Review: Half-Blood by Jennifer Armentrout

I've held off on posting this review because I wanted to post it in conjunction with the Pure Blog Tour, which will be stopping here tomorrow (3/20) with my review of Pure...so be sure to stop by!

TITLE: Half-Blood                             SERIES: Covenant #1 AUTHOR: Jennifer Armentrout     PUB DATE: 10/11/11 PUB: Spencer Hill Press                    FORMAT: pb SOURCE: purchased

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. 

THREE WORDS: Oh My Gods!

MY REVIEW: I became a big fan of Jennifer Armentrout’s writing after reading her book Obsidian and knew that I just had to delve into her Covenant Series too…and Half-Blood certainly did not disappoint!

I won’t spend too much time summarizing the book because I think the book blurb above does a great job of giving you an idea of what Half-Blood is all about. In this first volume in the Covenant Series, Armentrout does an awesome job of introducing her world of pures and half-bloods, and offering readers all the necessary backstory and history surrounding the mythological elements explored.

With thrilling and heart-pounding action, super-hot romance, intriguing and original mythological elements, compelling characters and superb writing, Half-Blood is an exciting and addicting read.

I love Greek mythology and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m quite critical of books that take on the complex and vast world of mythology, but Armentrout has definitely impressed me. The idea of demi-gods, half-bloods, and even Apollyon are all grounded in actual myths and stories, but Armentrout has taken these things and infused her own creativity and intelligence to create a story that is refreshing and original, and captivatingly so. Armentrout has clearly done her mythological homework .

The story itself is pretty fast-paced, but never feels rushed. Armentrout offers readers quite a bit of backstory and history, but I never felt bombarded with too much information at one time. There are plenty of twists and surprises, but overall the story is a bit predictable. But, this predictability didn’t really take any of the excitement out of the overall story. There’s quite a bit of kick-butt action taking place, and while the action scenes are well written, I must admit that I’m not a fan of drawn out fight scenes and a few of the scenes between the Daimons (the bad guys) and Alex (main character) were a bit too much for me. But I did really love the whole concept of the Daimons; they make for very wickedly enthralling bad guys.

As awesome as the story is, Armentrout’s characters really shine. You’ve probably heard many readers talk about the character Alex and how much they love her, but I must admit that it took me awhile to really warm up to this stubborn girl…but once I did, I totally got why so many readers love her. Alex is equal parts kickass and frustrating, but this isn’t a bad thing. She’s impulsive, reckless and immature at times, but she’s also brave, passionate and capable, and all these characteristics combine to make her incredibly realistic and relatable. I really loved her sarcastic sense of humor and the vulnerability she hides behind it. By the end of the book I was greatly attached to this character and invested in her story.

Then there’s Aiden *le sigh*. Dude, Armentrout certainly knows how to craft some hot, swoon-worthy guys! There is just something so spellbinding about Aiden and his genuine goodness, compassion, sense of duty…oh and did I mention he’s sexy? I did? Well, I’m gonna mention it again- Aiden= Sexy, Sexy=Aiden. Do you see Aremntrout’s ability to turn me, a somewhat mature and logical grown up woman, into a gushing, giggly girl again?! Yeah, she’s that good ;)

As individuals, Alex and Aiden are awesome, but as a pair, they’re fanfriggintastic! There is an electric and undeniable spark between these two that literally had me shouting “Would you two just kiss already!”. But, apparently Armentrout wants to make the hearts of readers everywhere explode, so she created not one, but two hot love interests for Alex…oy, what’s a gal to do? Enter Seth, the totally arrogant and annoying, but impossible to ignore, hot guy. I don’t want to give away too much about just who or what Seth is or what his existence means for Alex, but I will say that readers will have strong feeling about Seth…whether those feelings are positive or negative is up to individual readers. Me? Right now, I’m warily warming up to him. He’s certainly a masterfully crafted character to evoke so much intrigue and distrust at the same time, and I think he’s going to end up being a character that will get under most people’s skin.

There are several other really likable characters and a few that are a lot of fun to hate, and I enjoyed them all. I look forward to getting to know them better in future books.

Half-Blood ends much like it begins, with action, mystery and heartache...and of course, with me wanting moremoremore.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: With a kick-ass heroine, refreshing twists on mythology and two swoon-worthy guys, this book definitely delivers. Half-Blood is an awesome first volume in what is sure to be an epic series, and I’m completely hooked!

MY RATING

4/5 Cupcakes

Find the author: Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook 

Purchase: Amazon / B&N / Book Dep

Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you've heard about her state aren't true. When she's not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russel Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories....which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is the author of the COVENANT Series, the LUX Series, and the upcoming YA contemporary mystery/thrillers DON'T LOOK BACK (Disney/Hyperion Fall 2013) and yet untitled book (Disney/Hyperion tentative Fall 2014).