Book: Half-Blood by Jennifer Armentrout

Published by Spencer Hill Press

Purchased for my Nook (242 pages)

Genre: YA: Paranormal- Mythology

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Goodreads Summary: 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.

The whole time I was reading Half-Blood, I was reminded of Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead.  It’s Vampire Academy, but with a Greek mythology twist.

I loved the idea of Half-Blood.  The Hematoi, and pures and halfs…I love how the society is structured.  And I loved the idea of the Apollyon…and the rare occurrence of 2 Apollyons.  Of course, Alex happens to be the 2nd Apollyon.

Half-Blood just didn’t work for me though, and I think it’s because I couldn’t stop comparing it to Vampire Academy.  The 2 books are similar enough that I couldn’t really enjoy Half- Blood.

The characters were just okay.  Alex just annoyed me, with her need to take care of things, even when told not to…and even thought she needed a lot more training.  The only character that really stood out was Seth, who’s the first Apollyon.  His abilities are definitely mysterious, but also interesting.

Armentrout does keep you interested, and the novel moves along pretty well.  I wasn’t bored while reading it, which is always a plus.  I liked the references to Greek mythology.

Overall, I have to give it a 2 out of 5.  It was okay, and while I liked the concept, I was too reminded of VA to really enjoy it.