Half-Blood: A Covenant Novel [Paperback]

Jennifer L. Armentrout (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 2011 | Series: Covenant (Book 1)

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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

#1 New York Times and USA TODAY Bestselling Author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in West Virginia. All the rumors you've heard about her state aren't true. Well, mostly. She spends her time reading, working out, watching zombie movies, and pretending to write. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent her time writing short stories... therefore explaining her dismal grades in math.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Spencer Hill Press; 1 edition (October 18, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780983157205
• ISBN-13: 978-0983157205
• ASIN: 0983157200
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 0.9 x 6.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (262 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

# 1 NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in West Virginia.

When she's not hard at work writing, she spends her time, reading, working out, watching zombie movies, and pretending to write. She shares her home with her husband, his K-9 partner named Diesel and her hyper Jack Russell Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent her time writing short stories. Therefore explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes Young Adult Contemporary, Urban Fantasy/Paranormal and Romance. She writes New Adult and Adult romance under the pen name J.Lynn

She is the author of the Covenant Series (Spencer Hill Press) the Lux Series (Entangled Teen) and the upcoming YA Don't Look Back (2014) and untitled YA (Fall 2014) from Disney/Hyperion. She is also published with Harlequin Teen and HarperCollins.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#51 in Books > Teens

#51 in Books > Teens

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

128 of 147 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Similarities to Vampire Academy overshadowing and impossible to ignore September 27, 2011

By Vespi

Format:Paperback

After reading the synopsis, I was eager to read HALF-BLOOD and discover this interesting world which looked to be a UF novel of a hybrid vampire-Greek god race. While the mythology set-up was interesting, within 25 pages of reading, it became clear that something kept me from liking this book too much. And what would that be?

This book seemed to be a direct clone of the first VAMPIRE ACADEMY book. This was noticeably in the first *25 pages* and grew more and more pronounced as the book progressed. Now I understand that in the world of UF and YA vampire novels, a lot of mythologies and ideas overlap, but this was no mere coincidence. There were literally plot lines and direct phrases lifted from VA. I couldn't believe it. Here are the startling similarities: (**warning: spoilers if you have not read Vampire Academy or Half-Blood)

*Girl is 17-years old, of a halfie race that is considered a lower caste than the superior pure race above her who have power to wield the four elements.

*The halfie race retains incredible physical powers that allow them to battle an evil vampire-like form of their race, who are immensely powerful and drain the blood of the pure and half-race. Young halfies are trained at their race's society-run boarding school, where they train to be deadly guards/protectors to the superior race and slayers of the evil race.

*Girl has been on the run from the school officials for several years due to an unclear danger there Is caught by a hot older guy belonging to the elite group of guards and brought back.

*Girl is almost expelled by headmaster/mistress, but is vouched for by previously mentioned hot guard, who agrees to train with girl every day to make up the years lost in her training.

*Girls apparently has a reputation at school for being a flirt, admits to kissing a lot of guys, but is still a virgin. There is a pretty mean girl who constantly snarks at Girl and tries to get her expelled.

*Which is not hard, because Girl has a fiery personality and doesn't take smack from anyone. Also has problems with rules/authority, constantly gets in trouble/almost expelled.

*Hot guy is a quiet one who rarely smiles and acts all serious/professional most of the time. But the more time Girl spends with hot guy training, he lets out these rare smiles that make Girl's heart race, as she falls for him and he starts falling for her

*Girl gets injured during training. Hot guy insists they step aside as he treat her injuries delicately, while they have Deep Meaningful Conversation.

*There are important political things going on with the political elite, with power-struggles and a small but growing call for new rules/laws between the halfs and full bloods. The half-bloods have no political power or say in politics.

*Girl knocks on door of hot guys room. Commence heavy making out that is interrupted by an important plot point.

* Girl is attacked by fellow acquaintance that has been turned into one of the evil vampire races. Is saved by hot guy.

*Climax occurs at a cabin/cottage far away in the woods. Girl helps save day, then blacks out.

*In the end, hot guy admits he wants to be with Girl, but they can't be together because of their social positions. Cue angst.

Now, these are the similarities I could list off from the top of my head. Although Armentrout's writing is easy and flows nicely, I find it lacking descriptions to detail, such as not enough information is given about the world they live in, it's history, et cetera. I was also bothered by the fact that I recognized entire phrases and sentences from Vampire Academy in the book. Moreover, I find the romance a bit rushed, and the fact that the main character was supposed to be a flirt who has "kissed lots of boys" unbelievable given the small glimpse we get of her interactions with her peers. Overall, I found the book an enjoyable read that was constantly overshadowed by the vastly superior Vampire Academy.

46 of 54 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Save your money and get the original January 22, 2012

By Sealinewuman "I read the one star reviews first"

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

As I was reading this novel I kept wondering why it felt so familiar, after the first three chapters, I realised I was reading Vampire Academy with gods instead of vampires. Everything is just a blatant, unimaginative, uninspired ripoff, if I were this author I
would be ashamed of myself, and if I were Richelle Meade, I'd sue.

****SPOILER ALERT****

Without giving too much away to those who still want to read it, everything, and I mean everything is pretty much the same.

Girl that's a part of a lower caste of half-breed supernaturals training to defend the full blooded? Check.

Broody mysterious Superman type instructor that saves her bacon then agrees to train her so she doesn't fall behind her class year? Check.

Even the scene where Rose and Lissa are dragged before the head of the school with three Guardians in the room that plead on Rose's behalf is duplicated.

And oh dear god, the daimons are former pure-bloods that become daimons when they drain aether from the blood of another pure-blood, much the same way that strigoi become strigoi draining moroi. Even her name for the pure bloods (hematoi) is in the same phonetic family.

I'm sorry that's just pathetic, Richelle Meade put all lot of hard work into VA for someone with less than stellar writing skills to just rip her off.

I fully intend to get refund for this drivel, I will not support plagerism. Some similarities in ya fantasy fiction is to be expected, but this is just a blatant copy.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Jennifer L. Armentrout is my new favorite author! May 27, 2012

By BookcaseLaura

Format:Kindle Edition

We meet Alexandria "Alex" just as she watches a daimon (which is sort of a cross between a vampire and a zombie-demon?) kill her mother and then come after her. Enter Aiden, a sentinel (warrior daimon-hunter) who rescues Alex and brings her back to safety on the island Covenant school where he becomes her personal trainer to make up for all the schooling she's missed while she was away.
The story picks up as the daimons infiltrate the Covenant and Alex's past and future is brought into question and her actions are scrutinized at every step.
The romance between Alex and Aiden reminded me a lot of Four and Tris in Divergent...I loved the slightly older and wiser guy training the girl and having that bit of authority over her. This romance is much more forbidden than the one in Divergent though and it becomes a little frustrating to read (it gets even more so in book two). That frustration just adds to the underlying sexual tension present in all their scenes together. You read those passages knowing if and when they do get together (no spoilers here!), the pages are just going to ignite on their own!