Review: Half-Blood

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.

Title: Half-Blood (Covenant ~ Book 1)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publication Date: September 19 2011 
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press 
Length: 304 Pages
Add it to your TBR Pile: Goodreads
Buy It: Amazon US / Amazon UK

Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Cover Love: Stunning! Love the colors and it looks as though it would glow.
Point of View: 1st person, following Alexandria (call her Alex)

My Rating: 5 Stars

Jennifer Armentrout has to be one of the most talented authors out there right now.  Her Lux Series is one of my all time favorites and it appears the Covenant series is going to be a right up there with it.

I should start off by pointing out that there is a prequel to this series called Daimon.


I did in fact read this first but before I wrote my review I started Half-Blood and then when I was finished with Half-Blood I didn't feel there was enough in Daimon to do a review on it's own.  Don't get me wrong it was good and if you have the time I would suggest that you read it.  But after reading Half-Blood I can easily say I don't think there is anything in Daimon that is not explained again in book 1.  Daimon is the story of how Alex and her mother are attacked by Daimons and how Alex is attempting to make her way to the safety of the Covenant.  So if you would like the full story of the attack then I say read Daimon, if you are happy to be caught up in Half-Blood then you will not really miss anything important.

Now on to Half-Blood, first let us talk about the world building, it is amazing!  I have always had a love of Greek Mythology and the way Armentrout has blended it into our current world, it really was a joy to read.  In this world there are the Pure's, both of their parents are of pure blood.  Then there are the Half-Bloods, one parent is a pure and the other is a mortal.  As a half-blood there are very few options to you as an adult.  You can be taken into the Covenant to train to either be a guard or the best of the best will become a sentinel.  A sentinel's job is to be out on the streets in search of daimons.  The other option for a half-blood is to be thrown into a life of servitude.  They are forced to work as servants to a pure family for the rest of their lives, who would want that?!  A daimon (DEE-mun) was once a Pure.  Every pure and half has aether (EE-ther) in their blood.  When a pure tastes the blood and drinks the aether they are instantly hooked.  There is no way to beat this addiction, they are well and truly addicts from that moment forward.  How do they get more?  Kill more pures and half-bloods.

Alex (a half-blood) has always always wanted to be a sentinel, those out there searching for and killing daimons.  She had a lot of praise while at the Covenant but three years ago she was yanked out of school by her mother and they have been on the run since.  When she and her mother are attacked Alex finds herself on her own and back in the Covenant training again to try to be what she has always wanted to be.  

Her trainer is Aiden, Alex has had a crush on Aiden for years.  Aiden is a pure but also a sentinel.  There are not many pures who choose that life.  Most just travel around the world and live off the money of their ancestors having their servants wait on them.  Aiden has very personal reasons for wanting to hunt and kill daimons.  

Of course this is where the love story comes into play, we know Alex has a crush on Aiden and slowly you can see he has feelings for her also.  Oh... but did I fail to mention that it is strictly against the law for pures and half-bloods to couple?  Therein lies the problem.

There is a ton of action in this book! I found it very hard to put down and in fact read it in one day.  This really isn't the same old kind of paranormal/young-adult book.  There are some heavier moments and also a lot of beautiful moments.  I do love Alex!  She is smart, sassy, cocky but of course isn't without her 'OMG what are you thinking' moments.  Aiden is strong, protective and kind... in short I love him to bits!  Even though I wouldn't class this as having a true love triangle I can see where this may be a possible storyline later in the series.  I don't want to give too much away with the major plot twists but shall we say there is one love interest that is forbidden and another which has been predestined by the Gods.  I believe there will always be the one true love for Alex and that is Aiden, however I can see where it will get even more complicated for them in the future.

All in all I strongly suggest this series!  I am very excited to get started on book 2 which is Pure.

“Everything could come to a crashing end for us if we were caught, but it didn’t matter. Right now, being with him seemed worth whatever consequence could come from it. This was right, like it was meant to be. There was no logical explanation for it.”

MORE QUOTES FROM HALF-BLOOD