.....
Review:
Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout is a light, action packed debut that will appeal to fans of a good supernatural read.
Alright, so I’m not going to beat around the bush.....this book is a lot like Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. And I mean a lot. There have been a lot of talk about this fact around the blogosphere due to this, so I’m not gonna go too heavily into it. Now Half-blood is well written and never lacks in action, but perhaps there were too many similarities between it and VA to allow me really love it. And in turn I’m left with mixed emotions about it. I can see the brilliance in some of it, but as VA remains once of my all time fave series I find it hard to let the similarities go. There are some thing’s I really love and others I’m just really disappointed in. The storyline read too much like a VA fanfiction tale and in turn the unique aspects to the story couldn’t hold up.
In this book Armentrout introduces us to Alex, a half-blood girl who has just has just seen her mother drained by a creature known as a Daimon. The lore in this book is interesting, although nothing I haven’t seen before. There were a few things here and there that jumped out at me, but the entire time I was reading I never found that ‘something’ I was looking for. It lacked the spark that really makes me love a book.
I liked Alex, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that at times she wore on me. It’s wonderful to have a strong, rebellious character, but I felt in this instance the author has taken it a bit to far. I found it difficult to like Alex as I was constantly annoyed by her choices and even her attitude issues which seemed pointless at times.
The other characters within the story were bland at worst and decent at best. Again, too much like VA for my liking. From their relationships with each other, their purpose within the book and the way they acted and interacted with each other....they were all people I felt I’d seen before.
The two characters I actually liked the most were Aiden our heroic love interest and Seth the mysterious guy who happens to be a part of Alex’s future. Aiden is everything I love in a love interest. He’s that aspect of forbidden that’s so alluring and that you can’t stay away from, while truly being a noble and good guy. Seth on the other hand is the enigma in the book for me. He didn’t have a massive role, but he was the one thing/person who stood out for me. What he is was unique to the story and the way he acted had me smiling and laughing. I mean, who doesn’t love that bad boy who appears to be more than he seems? He’s meant to be with Alex and although what they have is platonic right now, I think it’ll develop in the future.
In my opinion, this book blends Vampire Academy with Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter; not necessarily a bad thing, but a bit to much for my liking. Readers who can get past these constant similarities will love this book and although I had my issues I’m considering checking out the sequel when it’s released......(just to see what happens with Seth).
Rating:
Source: I bought.
Format: Paperback.
Recommend: Only if you're a hardcore paranormal reader.
Recommend borrow or buy: Borrow.
Cover: It's nice, but doesn't stand out.
Read sequel/continue with series: Still undecided. Maybe, however not likely....
Buy it here:
A lot of reviews have mentioned the distinct similarities between this & VA. Like you, VA is definitely one of my all time fav. series, but I have no idea how I'll feel about a book that is so similar to it! I've already purchased my copy from TBD, so I'm looking forward to reading it myself! Fantastic review Rachel <3 I can't wait to meet Alex & Seth!
ReplyDeleteI know EXACTLY how you feel. I had such a hard time rating this (and haven't even attempted a review yet) because while I really enjoyed it, the VA similarities bugged majorly because I freaking love that series. I think I've settled on a 3.5 rating, but I keep wavering every time I think back on it. I mean, it's okay for a few vague, overall plot similarities are fine, but I had some serious deja vu with scenes and dialogues aswell, so much so that it pulled me away from the story often. Had I not have read VA, I probably would have loved this.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, great review, Rachel! I will be checking out the sequel too. I'm curious to see where it's all headed and hopefully the similiarities will be gone or at a minimum come the next book. Also: MORE ALEX :D
I keep putting this off because of it's comparison to VA. I'm afraid to hate it because of it - not because I hated VA, actually I loved it, but reading similar stuff gets on my nerves sometimes. I LOVED Obsidian though so.... I'm still definitely curious. Especially that you weren't really bothered by the similarities. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteGiselle
Xpresso Reads
I have to say I'll probably still check this book out how you described it with Vampire Academy and Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark series together I'm very intrigued, more intrigued now than before I had read your review.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog, new follower
I am a moron and feel compelled to correct my above post to "Also: MORE AIDEN!"
ReplyDeleteI was just reading a post about Alex being in the YA Heroines Tourney and it took me like, 5 minutes to figure out what was wrong with that statement LOL. I got their names confused. And then I remembered my post here and OCD set in so.. yeah... *scurries away*
Great Review , Rachel:D
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this series. I have read Pure, book 2 and trust me..not VA. If you look you can see similarities in a lot of books. I am Team Aiden all the way and Seth has me too. This is such a good series. I love the action, Daimons = Demons, Gods, Alex is a stubborn but brave character. Jennifer pulls some biggies in Pure . I have read all the VA's and yes there are some things, but I totally take them out and focus on the plot and the characters, Jennifer changes it up in Pure. Did things cross my mind, yes, sure if you have read VA, but I have read a lot of books that I go, hmmm, that sounds like....or has similarities. I look at the writing and the characters and the plot and this series is really good , I am so looking forward to Deity.Pure had me grabbing for the kleenex, so I can't wait for book 3.
Happy reading:)
Michelle