Customer Reviews

Possession (Blood Ties, Book 2)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

All of the favorite and not so favorite characters are back. While the back of the book talks a lot about Nathan, his character does have much to do with this book other than to serve as a catalyst for many of the events that take place. Nathan begins behaving erratically, goes off a on bit of a rampage, and disappears. Max and Carrie, after looking at the evidence, determine that Nathan's behavioral changes are somehow connected to the Soul Easter. They fly to Madrid to seek a stay of execution from the Voluntary Vampire Extinction Movement. Meanwhile, a sexy werewolf assassin is assigned to the case, and Carrie starts having seriously vivid dreams about her first sire, Cyrus- the blood son of the Soul Eater. Max seeks to derail the assassination of Nathan while Carrie investigates her dreams.

This book is much better put together than the first. It flows much better and the characters are less scattered and random. It isn't very romance-like if that is what you are looking for in a book. I liked it for the characters, a couple in particular have become interesting but you'll have to read it yourself to see what I mean. Trying to avoid "spoilers".

Well.. to sum it up.. Im still quite pleased with the book. Its picks up right away in action. Where I might have prefered a lil more one on one time with Nathan an Carrie. But oh well. Im not going to give any part of the book away an you already can read the description.. so..
Im just writing to say that there is life after Twilight. And Im quite happy with this series..

Though the book has some notsohappy reviews, I found the book as good as the first one. Yes, Carrie is a romantic and is not your typical withoutlove vampire..and I find that pleasant.
A good read. Held me attention the whole way.
Could not wait to finish in order to get into the 3rd book (which by the way....is starting out to be really good too!)

The Possession, unlike its predecessor is a character study and it is very well done. Back again from The Turning (Blood Ties, Book 1) are Carrie, Nathan, Cyrus (yes, Cyrus) and Max. There have been a lot of complaints from other reviewers about the shift between Points of View in the book, but the view used here for Cyrus and Max allowed the author, Jennifer Armintrout, put us into their heads. Instead of getting just what the characters perceive about themselves, we really get to understand them in a way that Carrie's first person treatment doesn't allow.

The most appealing thread of the story follows Cyrus' personal transformation after his resurrection. He's human now and is initially ready to fall back into the evil and depravity that ruled his undead existence. From the previous book, we saw that along with his power, Cyrus had a vulnerability and neediness that made a somewhat sympathetic character despite the fact that he shouldn't have been at all likeable. The author puts us into Cyrus' head and exposes the thoughts that allow us to intimately view his journey toward recapturing his long lost humanity. We are made to understand the loss and seeking of love and approval that warped Cyrus in his previous life. We are privy to the beginning of his redemption because as he finally develops the ability to love, he finally gains the loves he has always sought.

A commonality between threads and characters in the Possession is the profound loss that most of them have experienced. They are all damaged and needy, looking for someone to fill the void of loneliness within them. None of them are healed here and even as Cyrus, Max and Carrie seem to have found the love that will heal them, it is stolen from them.

While the Possession carries the characters forward, it doesn't really move forward the background story. There is less of the scenes, just a few flash backs. that made the the Turning almost a horror story and only a few intimate scenes, some of which have nothing to do with love, so it is still not a romance. The Possession really just makes us truly understand the players and sets the stage for what it to come in the next book. I am anxious to read Ashes to Ashes (Blood Ties, Book 3)and see where Armintrout will take us next, for as different as the Possession was from the Turning, I just can't imagine what she has planned for Ashes to Ashes.

The vampire broke through the gray veil to pull Cyrus back from the realm of the dead to the living. Realizing he is a weak human surrounded by vampires, Cyrus vows to cut out the heart of Carrie who killed him when he was bloodsucker.

In Grand Rapids Carrie lives with Nathan who saved her life when her former sire Cyrus almost killed her. However, at their apartment she is attacked by a berserker demon, who to her shock turns out to be Nathan. He flees just before he would have killed her. She calls their best friend vampire Max Harrison, who tells her he will be right over.

Cyrus learns from the weak female in the church with him that a priest and nun were slaughtered there, but she is to keep him alive. At about the same time Max calls the Volunteer Vampire Extinction Movement who flies them to their headquarters in Madrid where they learn a maniac has sliced the throats of women back in Grand Rapids and General Breton tells them he believes Nathan has become a killer who must die. While Carrie visits the oldest vampire, the Oracle, who tells her Cyrus is back and to beware of the Soul Eater, who happens to be Cyrus' father, Breton assigns the murder of Nathan to werewolf Bella DeCesare. Soon everyone will collide in Grand Rapids.

The key to the second Blood Ties tale (see BLOOD TIES: THE TURNING) is that readers will believe that vampires and werewolves are real species because the cast is solid and deep. The two subplots consistently intermingle and cross. This leads to an electrifying action-packed story line that contains a strong psychological suspense element yet never slows down until the climax but the audience will not know what to expect until the final collision.

Harriet Klausner

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

Carrie Ames has settled in to her new "life" with her second sire Nathan, after he brought her back from the brink of death. Just as things are finally calming down, Nathan goes on a rampage, attacking Carrie and taking off. When he starts killing humans, Carrie believes the worst... Nathan has been possessed by the Soul Eater and she needs to save him.

Enter Max, Nathan's closest friend and a fellow member of the Voluntary Vampire Extinction Movement. Carrie calls on him for assistance in saving Nathan. But when it becomes apparent the Movement has sent an assassin - a very sexy female one at that - after Nathan, Max's mission becomes thwarting the assassin at any cost to give Carrie time to find the answers she needs to save Nathan.

Cyrus has just been reborn as a human after meeting his vampire death at the end of The Turning. He is none too pleased at his new mortal life, after all why would he ever want to be so weak again? However, as time goes on, with the help of one young woman whose duty is to take care of him, Cyrus begins to realize being human is not so bad after all. He begins to come around to this new life, turning into a very sensitive and caring individual, which makes the horrors of his past feel so much worse in comparison. So when Carrie comes barging into his world needing his help with Nathan, he has no desire to leave behind what he has found and is heartbroken as a result.

While I liked, if not loved, The Turning, I was far from impressed with Possession. It's really hard to love a book when the heroine annoys me, and in this book I liked her even less. She bounces around in her emotions ("Do I love Nathan or do I want Cyrus back?") and seems to have lost her backbone. The events in the novel reflect this indecisiveness, with Carrie flitting off to Spain for advice from the Oracle, then traveling across the United States following her disjointed thoughts on what happened to Nathan and what can be done to save him.

Max and Cyrus are really the characters who saved Possession for me, since Nathan only puts in a token appearance (speaking in Carrie's mind) now and then. Make no mistake, this is still no more a romance novel than The Turning was, having strong horror elements, but we do get a little taste of the love stories with these characters.

Cyrus actually, surprisingly considering how much I hated him in the preceding book, was my favorite character. I had my doubts about him and his sudden urge to try to be a good person once he realized he was human again but he brought me around even though I still think the "oh you're no longer a vampire so you are not evil anymore but good-hearted" was a little bit of a cop out. I was able to believe his internal conflict as he grew to have feelings for "Mouse" as he thought of his companion. As his feelings for her grow, we really could see how much he wanted to be worthy of her, though he felt the cruelty he inflicted as a vampire meant he could never be redeemed. I was heart broken for him when fate intervened to keep him from Mouse. Cyrus really made me believe that love can heal anything.

The story surrounding Max and the assassin sent after Nathan provides some steamy moments as well. The tension between them was so thick you could cut it with a knife and it certainly added an extra layer to the story. I especially loved seeing Max get his comeuppance when his seduction doesn't quite work as well on the assassin as it does on other women.

I was not completely enraptured in Possession, and actually found my mind wandering quite a bit. However, I do intend to read book 3, Ashes to Ashes, when it is released to see just how Armintrout plan to resolve the story of Blood Ties.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, April 2007. All rights reserved.

So I was standing in line at Walmart, wishing to get out of there before I could collect my Social Security, and this book caught my eye. I didn't have much to lose so I started reading it in line. I couldn't put it down when it was my turn and so I bought it. When I got home, I sat down and read it straight through until the end, in just a little under five hours.
I love the style of writing because it feels like you think right a long with them and the way they speak and interact. I was delighted when I realized it was a series and now I have an excuse to go by another book. When I got to the end, I could say I wanted to cry. Not out of sadness but frustration. I hate to be left hanging like that.

The choice Carrie makes in this book is pretty clear when she realizes that Nathan doesn't, and won't ever, love her, and that the "new" Cyrus could very much be what she needs (for those who doubt, you'll just have to read). When I get my hands on number three, I expect to again pull an alnighter cover to cover. These books are excellent!

Admittedly this books predecessor could get annoying. But not so much that I didn't want to finish the series. And "Possession" has an up side something new to offer to the reader other than constant indecision and some sex and violence (not always mutually exclusive) opens up the world Carrie was forced into by becoming a vampire.

Things were going just fine for Carrie and her new sire Nathan (if you say ignoring their mutual attraction in any adult way) when suddenly Nathan was possessed and carving weird symbols into his arms that despite the vampire thing won't heal. And things get worse when he kills someone and the movement sends out an execution order.

Carrie knows she needs help so her turns to Nathan friends Max (also a movement assassin) and heads to movement headquarters in Spain to plea for Nathan's life. But while there not only is another assassin (Bella, a werewolf) assigned to the killing as Max is seen as biased, Carrie learns from an ancient vampire known as the Oracle that the soul eater her old sire (Cyrus' father) is trying to make himself into a god.

Leaving Max and Bella to track Nathan (Max to try and save him Bella to kill him) Carrie takes off following a rumor that someone has brought Cyrus back to life on the slim chance he'll know how to help Nathan as the soul eater is Nathan's sire.

Like the first book this novel is filled with Carrie changing her mind every ten seconds about anything regarding her emotional life. Unlike the last we get third person scenes from Max (very funny) and Cyrus (being dead changed him.) All in all this book is just as fun as the last while being less annoying.

Four stars.

IMO Possession was even better than The Turning (if that's possible). And, the author doesn't mess around. She leads you right into another twist in the story and introduces you to a couple more characters (Bella and Max) who play a major role in this book. I found this book more descriptive than The Turning probably due to the possession storyline. You get a full glimpse through Carrie into Nathan's past life with his wife and why he is so haunted and torn by his past. You become more acquainted with the Soul Eater's role in Nathan's life. Plus, Cyrus is now back in action. The book does jump around quite a bit between 2 storylines; Nathan's possession and Cyrus' resurrection. And, at times, I had to reread a few paragraphs to keep the story straight. If you are wanting a romantic interlude, I'm afraid you aren't going to get it with this series. It just doesn't seem to be happening between Carrie and Nathan or Cyrus (especially with Nathan). On to Book 3 Ashes to Ashes review.....

My review of the first book "The Turning" was less than stellar. I had qualms about whether I would like this series. I can say that I am extremely glad that I went on to read "Possession". Here we meet up with Carrie and Nathan, cozy and content until Nathan becomes possessed. About the same time, miles away, Cyrus, Carries evil and dead first sire, is pulled from a deathly limbo to find himself in this world again, and human. Human Cyrus is maybe even more interesting the cruel, pshyco vampire Cyrus in his quest to face his previous nature and the unimaginable acts of terror he had inflicted for decades. Carrie unfortunately still is just not a very likeable heroine. She is too easily swayed from side to side, not just in her opinions but in her men as well. I also kept forgetting she was a vampire for some reason as I read this book! Nathan too is sort of dull, even when possessed. He is so busy wrapped up in his past that we never really see him as who he is in the context of the current story. Max, the vampire assassin and Bella, the werewolf assassin make interestng side characters whose portions of the book were among the most enjoyable. The entire first half of the book was incredibly exciting to me, watching Cyrus's humanity unfold. There isn't tons of actual action in this book, but there was enough to keep me from truly missing it. My biggest complaint came at the close of the novel, which to me truly felt unfinished. I understand a series is supposed to leave some loose ends to intrigue you enough to grab the next volume, but it should at least satisfy the reader on most levels. I really feel here I was left hanging. Overall, I found this story to be much more enjoyable than the "Turning" and I look forward to seeing if this uphill arc continues for the third installment. This is a good book in the realm of vampire fiction.