I began reading Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout just after finishing Obsidian, which was a stellar read. I have to say that while I did enjoy reading this book, I was somewhat disappointed with the similarities between Half-Blood and the Vampire Academy series. As a new fan of Richelle Mead, I was pretty dumbfounded with the obvious similarities.
Half-Blood tells the story of a sort of demigod race. Pure Hematoi have exceeding strength and powers. The offspring of Hematoi and Humans however do not. They have two options in life: to be trained as a warrior and protector of the Hematoi, called a Sentinel, or be forced into servitude. For Alexandria, serving the Hematoi has never been an option.After her mom took her out of the Covenant academy to take out on the run, she returns to school finding herself far behind her classmates and in need of some extra help. The school assigns Aiden, a particularly gifted Sentinel, to train her. From there, romance, danger and adventure ensue!
Now I've read enough reviews online of this book gushing over the fact that Half-Blood is a slightly altered version of the Vampire Academy books, I'm not going to spend my review talking about this. It's been said, it did bother me, but I was prepared and I tried focusing on Half-Blood as separate work... which sort of worked...
While this book didn't blow me out of the water, I still enjoyed reading it. The romance between instructor and student was interesting and I really liked the character Alexandria. While she does have a huge chip on her shoulder, she also has a strength that I like to see in the heroines that I read about.
I don't think I'll be continuing on in the series, but I was happy that I read this book. Armentrout's writing always brings a smile to my face and warms my heart. That's all folks.
Happy Reading :)
5 out of 10
I'm glad you read this one and reviewed it. The majority of bloggers I know more personally (whose reviews I trust) have either read VA or Half-Blood so it's kind of hard to discuss the "similarities". Around the time I purchased Obsidian I also got Half-Blood because they were both on sale. Pretty much as soon as I heard about the VA/HB thing I decided right then and there to not read HB. I agree, J.L.A. is a fabulous writer, very engaging. But at this point that's about the only positive thing I can say about her. :/
ReplyDeleteYes, I definitely would not recommend that you read this book as I know you loved VA as much as I did. I'm already having a hard time finishing Onyx after reading your review of it. I let myself get past the similarities on this one, but I don't think I'll read one of her books again and I agree, I'm not her biggest fan right now.
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