Saturday, August 25, 2012

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”. 


2 comments:

  1. I'm right in the middle of this read. Seth, the Apollyon, has just been introduced and a big reveal occurred. I'm enjoying the story. Alex is a great heroine, being sassy and tough is a great combination. I really like Aiden. The slow burn romance between the two makes it just believable enough. I'm not a big insta love fan. Unlike you, I'm not seeing a whole lot of similarities between this and Percy Jackson. I felt Percy was written for youngsters, had non-stop action, no real romance to speak of and of course was pretty clean. Half Blood definitely is for the mature reader with lots of sexual references, underage drinking and stuff like that which may not be appropriate for the Percy crowd.

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  2. thanks so much for the comment love! yeah i don't always go for that insta love either, thats why i think i kinda like seth more in this series.. but again.. if i were alex.. i would totally be cool with both! the only obvious similarities between this and percy is the demi god aspect of it. the two book definitely go in very different directions with it, but in the beginning when alex is in trouble, and ends up going to the camp for protection.. made me think about percy.. but no the rest of the story is not the same. I am just a huge Percy fan that anytime i find something greek mythology related i can't help but compare. thanks so much for your input! Glad your enjoying the book, can't wait to read deity.. but i might have to read Mark of Athena first since my Deity hasn't come in the mail yet... dang it here i go again mixing my mythology reads! ;) Thanks Gina ! - Katie @ Inkk

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