Review: Drink Deep

Reviewed by Jen
 

If you're a fan of the Chicagoland Vampires series and you haven't read this book yet, there's only one reason you are reading this review. You want to know if somehow... some way... Ethan comes back. Well, let me address this right off the bat. (*spoilers*) There is no way in hell I am going to answer that. Come on, guys, it's about the journey, not the destination!

Without spoiling anything, I can tell you that I did alot of crying. Again. It's been two month since the events of Hard Bitten, and Merit is grieving. But she is also Sentinal to the Cadogen House and it's a responsibility that she still holds dear. So slowly, she is trying to pull herself together enough to do her job. Jonah, the Captain of the Guards from Grey House, is there to help her. He's serving as makeshift partner, but there are hints he would like to be more.

Cadogen is in disarray. The big vampire council has sent someone to reorganize the House and it's clear the guy's not there to help, but to undermine everything Ethan has built. Still, Cadogen doesn't have much choice but to take it.

Merit is served up a distraction from her personal problems, when yet another supernatural problem begins brewing in the Windy City. It starts with the lake turning into a magic-sucking abyss and escalates from there. The vampires aren't to blame, but hostility is growing among humans toward the supes so Merit hopes to fix the problem before her people are blamed by the public.

I'm not going to tell you anything else, plotwise, although it's tempting. I am, however, going to try to address a couple of things in broad strokes. Very early on, I had a pretty strong feeling about who was causing the problems. But despite the fact that it felt a little predictable, I might have been ok with it, until the why of it was introduced. The why-part seemed wrong... a little contrived, even. And I hate to say that, because there were alot of things I really loved in this book.

We got the chance to learn more about the other supernatural races in the context of this world: from the nymphs and sirens to the Fae and, well, whatever the heck Tate is. I loved Luc and Lindsay. I loved Malik. And Jonah. But even in his abscense, Ethan's prescence is deeply felt... both by Merit and by me, as a reader. There a great deal of emotional resonance in this book and the big theme is loyalty: what it means to the different characters and whether they manage to hold on to it.

I'm going to give it a little more than 4 stars. I would have given it more, truly, if it weren't for the problems I had with the villain reveal. But definitely a must-read for any fan of the series.

*ARC Provided by NAL

Click to purchase: Amazon or The Book Depository

Drink Deep

by Chloe Neill

Release Date: November 1, 2011

Publisher: NAL