AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Jennifer L. Armentrout's HALF-BLOOD

Title: HALF-BLOOD
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Book 1 in the Covenant series
Narrator: Justine Eyre
Price: $15.00
Length: 9 hrs 17 min 
Format: MP3 - CD
Release Date: 3/11/2014
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Download from Audible.com



My Ratings

Plot:  5/5 
Setting:  4.5/5 
Writing:  5/5 
Originality of Plot:  3/5 
Characters Development:  5/5 
Ending:  5/5
Narration:  5/5
Cover Art:  4.5/5 
Likelihood to Recommend:  5/5 

Overall:  42/45 = 93%

Synopsis

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

After her mother's murder, seventeen-year-old Alex could only do one thing...run!  Daimons were hot on her trail, but thankfully so were the Sentinels.  She is rescued and taken back to the Covenant.  She knows that this path only has two ending: continue her training as a Sentinel or become a drugged servant for the Hematoi.  The dean is unsure whether or not she can catch up on the time she missed, while keeping her attitude in check.  Coming back to the Covenant has one major hunky, pure-blood perk, Aiden St. Delphi.  He was supposed to protect her, and help her catch up on the training that she missed.  It's just to bad pures and Half-bloods are forbidden to be date.  

I'm going to start off by saying, I love this new take on Mythology! When it comes to popular paranormal YA, this concept absolutely stands out.  The world is building, storytelling, and characters in this series are wonderful. All that being said, I did find several similarities between this story and Richelle Mead's Vampire Diaries. Tough, snarky female lead. Sexy, slightly older, role model/teacher. The leaders of their group won't allow them to be together.  Shakespeare said that there are only 7 types of stories.  I'm actually not bothered by the similarities. There were just a few.  By mid-point in the book I had almost completely forgot about it, because I was enjoying the series so much.

This story has fantastic characters.  I just love smart, strong, snarky female leads.  So I couldn't help, but adore Alex.  And I really enjoyed how Aiden started as this gruff, emotionless, badass Sentinel.  This story allows the reader to peal away bit of his hard exterior and see the amazing guy inside. Alex is also surrounded by funny, smart secondary characters that help bring the story along.  Heck, I even enjoyed the "bad guys" of this story.  Then there is Seth.  I know that I shouldn't like him, but I'm drawn to his character.  He is that bad boy, that you let talk you into doing things you wouldn't do on your own.

Justine Eyre's narration of this series is spot on! She really brings the story to life. It's like listening to several different actors act out a script.  That is a rare gift, when it comes to audiobook narrators.  I will pick up just about anything narrated by Justine, and she's the main reason that I picked up this series.   

Amazing storytelling and deep characters make HALF-BLOOD a must read for all paranormal YA readers.  I can't seem to put this audiobook down.  As soon as I finished, I immediately downloaded PURE book 2 in the Covenant series.  I'm really excited to see what Jennifer L. Armentrout has in store for us!

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Jennifer L. Armentrout's DAIMON (Covenant: Prequel)

Title: DAIMON
Series: Covenant  (Prequel)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Narrators: Justine Eyre 
Price: $10.00 MP3-CD
Length: 1 hour 50 minutes
Publisher: Tantor Media; Unabridged,Unabridged CD edition
Release Date: March 4, 2014
ISBN-10: 145261976X
ISBN-13: 978-1452619767




My Ratings

Plot:  5/5
Setting:  4.5/5
Writing:  5/5
Originality of Plot:  4.5/5
Characters Development:  5/5
Ending:  4.5/5  
Narration:  5/5
Cover Art:  4.5/5
Likelihood to Recommend:  5/5

Overall:  43/45 = 95%

Synopsis

"Love in my world usually ended up with someone hearing 'I smite thee!' as she was cursed to be some lame flower for the rest of her life."

For three years, Alexandria has lived among mortals—pretending to be like them and trying to forget the duty she'd been trained to fulfill as a child of a mortal and a demigod. At seventeen, she's pretty much accepted that she's a freak by mortal standards . . . and that she'll never be prepared for that duty.

According to her mother, that's a good thing.

But as every descendant of the gods knows, Fate has a way of rearing her ugly head. A horrifying attack forces Alex to flee Miami and try to find her way back to the very place her mother had warned her she should never return—the Covenant. Every step that brings her closer to safety is one more step toward death . . . because she's being hunted by the very creatures she'd once trained to kill.

The daimons have found her.

Review

Seventeen year old Alex has been has been on the run with her mother for three years.  She's a half-human trying her best to fit in the human world.  I mean it's hard enough to fit in during high school, when you are normal!  Heck, she did really fit in back in the Covenant either.  Her mother ran away with her, before her training was complete.  To bad, seeing as they are attacked by the very thing she would  have been trained to kill.

I adore Alex. While she's a bit of a high school loaner, she's actually a kick-butt, snarky, take charge kind of girl! I love the back story between her and her mother.  Running isn't always the best option, but it was what she thought was best for her daughter.

I'm usually not a fan of prequels, but after starting Half-Blood (Bk 1 of the Covenant Series) you'd miss so much back story without it.  The beginning of the story is packed with world building info.  I love the mythology that this story is based in.  It's a very fresh, smart take on the stories of Gods and Goddesses.

Justine Eyre did a phenomenal job narrating this book! I questioned whether or not she could pull off voicing a teenager, but I was wrong.  She's able to put the perfect voices to everyone, from the most vein teenager to the upper-crust members of the Covenant.  Her voice is so versatile!

This story really sets the tone for the next book.  I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for Alex.  It's a great book to pick up, if you're interested a smart, unique new YA series!  I would ABSOLUTELY recommend picking up DAIMON, before starting the Covenant Series.  You'll be lost without it!