Inkk Reviewed: Half Blood By Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obtained : won paperback in online contest

Paperback 281 pages
Published Oct 18th 2011 by Spencer Hill Press

ISBN 0983157200 
Series : Covenant #1

Check out Half-Blood on Amazon

Goodreads Summary 

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.

Katie’s Thoughts :

 You have Purebloods who control a certain power (fire, water, wind, etc), and Half bloods, which are thought less of, and have no powers. They all live at the Covenant, which is reminiscent of “camp half-blood” in the Percy Jackson series. There are also Daimons, which is somewhat of a mix between zombies and vampires, and if you’re a Pure you can be drained by a Daimon, and become one.

 Our main Character Alex is a half, and her trainer Aiden is a Pure… and before you ask, yes, there is some love in the air. But a mix between a pure and a half-blood is a complete no-no.  FORBIDEN. Daimons try and attack the Covenant, and Alex is faced with a big decision that means the difference between life and death.

I thought this book was very good, however I constantly found myself comparing it to the Percy Jackson Series. I wish they had talked more about what gods each character was related to, and had that relationship affect what “powers” they had, instead of their power being random. Of course I liked our forbidden love story. It definitely had its steamy moments where you just wanted to yell JUST KISS HIM ALREADY! Alex, our main character is a very head strung, sarcastic witty girl. She takes a beating and keeps on coming. Alex reminds me of  “Katniss” from “The Hunger Games”, except more sarcastic. She is a strong female, and she will do what she needs to, to survive.  Towards the end of the book the author introduces another Character Seth, who is the Apollyon. Apollyons control all the powers, and then some. There is only one Apollyon per generation…usually, and the last time there was two it didn’t end so well…so with the introduction of Seth the Apollyon, and what this could mean for Alex and Aiden I think the Author really did a good job ending this book, and setting up for book two “Pure”.