Monday, September 26, 2011

Review: Blood Rights

Amazing cover art!

Chrysabelle is a comarré, the ultimate blood source for a vampire.  From birth, she was molded into the ideal: in beauty, countenance, and blood purity.  But now her patron --her blood-master-- is dead, and she is suspected not only of killing him, but stealing a magic ring in his possession.  Now Tatiana, a deranged and power hungry vampire, is hunting for her and will stop at nothing to accomplish her task.

Chrysabelle takes refuge on the other side of the world, with her aunt Maris. She hides the golden sigils that mark her as comarré and tries to assimilate into human culture.  But it doesn't really work out. She crosses paths with Mal, a cursed and outcast vampire. And through a string of events neither intended, he becomes her new patron.

Mal doesn't need any new problems.  The curse he lives with keeps him on the edge of sanity.  His only companions are a spirit and a shapeshifter tied to him by circumstance. He can't feed properly; he is shunned by his kind.  Yet, something in him calls to Chrysabelle. I'd like to say this turned into a romance, but I can't.  There are moments it seems so close, but we don't quite get there.  Grr.

They do, however, become something of a team... working together against Tatiana.  As the book unfolds, we learn more about her dark plans and what they'll mean for the world.  We also learn more and more about the comarré: their secrets and their legacy. The world building is unique and complicated, in parts. It took me awhile to feel invested in the story. The first half didn't grab me the way the second half did. There was too much time spent from Tatiana's POV. Way too much.  And honestly, I think the book may have been better served with some tightening up, especially early on. Things just didn't feel like they were really moving forward for awhile.

I did become more invested over time.  Of course, part of that was me being greedy for the moments of connection between Chyrsabelle and Mal.  And while they never did get where I wanted them to be, I think there is definite groundwork to move in that direction in later books.  Tatiana makes for a formidable villain and the big reveal about her at the end actually managed surprise me, so kudos to the author for that.  There were some strong secondary characters, as well.

I feel pretty confident that I'll read the next installment in the series. Hopefully, it will pick up the pace a bit and give me more of the connection between our hero and heroine that we saw the beginnings-of in this book.  3 1/2 stars.

*ARC Provided by NetGalley

Click to purchase: Amazon or The Book Depository
Blood Rights
by Kristen Painter
Release Date: September 27, 2011
Publisher: Orbit

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9 Comments:

At Monday, September 26, 2011 at 10:06:00 AM CDT , Blogger Amber I @ Awesomesauce said...

I have seen this book on netgalley and was almost thinking of requesting it because of the cover. It just looks awesome. But I think I will wait, maybe if the 2nd book is awesome I will try it out. Thanks for your helpful review.

 
At Monday, September 26, 2011 at 10:52:00 AM CDT , Blogger Unknown said...

What, no romance? I think I have to agree with Amber and wait for some reviews on book 2 before I buy this. I had full intentions of buying this book tomorrow. I still may though, the world sounds very interesting.

 
At Monday, September 26, 2011 at 10:57:00 AM CDT , Blogger Jen at Red Hot Books said...

I hate to discourage anyone. I did enjoy it, especially in the second half. But I really did want more out of the H/h. There is definitely something going on between them. But would you call two kisses and some fairly good yearning, a romance? (Me neither.)

 
At Monday, September 26, 2011 at 11:26:00 AM CDT , Blogger Creepy Query Girl said...

Interesting premise- too bad the romance wasn't there. Thanks for the honest review!

 
At Monday, September 26, 2011 at 11:31:00 AM CDT , Blogger Amber I @ Awesomesauce said...

Going into the book knowing there is no romance would just be hard for me.lol. I can read books without it but usually I have hopes it will be there, knowing it will not makes me want to wait to see if the 2nd book will have it.

 
At Monday, September 26, 2011 at 7:05:00 PM CDT , Blogger Alleged Author said...

I think I might still check it out because I'm interested to see if the plot holds up without the romance. Great review!

 
At Monday, September 26, 2011 at 8:53:00 PM CDT , Blogger Tyraa said...

No romance? DAMMN. I was so hoping it would be chock full. I have a print copy for review that I'm hoping to get to soon. Since it's a trilogy I'm hoping it'll heat up in the next 2 books. Fingers crossed!

 
At Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 12:59:00 PM CDT , Blogger Steph from fangswandsandfairydust.com said...

I feel the same way, they may get there and may not. That's why we will buy the next book, right?

 
At Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 7:09:00 PM CDT , Anonymous Paperback Daydreamer (Deanna) said...

I'm not reading your post but I had to LOL when I saw that you reviewed this and I even said, "That's sooooo funny!" Because when I was at Target the other day walking up and down the book aisles (it's something I can't not do when I'm there) I saw the cover of this book and bought it! Then I saw that the author is going to be at AAD 2012 and I thought it was even more perfect...then you posted this review, yep, it's a sign! :-D

 

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