Book Review: Blood Warrior

Blood Warrior

Author: H.D. Gordon

Publish Date: September 2011

Publisher: Self Publish

When her home is attacked by murderous vampires, 17-year-old Alexa is forced to leave her mother for dead in order to save her sister. She soon learns that she is the last known member of an elite race of supernatural Warriors, and is thrust into a world full of vampires and werewolves who all seem to regard her as some sort of savior. Meanwhile, Alexa battles a monster within herself that seeks to gain control; a monster that seeks blood.

The hidden city she finds herself in appears perfect, but Alexa's instincts tell her that all is not right within its walls. When she is asked to attend a school of fighters, whose exams consist of gladiator-style competitions, she must decide who she can trust among the smiling faces. And, when she meets Kayden, a vampire she feels undeniably drawn to, she must decide if she can trust herself. (Goodreads)

I think I’ve said it before, vampire books are a dime a dozen now a days. It’s really difficult to get one to stand out among the rest. I want to thank Nicole for bringing this one to my attention as I probably wouldn’t have caught it otherwise.

The locale is really basic. Or at least that’s what’s given at first.  A house, and a school is really all that’s seen for a few chapters. There’s no impression of big city, but there isn’t an impression of small town.  The impression I got was completely normal and I’m pretty sure that’s how the author wanted it to come across in comparison to the main environment Two Rivers.  

Two Rivers is a huge extravagant city in between two rivers (thus the name).  As I was reading it I found it to be slightly gaudy and tackless with it’s luxury.  It’s very apparent that the city is supposed to be easy living and the characters that live there reflect it for the most part. 

The main character Alexa is nothing to sneeze at. She’s strong, agile, and has some impressive fighting skills. However, she has flaws as well. She’s quick to anger, overprotective and a little destructive. Not the norm for a heroine, but it works for her, which is impressive. 

I’m still struggling with the overall plot of the story. There are a bunch of sub plots that run through it; some are dealt with in this book some are left hanging. I’m pretty sure one of the ones left hanging is the real plot but all the plots seem rather important to complete tell the story. I could be wrong though. 

Overall it was a decent read. It’s fast paced from page one and continues that pace throughout the book. There no pausing in what’s happening to take interest in something else and one action almost always has an instant reaction/consequence that keeps everything moving. 

My biggest beef, is the vampires in daylight thing. Understandably some of them cannot travel in the daylight - I will not spoil why - and others are completely okay with it, which grates on my true to vampire nature. It had both scenarios in one book. 

I would recommend this for all lover of vampire books however, I would take into account: if you are a diehard vampires cannot walk in sunlight fan, you may not want to read this. If you love your vampires no matter the flavor, this book is certainly for you. 

My Rating:

Book Signing: Holly Black, Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan

July 15th 2012:Oblong Books & Music -  HVYAS: Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, & Sarah Rees Brennan

This was a completely fun event!  I learned about it from Sarah's Tumblr and HAD to go.  Not by myself of course.  I went with Blog Sister, Mel from Mel's Book Blog.

See the rest here. With pictures and everything.

Series Review: Jeri Smith-Ready

I had fully intended on posting this yesterday. T_T; So I'm a day late, BUT not a dollar short. I finished the series on Monday, but haven't actually gotten around to writing a review for any of the books so I thought I'd do it as an overall series review. 

The Shade series is by far one of the most creative and unique series I've come across to date.  The series stays as close to real facts as possible while creating its own ideas at the same time.  It takes a new twist to the monoliths and ghosts and weaves an incredibly realistic world.

Our heroine is Aura.  She is by far one of my top picks for best heroine award.  Simply because she's not a whiny, mewling child that expects a man to rescue her.  She expects to help and often helps when she's told not to.  It's great that she's independent yet, she does ask for a helping hand when it's needed.  She's human and often makes mistakes, but that only adds to her appeal and makes her more real for me.  Throughout the series she grows from a slightly skeptical, smart, cautious young girl into an even smarter, slightly less skeptical, and more cautious young woman.  She grows into who she is, and it makes her such a great character that if she had a counterpart in reality I would be her BFF. 

Enter Zachery Moore, love interest number two actually, but that's not a long story that isn't explained in the first chapter, and I'm not giving it away.  He is a fantastic Mr. Right.  Not Mr. Perfect because he does have some flaws that makes the reader wonder sometimes if his head is screwed on right.  Throughout the series though he is an invaluable companion to Aura and though I feel she would have still gotten to her end destination without him, I think it was a good thing she had him.  Dylan said it best, "Zachary was like a freak­ing su­per­hero. Cap­tain Pa­tience or some­thing.”  That is completely apparent throughout the entire series. 

The story is flawless. Each book leads into the next with fluid grace.  There is no reading one without reading the others.  The plot is written so well, there's an "I have to know what happens" effect that occurs while reading.  It sucks the reader in and leaves them begging for more.  There are no plot holes or time distortions that ruin the fluidity.  All loose ends are tied off by the end of the last book.  There's not wondering what happened or what if.  

The ending is beautiful.  While I was very sad to see it end, at the same time I was happy with the finale.  It was right, and necessary.  I'm sad to see such wonderful characters go, but it was such a fantastic journey I know I'll be reading through it again, and again.  

My Rating