Half-Blood (a Book Review)

by Skylar Finn

Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Pages: 281

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This is the first Jennifer L. Armentrout book that I’ve ever read. And I have to say I’m impressed but...not blown away.

First, I want to make a quick note about the romance. If you take the blurb at face value, then it’s easy to assume that the whole entire book is all about a forbidden romance which is a very big turn-off for me. It’s not all about the romance though. Yeah, it’s a big part of it but not the whole story. So if you saw that and thought Meh this doesn’t sound like something I’d like, don’t let the blurb convince you to pass up this read.

Of course I’m going to talk about the characters first. ;) Alexandria (or Alex, as she would insist on you calling her) is our main character. She’s a risk-taker, super confident. But half the time she was putting her foot in her mouth, talking smack, not thinking of the consequences. She was a flirt, yeah, but she was loyal, determined, caring, and had the most epic humor and sarcasm ever.

Her personality was a contradiction and that’s what won me over and made me like her. She wasn’t always the nicest person, and she admitted it. This kind of character doesn’t usually work for me, but Alex was different.

Alex is a half-blood, daughter of a Hematoi or pureblood and a human. The Greek gods and all the new terms were so interesting to me! Half-bloods are super skilled fighters (or they have the potential to be) and they live to protect the purebloods.

Most of the purebloods completely disregard this fact and treat the half-bloods badly. Really badly. If you don’t become a Sentinel which is a daimon hunter or a Guard who protects the homes of the pures, then you become a servant in one of the pures’ homes. Which means, you’ll serve them all the days of your life made senseless by some potion.

These completely new society dynamics were very interesting to read about. The politics were there. The tension was there. And the history was also something I loved and would love to learn more about.

The ultimate enemy, though, was the daimons. The crazy, aether-sucking things that crave the Hematoi’s blood. I believe the daimons completely fulfilled the creepy, animalistic factor. And although they weren’t the most intelligent, with them running around (getting better at what they do) and the general sense of “danger” lurking around every corner, I don’t think the villain part was under-written.

The plot was a little slow to be honest, not slow as in nothing happened but slow as in all that happened was Alex training and figuring out her feelings for Aiden. While I was entertained, it wasn’t my favorite plot of a book ever. I did like how I learned a lot about the other characters through these seemingly inconsequential scenes though.

The romance, like I said before, isn’t as hardcore as it seems. I thought that, Alex being an accomplished flirt and wild child, the romance would be all about teasing each other (sexually, for lack of a better word) and the two of them kind of playing with each other’s hearts. But it wasn’t like that at all.

It felt real. Like when Alex talked about what she loved about Aiden it wasn’t his abs or his face (or yeah...she talked about those a lot too). It was about how kind and patient he was with her. I think he was the first person besides her mom to ever treat her that way no matter what and he was a pure. That’s HUGE. Those were the things Alex talked about when she talked about him to her friends and I feel like that was something totally new for her and it was adorable.

A quick note: If you’re not comfortable with more the more mature side of a couple that’s “in love” or “in serious like”, for example heated making out or almost getting really serious then you might want to skip this read, or just skip those parts. Just a heads up. :)

This book was a great, fast read that I would recommend to readers who love paranormal, all-things-Greek, headstrong main characters, and the ups and downs of dirty (“friendship”) politics. Oh, and I can’t forget the kick-butt fighting. Lots of that too. 

Actual rating: 3.75


About Skylar Finn:

Skylar Finn is the pen name of a recent high school graduate (who never gets tired of saying she's graduated). Her real name is top secret because she's secretly a spy. That does spy stuff. Secretly. When she's not spying, she blogs about books, life, and chocolate at Life of a Random. Skylar loves talking with bookworms about everything, so don't be shy. She's probably weirder than you anyways.