Book Review: Half Blood

Half-Blood (Convenant #1) by JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT



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 (goodreads).

Review: 

With all the hype surrounding this book, I expected to be blown away; after finishing Jennifer Armentrout's Half-Blood I only felt one emotion: underwhelmed.

Alex is a half-blood whose sole reason for living is to protect and serve. After the unexpected death of her mother, Alexandria returns to the Convenant to continue her training to become a Sentinel. As if fighting demons night and day wasn't stressful enough, she's falling in love with a Pure blood, the most taboo of all taboos.

Half-Blood grabbed my attention instantly. The first chapter opens to Alex realizing that daimons are breaking into her home. It was exciting and and Alex was a badass heroine. I'll say one thing about the pacing, this book moves at turbo speed. Just as soon as Alex is getting bad guy ass, Sentitel Aiden comes to drag her back to the Convenant. After Alex arrives to the Convenant, I was just bored. Alex picks up where she left off at school with close friends, old enemies and danger hiding around every corner. It's all pretty forumalic if you have read any novel about schools honed to sharpen paranormal skills. There was a slight twist during the "Final Battle" which actually made it book a bit more enjoyable and interesting.

Like I mentioned, Alex's day-to-day life at the Convenant was putting me to sleep, but the scenes between Aiden and Alex had me on the edge of my seat. I didn't like Aiden as a character, he was the sterotypical, older and wiser boy who seems to be out of the main character's league. Alex also annoyed me, she was too  stubborn and too sarcastic. But when Aiden and Alex were together....it was hot. The chemistry between the two was obvious and the sexual tension kept me coming back for more.  I've always been a fan of forbidden love and I loved the idea of a Half and a Pure Blood testing the waters and saying "damn what the others say." The chemistry between Aiden and Alex actually has me contemplating picking up the sequel novel, I just want to see them together!

The novel is written from Alex's point of view, and if you aren't a fan of overly sarcastic and stubborn girls...you may be annoyed fairly quickly. I felt Alex was too informal and too sarcastic, I did not enjoy hearing her side comments, hell I didn't even enjoy being in her head.

Half-Blood is the first installment of a Alex's adventures and struggles to keep her love. While I could not get into the overall story, I finished the novel just for the Alex and Aiden scenes.

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