Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Half - Blood
(Covenant #1)
Jennifer L. Armentrout
Release: October 18, 2011
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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.

Review:

“It’s just words and words mean nothing. Only action does.”

       I am a big fan of Jennifer Armentrout's Lux series, so I'm not really sure what has taken me so long to read her Covenant series. Half - Blood is the first book in this young adult series and was a fast paced and fun read.

       One of the things that make Lux one of my favorite series also applies here: realistic teens whose dialogue, actions, and emotions feel real and not forced. Our heroine, Alex, is attracted to an older pure blood named Aiden. They clearly like each other despite the fact that they aren't allowed to be together, but they don't throw around the L word and talk about how they can't bare to live without each other like some other YA books. I appreciated that. It allows their relationship to grow throughout the series.

There were only a few inches between us, and if I moved just a little bit more, our lips would touch. I wondered what he would think about our future then. If I just kissed him, would he care about the rules? About what people would think?

       Alex is a good YA heroine, a little typical for the genre, but strong and smart nonetheless. She often rushes right in to a dangerous situation, using her emotions rather than thinking things through. Some of her decisions were a little rash, as part of her personality, but at least her decisions made sense. Aiden, the older Sentinel and object of Alex'a affection is a good match for her rashness. He is thoughtful and stoic and they are quite the pair. I like how their attraction and feelings for each other builds throughout the book and I'm interested to see where it goes on the next one.

“Jeez, how old are you?” I totally knew how old he was, but I wanted to pick.


Aiden cracked his neck. “I turn twenty-one in October.”


“Huh.” I shook the bottle. “So have you always been so…mature?”


His brows furrowed. “Mature?”


“Yeah, you sound like a dad.” I deepened my voice and tried to look stern. “‘Don’t look at me that way’ or else.”


Aiden blinked slowly. “I don’t sound like that and I didn’t say ‘or else.’”


“But if you had, what would the ‘or else’ be?” I hid my grin with the bottle.”

       Throwing a wrench in that relationship might be Seth. His character isn't introduced until about halfway through the book, but he is vital to the story and I have a feeling he will grow in importance as the series continues. I don't want to explain too specifically who and what he is, but I will say that his relationship with Alex is different than Aiden's. I'm curious where it will go, and in going into book two I see the possibility of a love triangle forming.

       Finally, I must address the similarities between this series and Vampire Academy. If you've read that series and then read this, you won't be able to stop yourself from comparing the two. They are extremely similar in setting, characters, villain, etc. I have read all six books in the VA series, and it certainly didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying this book. The similarities are unmissable, but so is the well-written and entertaining story.

Recommended for fans of: Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead, Mythos Academy series by Jennifer Estep, mythology, Armentrout's books, and young adult fantasy series.