Review: Half-Blood (Covenant, #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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.

I've got to hand it to Armentrout, she's got another series on her hands that I'm now a huge fan of, and can't wait to continue.  I'm not sure that I can really pinpoint exactly what it is about her writing, but I enjoy it, plain and simple.  It might be her pace, the style, her characters and worlds she creates, who knows to be honest?  I think it's the combination of everything she pours into her novels that are just irresistible for me.

I had come across this book and series enough times that when I finally sat down to give it a try, I couldn't remember why exactly I hadn't picked it up before, but after reading and loving her Lux series, I decided I'd waited long enough.  As a long time fan of all things related to Greek and Roman mythology, I was excited to see what type of spin Armentrout would put on it, and was pleasantly surprised to say the least.

Alex was a great heroine and I'm really looking forward to seeing what she makes of herself and what types of adventures she finds herself involved with in the future installments within the series.  A novel like this wouldn't be complete without some sort of romance, whether it be unrequited love, or a case of star-crossed lovers, either way I couldn't wait to see how it all panned out.  Aiden proved to be quite the trainer as well as a temptation.  The dynamics Armentrouts weaves between the pure bloods and half-bloods was interesting and the rules and laws surrounding their involvement were interesting and frustrating all at once.

I was pleased that Armentrout started the first installment in the series off with a bang and kept the action and excitement moving throughout, mainly because once you were pulled in there was no turning back.  I didn't want to take breaks or stop to get other things done...I just wanted to know how it would end.  The new characters that were thrown in towards the middle and end played interesting roles and I'm eager to see how they'll develop in later installments.

This was a fun read and one that if you haven't had the chance to pick it up, now in the middle of Summer might be just the perfect time.  A light and fun, while also adventurous and action packed novel like this would be perfect to start and possibly continue on with throughout the rest of these hot Summer days.