***ARC Book release date: October 18, 2011 ***
Half-Blood (Covenant, Book 1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Genre: Paranormal YA
ISBN: 0983157200
Edition Reviewed: Paperback
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
Goodreads: Half-Blood
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
Review:
Half-Blood is a heady mix of Vampire Academy and new Greek Mythology. In my book, that’s an excellent combination. Sure, at certain points it read so much like VA that you could actually match up the names to certain characters and some climax points are ruined if you’ve already read VA. Armentrout still has enough originality in Half-Blood that it carries its own, and thoughts of VA are only lingering in the back of your mind.
Half-Blood is steeped in rich Greek mythology, where the children of the gods—Hematoi—walk among humans controlling the four elements. Hematoi’s believe themselves superior to humans, not only that the Hematois are divided amount pures and half-bloods. Pures are the descendants of two Hematoi’s, while halves are children of a Hematoi and a human. In the world that Alex lives in the halfs know that the pures are the law in all decisions. If Alex can’t be a killer of Daimons—her ultimate dream—then the threat of being a drugged slave to her own farther looms over her head.
The love interest, Aiden, immediately enters the storyline to save the day. Of course he’s an older man—at least he’s only 21 and Alex is 17—with the added naughty factor of being a pure. Half-bloods and pures are forbidden to be together, and boy do things really heat up. Aiden is the perfect Sentinel, and maybe the perfect guy. He’s the head of his family after his parents die, left to take care of his brother. For a YA novel Half-Book certainly brought on the smok’in sexual tension!
The cast of characters are all fun to play with. Seth the Apollyon, basically a super Half-blood who can control all the elements, might be Alex’s fated other half. Alex’s father has secret ambitions that may destroy Alex and entrap her in a life that might be worse then being just a mindless drugged slave to the pures. A mother who isn’t quite as dead as Alex thinks and is now killing people. A fun and humorous guy best friend—who is blessedly not at love interest for Alex.
Alex is just the kind of heroine I’ve come to love from Urban Fantasy. She’s brash, mouthy, and doesn’t always use her brains over her brawns. (This can sometimes make me want to slap her upside the head.) In my mind this is darker than the first three books of VA, more like a haunting taste of The Nightshade series. In a world where half breeds are brainwashed slaves one way or another, it’s hard to shake that old time horrors of breeding prejudice among the “elite”. Alex isn’t just tasked with becoming a better fighter and saving lives, she has to take the life of someone she loves the most. In my book that makes Half-Blood one of the must read YA debuts of the year.
Sexaul Content: This is a steamy YA read. Dirty humor—thoughts—and one steamy scene between Alex and Aiden.
4/5- Great! Really enjoyed it.
| Previous book(s) in series: | ||
| Reviewed on BW: | Amazon: | Goodreads: |
| Pure (Book 2) | Paperback | Kindle | |
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