Blood of the Wicked: A Dark Mission Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Karina Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 31, 2011 | Series: Dark Mission

“Blood of the Wicked scared me, thrilled me, and made me fall in love with the characters. I want more and I can’t wait to see what she writes next!”
—Cherry Adair

Bestselling author Christina Dodd calls Karina Cooper, “A brilliant new voice in paranormal romance.” Karina’s extraordinary debut novel, Blood of the Wicked, is exhilarating, terrifying, mesmerizing, and hotter than hell. Unfolding in an alternate Earth forever changed by mass catastrophes and ruled by repression, bigotry, and fear, the spellbinding story has sworn enemies joining forces—united by need and irresistible passion—to achieve a frightening  goal that almost certainly means death for one of them. A brilliantly imaginative and breathtakingly sensuous tale of witches and witch hunters, Blood of the Wicked immediately rockets Karina Cooper into the elite company of J. R. Ward, Kresley Cole, and Charlaine Harris.

Editorial Reviews

Review

4 and 1/2 stars! “An electrifying, very promising start to the new Dark Mission series. Cooper’s world has endless possibilities in her alternate universe where witches...are hunted down for their murderous ways. The characters and plot are expertly woven in with action and steamy romance.” (RT Book Reviews )

“Dark, bloody, and violently descriptive, this steamy romance takes readers on an emotionally wrenching, sometimes gruesome journey into a grimly fascinating futuristic world that will draw readers in and leave them wanting more. Compelling and mesmerizing, this is a stellar start to this new series.” (Library Journal )

From the Back Cover

When the world went straight to hell, humanity needed a scapegoat to judge, to blame . . . to burn.

As an independent witch living off the grid, Jessie Leigh has spent her life running, trying to blend in among the faceless drudges in the rebuilt city. She thought she was finally safe, but now she's been found in a New Seattle strip club—by a hard-eyed man on a mission to destroy her kind.

A soldier of the Holy Order, Silas Smith believes in the cause: trawling the fringes of society for the murderous witches who threaten what's left of the world. Forced into a twisting web of half-truths and lies, he has to stay close to the most sensuous and electrifying woman he has ever seen and manipulate her into leading him to the witch he has to kill: her brother. Silas doesn't know that Jessie's his enemy, only that he wants her, needs her, even as he lies to her . . . and must protect her until his final breath.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Avon; Original edition (May 31, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062046853
• ISBN-13: 978-0062046857
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.1 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #444,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After writing happily ever afters for all of her friends in school, Karina Cooper eventually grew up (sort of), went to work in the real world (kind of), where she decided that making stuff up was way more fun (true!). She writes dark and sexy paranormal romance, steampunk urban fantasy, and writes across multiple genres with mad glee. One part glamour, one part dork and all imagination, Karina is also a gamer, an airship captain's wife, and a steampunk fashionista. She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with a husband, a menagerie, a severe coffee habit, and a passel of adopted gamer geeks. Visit her at www.karinacooper.com, because she says so.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars (2.5 stars) Intense. But I didn't like Silas. June 20, 2011

By Kelly (Fantasy Literature) TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I can be a sap sometimes, and I confess that a good love story can move me to tears. _Blood of the Wicked_, however, made me cry for all the wrong reasons.

_Blood of the Wicked_ is the first in the Dark Mission paranormal romance series by debut author Karina Cooper. It appears that each installment will be self-contained and focus on a different couple. The setting is an alternate future: witches existed and were known to exist in the story's past, and then when disasters struck the world's cities, the witches were blamed for the cataclysms and are now hunted and burned. In New Seattle, built on the ruins of today's Seattle, we meet our hero and heroine.

Silas is a witch hunter on the trail of a violent coven. To that end, he seeks out Jessie, the sister of one of the coven's witches, Caleb. He finds her tending bar in a strip club and, to make a long story short, the two end up hunting Caleb together. Silas intends to capture Caleb and have him executed, while Jessie believes her brother is innocent and plans to save him instead. But Jessie has a secret: she is also a witch, and if Silas finds out, it will mean a death sentence.

Cooper's writing is for the most part very good. New Seattle and the alternate history are interesting, and Cooper skillfully depicts the wet, cold, bleak, chaotic world her characters live in. You don't even realize how well she describes it until the characters reach a beautiful, wholesome sanctuary that is the polar opposite of the city, and until they are thrust back into New Seattle after that brief idyll. Some of the geographic descriptions and fight scenes can get a little confusing, and Cooper has a few "pet words" that she overuses ("roil" comes to mind), but overall the prose works well.

The problem with _Blood of the Wicked_ is the romance -- and as this is a romance novel, that's not a good thing. Silas is a bigot. I understand that he has a traumatic past involving some evil witches. When being a witch is known with 100% certainty to be genetic, though, and when Silas persists in believing everyone with that genetic marker is irredeemable, that's bigotry in my book. Even before he finds out Jessie is a witch, he doesn't always treat her well; he's troublingly rough with her on several occasions and shames her for the strip-club job. After he finds out -- well, that's where a lot of the crying comes in. The way he treats her (and allows her to be treated by others) after that revelation is extremely upsetting.

All of this would be easier to swallow if _Blood of the Wicked_ weren't a romance. I can read about all sorts of twisted people in fantasy or general fiction. But when I read romance, I want to root for a couple to get together, and I want to turn the last page thinking they will be happier now that they've found each other. When it comes to Silas and Jessie, I have trouble believing it. Silas' change of heart about witches seems born of panic, or simply put in because it's necessary to the plot, rather than deeply felt. Even if he means it, though, I'm still not convinced he won't trot out the strip-club jeers the first time they have an ordinary domestic argument.

Or maybe it would work if it were a stronger romance. The relationship between Silas and Jessie develops over just a few days and consists largely of the two repeatedly getting into danger and then having sex afterward. The connection feels too superficial. Love may conquer many things, but I have less faith in the power of lust and adrenaline.

I can't deny that _Blood of the Wicked_ took my emotions on an intense roller-coaster ride -- and there's some evocative writing here, especially in the "sanctuary" scenes -- but in the end it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Contempt. That's the word I'm looking for. Silas alternates between putting Jessie on a pedestal and having contempt for her. He'll be all "she's innocent," "she's sunshine," etc., mostly based on the way she looks, and then whenever he's faced with the cold hard facts of her life, he's contemptuous. A life that is difficult precisely because of witch hunters, as it happens. Jessie, for her part, just doesn't do much in the story, and I can't figure out why she loves Silas after everything that happened.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I liked it, but not as much as the novella May 31, 2011

By Jen TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I really wanted to love this book. The prequel novella Before the Witches was awesome. It left me wanting more. I thought Blood of the Wicked would be cut from the same cloth, but it had a very different feel. Don't misunderstand... the book isn't bad. I liked it. But I didn't love it.

The story is set about 50 years after a series of cataclysmic events changed the face of the world. Many blame witches for the near-armageddon. And they are persecuted relentlessly. Jessie is a witch in hiding. Silas is a witch-hunter, determined to find Jessie's brother, Caleb. He targets Jessie, not because she is a witch (he doesn't know that she is), but to help track Caleb.

Silas and Jessie are undeniably drawn to each other. He has been hardened by his life, and is worn down physically and emotionally. He's been off the job for 14 years, doing other things. (And it's never really clear to me how "The Mission" got him to come back to find Caleb.) He thinks all witches are evil and with the exception of Jessie, it looks like he's not entirely wrong. You would think that because he's the heroine's brother, Caleb is really a good guy who has been unfairly targeted. You would be wrong. He is horrible. But Jessie doesn't know that. Just as Silas is using her to track his prey, she is using him, hoping to find her brother and save him.

I think my biggest problem with this book was that I found myself confused by some of the world building. I understand that a new Seattle was built above the rubble of the old, and only the upper class live above ground. After a time, I figured that city below ground was the remnants of the Old Seattle (?) but when we started talking about levels in between, I got lost. That was a distraction. So were my questions about Silas. Did he leave the Mission after the big incident where his friends died? Did he hunt witches in Florida? For who? How did they force him back to Seattle? I also had questions about the big ending. Why was Jessie a target? There are other witches who could have served the same purpose. Right? Or why not? Was I not paying close enough attention to the details?

The concept of the series is good. And it's fresh. The book is rather dark, which I like. And the sex is good.. a little rough and demanding. Hot. And morbid anticipation of Silas' discovery that Jessie is witch had me on the edge of my seat. The series has potential. I'll give Lure of the Wicked a try, and see where we go from there. 3 1/2 stars.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Grim, Rough and Edgy May 17, 2012

By Cheap and Lazy

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really enjoy stories with heroes who have to redeem themselves (as long as they truly manage it). I had concerns about this book being another depressing post-apocolyptic urban fantasy. Instead, I found myself far too enthralled with the characters' conflicts, the action, the plot, the world-building, the sexual tension, smoking hot (not tender) love scenes, and most of all, the author's voice. Her style, and this particular plot premise, aren't going to work for everyone, but they did for me. I wish Amazon had a Gold Star I could give it.