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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Splendid Introduction to Shadow Wolves!, April 8, 2008
This review is from: Bad Blood (Crimson Moon, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
As Bad Blood by L.A. Banks begins, we meet Sasha Trudeau and her fellow team members. She is a part of a unique group of 'beings' who are all soldiers for the U.S. government in this fictional world. Sasha and her team members are all connected to one another because they were supposedly attached by werewolves at some point in their lives; thus, becoming contaminated with werewolf virus. Being a Special Ops soldier for the government, Sasha is used to taking orders from her superiors and fully obeying them to contain the level of paranormal activity around the world. When her superiors send her on a mission without her team, Sasha does not understand why she has been separated from them but she still fulfills her duties. What happens on mission in Korea and once she returns home, will forever change her perception of the people she once trusted and obeyed.
Bad Blood is book one in the Crimson Moon Novels by L.A. Banks. Bad Blood is science-fiction meets paranormal and what a great combination the two make! This story continuously builds and lets the readers learn as main character, Sasha Trudeau learns of whom she truly is and of the dirty backhanded deals of the government. If readers are looking for a series that is exactly like Banks' Vampire Huntress Legends, then they will not find it here. The Crimson Moon Novels focus on werewolves, shadow wolves and the government. Though, there is one thing the two series have in common, besides the author, both are equally well-written and stunningly intriguing. Banks pulls the readers into the story throughout the book but towards the end, when certain secrets are revealed, readers will be left on the edge of their seats panting for more. With characters like Sasha Trudeau, Max Hunter, and secondary character currently known as Shogun, they definitely throw in some spice, kick, and punch.
For those interested in reading Bad Blood, which I recommend to all readers, I strongly suggest visiting the website for this book and the others that will follow in this series at www.crimsonmoonnovels.com. The website will explain the terminology used in the series.
Reviewed by Chantay,
APOOO BookClub
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sad to say, same old, same old with different names, different title., June 17, 2008
This review is from: Bad Blood (Crimson Moon, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
My very favorite book of LA Banks work is "The Bitten." In that book, I felt like she achieved the perfect pinnacle of good vs. evil, and embraced the ambiguity of characters that are neither good nor evil but instead were a mixture (ie, more real). The books which came after "The Bitten" in the VH series struck me as being too aggressively good vs. evil; and I mourn the loss of chemistry between the "good" Carlos and Damali. That said, and I apologize for starting off this review of "Bad Blood" with a synopsis of the VH series but it ties in to what I have to say about "Bad Blood." If you really LOVED every single one of the VH books, then this book is for you! You will like the ways it reminds you of VH and the new powers and mythos it introduces. However, for me, this book fell short. In fact, very quickly it got off into the same old take on the vampires/werewolves that LA used in the VH series: Evil is Evil and the only answer to it is destruction with blessed weapons or hallowed earth bullets, etc. NOTE -- SPOILERS ahead!!! In fact, at the end, there is a future glimpse that indicates Sasha's new man will eventually become one of the evil, uncontrollable "shadow" wolves. I also felt that the action scenes of the book moved too quickly, without the important buildup of the scenes to show why things were happening. Particularly, the scenes where her lover's pack chooses to "shoot-up" with the drugs that turn them to pure evil "shadow" beasts, half-wolf & half-human, uncontrollable animals. This really did not make sense to me & the explanation given in a few words by one of the packmembers before Sasha and her man blow them to pieces was not enough of an answer. The pack wanted to be "bigger and more powerful," but this does not sound like a good enough reason for the werewolves that grew up with the Indians and spirit guides to just suddenly decide out of jealousy to stick a needle in their veins and mainline pure evil into their bodies. The other part of this is that once the pack members have "shot-up" even once, they are evil permanently, so the only rescue is to shoot them dead. So, I found this book to be a disappointing return to a world where the good blow the evil to bits.
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27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Only for die-hard Banks fans :/, April 13, 2008
This review is from: Bad Blood (Crimson Moon, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
I'm a big fan of Banks' VHL series and was eager to read her take of werewolf lore and mythology. On the bright side, Banks does make the werewolf her own and as always, she has excellent, unique ideas that are easily understood. Unfortunately, the very things that plagued the first book in the VHL series, Minion (original version, not the revised mass market edition), plague Bad Blood--namely, little character arc, shaky world-building, and awkward action. For all the great ideas packed into this book, Banks hasn't managed the skill of proper world-building. The first half of the book feels like an info dump, and when the action is finally introduced, it's buried once more in chapters of internal ramblings from Sasha, Dr. Holland and other secondary characters. Because of the shaky world-building, the characters suffered and I could never feel truly connected with them, and the disconnect made my reading experience even more lackluster, I'm afraid. I won't write the series off entirely as the first two books in the VHL series left me wanting, but I couldn't recommend this book to any readers new to Banks' style of writing.
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