Publisher:
Hodder
Release
Date: 14th
August 2014
Edition:
UK paperback,
review copy via BookBridgr
Other
Titles in this Series: Pure, Deity, Apollyon, Sentinel
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 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. Is 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.
Earlier in the year I became
entranced by Jennifer L Armentrout’s Lux series
so I was eager to pick this up. I think that series may have been a fluke...
Half-Blood
sounds
startlingly original at first glance: Hematoi, Sentinels, half-bloods – all sounds
very exciting. It turns out that it’s basically demi-gods and the children they
produce when they mate with mortals and an exclusive, strict boarding school
that teaches them how to protect their world. Now I love Greek mythology and
when authors make it their own, but I just didn’t feel like Armentrout did
that. I also felt that the basic plot lines surrounding the mythology and Alex’s
antics were pretty much identical to that of Vampire Academy. I was disappointed to say the least.
The only element that I enjoyed
in the novel was the relationship between Alex and Aiden, and even that felt a
whole lot like a re-run of Rose and Dimitri... Aiden is the character that I found
the most interesting, and the only one I genuinely liked in Half-Blood. Their relationship built
steadily and shakily, neither sure what the other felt and so many obstacles
between them. I mean, Alex could lose everything
if she was caught even kissing Aiden – their relationship is properly
forbidden by Covenant law. I do love me a good forbidden love. And theirs was good.
I bought into the attraction, the trust, the understanding, and the beginnings
of love. I’d read on purely to find out how they turn out.
Half-Blood
got me through
a sad plane ride home from Greece when I really didn’t want to go home and it
passed the time quickly. I haven’t decided if I’ll continue on with the series,
however.
Thanks to Hodder and BookBridgr
for the review copy.
Sophie
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave a message, I'd love to hear from you!