Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Covenant #1
Release Date: October 18, 2011
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Source: Bought
Goodreads Stars: 3
Rating: Enjoyable

Buy the Book: Amazon UK

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.

As a huge fan of the Lux series - also by Ms. Armentrout - when I first bought this I had high expectations. After reading some reviews, those expectations were drastically lowered, and I think that is one of the reasons I ended up enjoying this. I wasn't too disappointed, because I wasn't expected it to blow my mind the way the Lux series admittedly did.

Half-Blood is a lot like Vampire Academy, even more than Obsidian is a lot like Twilight. I am not sure how to feel about this, because this is two series wherein Ms. Armentrout has taken the basic structures or themes and used them to start a series. I'm a HUGE fan of Vampire Academy, and so reading this at first was a little disconcerting. Honestly, I don't know how to feel. I do feel very confused, and a little let down.

I didn't feel much for any of the main characters, although Caleb is a sweetheart. Alex, the main female protagonist, is okay. I think comparing the plot to Vampire Academy made me compare Alex to her counterpart, Rose, and so of course she wasn't all that amazing.

I didn't feel much chemistry between Alex and Aiden, her trainer. I know, I'm probably comparing their relationship to that of Daemon and Katy, and also Rose and Dimitri, but I guess it was inevitable. They just don't have that spark. Nevertheless, I do quite like them together, and Aiden is actually pretty cool. And he looks like Dylan O'Brien in my mind. (Every hot love interest looks like Dylan O'Brien to me.)

There is another character called Seth who turns up part way through the book. Is he going to be part of a love triangle? He's annoying and rude and I don't like him.

Deacon, Aiden's brother, is also annoying. Just thought I'd point that out, and I'm covering my bases when it comes to guys and potential love interests. Just in case.

Now, what I DID love was the Greek mythology aspect. GREEK GODS JDFLSJHGLDHGDHG *HEARTS* I've been obsessed with Greek mythology ever since I was little, and it is still so, so interesting to me. I love how Ms. Armentrout adapted it, and I love that the characters all know that the gods are real in this! EEP!

In conclusion, Half-Blood really bloody confused me. How am I supposed to feel when this book's base is the same as that of my favourite series? Especially since I loved the Lux series so much. Ugh. Anyway, this is enjoyable, I liked it, although it lacked substance. The characters were nothing amazing. BUT GREEK GODS.