Blood Warrior by H.D. Gordon
Genre: YA Paranormal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Goodreads Says: When her home is attacked by murderous vampires, 17-year-old Alexa is forced to leave her mother for dead in order to save her sister. She soon learns that she is the last known member of an elite race of supernatural Warriors, and is thrust into a world full of vampires and werewolves who all seem to regard her as some sort of savior. Meanwhile, Alexa battles a monster within herself that seeks to gain control; a monster that seeks blood.
The hidden city she finds herself in appears perfect, but Alexa's instincts tell her that all is not right within its walls. When she is asked to attend a school of fighters, whose exams consist of gladiator-style competitions, she must decide who she can trust among the smiling faces. And, when she meets Kayden, a vampire she feels undeniably drawn to, she must decide if she can trust herself.
I'm not sure how I came about this book. It was only a few days ago but my week has been a blur and well so has this become. At any rate I was either browsing Goodreads or Amazon and happened upon this book. As I read the description I couldn't help but feel like it was all too familiar. As you all know I love the Covenant Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout and reading the description of Blood Warrior was like reading the description of Half-Blood. So right away I was like OH HECKY NAW! For .99 I decided it was worth checking out.
I'm SO glad I did!
I still felt that familiarity reading the first chapter or so. I mean come on...
1. Alexa(Blood Warrior) Alex aka Alexandra (Half-Blood).
2. Alexa's(Blood Warrior) home is broken into by Lamias (vampires) and leaves her mom for dead. Alex's(Half-Blood)home is broken into by Daimons(vampire like creatures) and leaves her mom for dead.
3. Both are kick ass warriors, strong female heroines with a tendency to get into trouble, and are so lovable.
I believe the similarities end there though.
I totally fell in love with the world H.D. Gordon has created. At the beginning of the book, H.D. tries to keep things a mystery and is only giving the reader glimpses of Alexa's life. We find out that she lives with her mother and her sister Nelly. You get the feeling that her mother's love is non existent and that she really doesn't interact much with her sister. Seems like mom favors Nelly while Alexa is pushed to train and train for no apparent reason. Alexa mentions that she is kept wearing sweats nursing bruises on her face while Nelly has all the new fashions and is always looking beautiful. The feeling right away is that there is mystery and something is off but you are just not sure what. You also get the sense that Alexa might be jealous of Nelly.
Both Alexa and the reader find out simultaneously about the real world she was born into. Everyone finds out real quick that Alexa was born a warrior, is the last warrior, she must always protect her sister Nelly and NO ONE should be trusted because EVERYONE has secrets...
I really felt this story was unique. This is not your typical Vampire/Werewolf story and I think H.D. Gordon did a great job in owning her version of vampires. Great plot and great character development. I think what I appreciated most with this book and the next one in the series was that although there were secrets you didn't have to wait forever to find out about them. It was fast paced and definitely filled with action. The action scenes weren't muddled. Feelings described were ones that you could easily identify with and not once did I think they were exaggerated but rang realistic. You see growth in Alexa and begin to understand her more and more throughout the book.
There were a few discrepancies and inconsistencies but nothing major. For example remember when I mentioned before that there seemed to be some jealousy on Alexa's part? Well the jealousy coupled with the vague, heavy weirdness/sadness that's introduced in chapter one, made it hard for me to buy into this unconditional love Alexa has for her sister once all hell breaks loose. (And it does.)
OH OH OH...the romance...Yes there is romance in this book! I'm not a huge fan of love triangles. I really don't know why so many authors use it...but they do. IMAGINE my surprise when in this book there is NOT a love triangle but a love QUADRANGLE! Yes folks, quadrangle is an actual word/thing.
No worries... A, B, C seem to be the most important in this formula although D tries but in my eyes B doesn't have a real chance because C has it, whatever it is, effortlessly. LMBO! Confused yet? HA HA!
So finally we reach the end of my review with these parting words. I was left at WOW by the end of the book and that was such a nice surprise. I bought the next book right away and started my obsession with the author to see/find out all the deets on this series.
In doing my research I find out that H.D. Gordon is an indie writer. I think I was most upset about the fact that 1. there aren't a lot of Goodreads reviews on this book, 2. not enough publicity for this wonderful series. Yes, about 1200 people have it on their TBR list and almost 400 people have reviewed the book but I think more people should be read and hear about this book. I have read a few books in the last few months where they have been hyped up to the extreme and are not nearly as good or as creative as this book! I for one want to support indie writers especially if they are gifted. They don't have the man power that big publishing companies seem to be having so let's help them out.
I hope you read this book, end up loving it as much as me, and then spread the word!!
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