chelseavbc's review against another edition
5.0
This review was originally published at Vampire Book Club.
Those who read this blog regularly know I flit back-and-forth between obsessions with urban fantasy titles and paranormal romances. I like darkness and grit. I love sizzling chemistry. And, above all else, I love seeing realistic characters, especially realistic relationships. And — damn — Karina Cooper hits all of the above and more with her first Dark Mission novel, Blood of the Wicked.
In the strictest sense, Blood of the Wicked is a paranormal romance novel, but I was impressed by the urban fantasy elements. The novel is set in New Seattle. Magic caused a great chasm to take much of the original city into the ocean. Instead of moving in-land, they’ve build on top of the ruins (again). What has been created is a physical manifestation of the social class structure. A layer cake where the poor and seedy elements live far underground where light can’t reach, middle class have the center levels (high enough to get a greyish natural light), and the most wealthy live topside in a world of glass and metal. She’s also maintained the ruins of Old Seattle, and diving into that catacomb is dark, nasty and dangerous.
Because witches’ magic is blamed for collapses all over the world, The Mission hunters seek out and kill all witches. Their belief is the magic always corrupts, always leads to evil. And magic is in the blood, so as soon as anyone — man, woman or child — is identified by blood he or she is executed. So, it’s not surprising that Jessie has been on the run her whole life. She does her best to keep the magic locked in, and skips from one strip club bartender gig to another. Her main goal is avoiding attention, but she also has spent years trying to find her little brother Caleb. While Jessie’s gift is to see the present, her brother inherited her mother’s ability to see the future. He gave her premonitions about her death, then left telling her to never look for him.
That was until Silas finds her. He’s a member of the Mission sent to New Seattle to find Caleb. The witch and his coven are killing people. Lots of people, and Silas knows for sure Caleb has killed five already in torturous rituals. His goal is to find Jessie and get her to help him bring in Caleb. He has no idea Jessie is a witch, too. She’ll come along, but only so she can save her brother before the missionaries take him in.
Silas and Jessie have instant attraction to one another, but they both know just how bad of an idea it would be to get together. Jessie knows what he is and that Silas would kill her if he found out she was a witch. She hates his kind and, hell, the bastard wants to kill her brother. Silas, on the other hand, sees Jessie as an innocent girl. He doesn’t want her involved in this and doesn’t want to be putting her in danger. He also doesn’t particularly like lying to her. He knows he’s going to kill Caleb, but paints on the lies to try and keep her help.
These two give into each other physically while still tangled in all the lies. When feelings start to arise they have to make some big decisions. Should they admit the truth? When the truth comes out about them both, will they be able to overcome it? Will Silas kill her if he finds out she’s a witch?
Oddly, the relationship built on lies feels real to me. It’s easy to go into something assuming it’s frivolous. Neither one thought they’d have feelings. Sex wasn’t supposed to matter between them. Just a little fun and then moving on to another city. But once that spark is lit, one has to decide if they want to back up and give themselves fully — including admitting early lies — or cut their losses. Choosing to make yourself vulernable to rejection is hard enough, what happens when that rejection will come with a death sentence?
A beautiful blend of darkness, love and acceptance, Blood of the Wicked goes to the top of my paranormal romance recommendations list. The writing is bone-deep with honesty and the action scenes crackle with tension and fury. Urban fantasy fans, if you’ve been avoiding paranormal romance, now’s the time to put a toe in. You will love this book.
Sexual content: Graphic sex scenes.
Those who read this blog regularly know I flit back-and-forth between obsessions with urban fantasy titles and paranormal romances. I like darkness and grit. I love sizzling chemistry. And, above all else, I love seeing realistic characters, especially realistic relationships. And — damn — Karina Cooper hits all of the above and more with her first Dark Mission novel, Blood of the Wicked.
In the strictest sense, Blood of the Wicked is a paranormal romance novel, but I was impressed by the urban fantasy elements. The novel is set in New Seattle. Magic caused a great chasm to take much of the original city into the ocean. Instead of moving in-land, they’ve build on top of the ruins (again). What has been created is a physical manifestation of the social class structure. A layer cake where the poor and seedy elements live far underground where light can’t reach, middle class have the center levels (high enough to get a greyish natural light), and the most wealthy live topside in a world of glass and metal. She’s also maintained the ruins of Old Seattle, and diving into that catacomb is dark, nasty and dangerous.
Because witches’ magic is blamed for collapses all over the world, The Mission hunters seek out and kill all witches. Their belief is the magic always corrupts, always leads to evil. And magic is in the blood, so as soon as anyone — man, woman or child — is identified by blood he or she is executed. So, it’s not surprising that Jessie has been on the run her whole life. She does her best to keep the magic locked in, and skips from one strip club bartender gig to another. Her main goal is avoiding attention, but she also has spent years trying to find her little brother Caleb. While Jessie’s gift is to see the present, her brother inherited her mother’s ability to see the future. He gave her premonitions about her death, then left telling her to never look for him.
That was until Silas finds her. He’s a member of the Mission sent to New Seattle to find Caleb. The witch and his coven are killing people. Lots of people, and Silas knows for sure Caleb has killed five already in torturous rituals. His goal is to find Jessie and get her to help him bring in Caleb. He has no idea Jessie is a witch, too. She’ll come along, but only so she can save her brother before the missionaries take him in.
Silas and Jessie have instant attraction to one another, but they both know just how bad of an idea it would be to get together. Jessie knows what he is and that Silas would kill her if he found out she was a witch. She hates his kind and, hell, the bastard wants to kill her brother. Silas, on the other hand, sees Jessie as an innocent girl. He doesn’t want her involved in this and doesn’t want to be putting her in danger. He also doesn’t particularly like lying to her. He knows he’s going to kill Caleb, but paints on the lies to try and keep her help.
These two give into each other physically while still tangled in all the lies. When feelings start to arise they have to make some big decisions. Should they admit the truth? When the truth comes out about them both, will they be able to overcome it? Will Silas kill her if he finds out she’s a witch?
Oddly, the relationship built on lies feels real to me. It’s easy to go into something assuming it’s frivolous. Neither one thought they’d have feelings. Sex wasn’t supposed to matter between them. Just a little fun and then moving on to another city. But once that spark is lit, one has to decide if they want to back up and give themselves fully — including admitting early lies — or cut their losses. Choosing to make yourself vulernable to rejection is hard enough, what happens when that rejection will come with a death sentence?
A beautiful blend of darkness, love and acceptance, Blood of the Wicked goes to the top of my paranormal romance recommendations list. The writing is bone-deep with honesty and the action scenes crackle with tension and fury. Urban fantasy fans, if you’ve been avoiding paranormal romance, now’s the time to put a toe in. You will love this book.
Sexual content: Graphic sex scenes.
kblincoln's review against another edition
3.0
Paranormal Romance set in an alternate "New Seattle" where a cataclysmic earthquake as well as the "outing" of witches has changed society forever and caused a Spanish Inquisition-esque agency to hunt down the witches with extreme prejudice not quite to my taste.
Maybe its the constant, tough, fierceness and swearing of the alpha hero, Silas? The way the heroine, Jessie, just is taken care of all the time, and then blamed by Silas for keeping secrets when he, too, is keeping secrets?
I found myself skimming just to find out what happens, but not enjoying the process. The writing is fine, New Seattle itself very interesting, but I found myself wishing Jessie were in it all by herself and this was more Urban Fantasy with Silas a minor romance-potential character rather than a main voice.
Maybe its the constant, tough, fierceness and swearing of the alpha hero, Silas? The way the heroine, Jessie, just is taken care of all the time, and then blamed by Silas for keeping secrets when he, too, is keeping secrets?
I found myself skimming just to find out what happens, but not enjoying the process. The writing is fine, New Seattle itself very interesting, but I found myself wishing Jessie were in it all by herself and this was more Urban Fantasy with Silas a minor romance-potential character rather than a main voice.
crystalballer83's review against another edition
1.0
I thought it was confusing and full of cliches.
moviemavengal's review against another edition
2.0
This was a free book I got at the RT convention. It's just not for me. It had nonstop action, but not much development of the romance. The author has created an interesting world with witches in a post-modern setting.
I felt the hero had Contempt for the heroine just because she worked as a bartender at a strip club she must be a slut. And he was t
Racist/ bigoted against all witches, and of course she was one.
For others who want more action, this series might be just the thing, but I almost didn't finish the book. Back to my Regencies and contemporaries.
I felt the hero had Contempt for the heroine just because she worked as a bartender at a strip club she must be a slut. And he was t
Racist/ bigoted against all witches, and of course she was one.
For others who want more action, this series might be just the thing, but I almost didn't finish the book. Back to my Regencies and contemporaries.
rclz's review against another edition
4.0
This is a good book and I like the authors style. I liked the characters, even the plot. What I didn't like and the reason I probably won't continue with the series is the same reason I don't read a lot of after the end of the world books, the world that's built is too dark for me. If you don't mind that type of thing you should give the book a try because does write well.
ezichinny's review against another edition
3.0
this was a 3.5. I was really suprised at how much i enjoyed this one. Review later
beth_dawkins's review against another edition
4.0
3.5-
Jessie Leigh is a witch in New Seattle. She has lived place to place, hiding from the Holy Order. Silas Smith, an agent of the Holy Order, is charged with finding Jessie’s witch brother and killing him. Silas finds Jessie, and together they set out to try and find her brother. He doesn’t know that she is a witch, and she doesn’t know he means to kill her brother.
You know how this story goes almost at once. Big burly man sees leggy woman. Leggy woman is hot and burly man is hot, but they are enemies. Sounds like hundreds of other romance novels. What set it apart was the awesome setting. New Seattle was built on the ruins of old Seattle after a major earth quake that split the city in two. There is a huge trench in the middle of the city. It feels very urban, yet this is futuristic. I was more interested in the city than Jessie at first.
I considered Jessie’s attraction to Silas strange at first. He hunts witches, and kills them for a living. Jessie’s family was torn apart because of hunters such as Silas. Her whole very sad history was formed by people like Silas. So when she starts to think about what is under his clothes, it makes me grind my teeth a little. This feeling changes over the course of the novel. Later on I found myself glued to the pages hopeful for things to work out.
The best part of the novel for me was the anticipation. Silas doesn’t know Jessie’s a witch. It is his job to kill witches. That one fact kept me turning the pages. The scenes between them get hot and heavy, which only made the anticipation that much worse. Of course Jessie doesn’t know that Silas is sent to kill her brother. That didn’t excite me as much as Jessie’s secret.
The only problem was that I didn’t really get into Silas, not as much as Jessie did anyway. I am picky with my lead men and Silas grunts to often for my taste. He tends to keep his head in the game or try to, but he came across as a little dense. It wasn’t until a lot later in the book that his connection with Jessie made me root for them. My dissatisfaction also stems from the end. Everything is wrapped up well, but his character seemed very different.
Blood of the Wicked is a typical Paranormal Romance with an awesome back drop. Although the story is typical, it still reeks with anticipation to keep the reader involved. I was not a fan of Silas or his grunting, but did like the two of them together, and the steamy scenes between them. It is a fast paced read. The action is intense, and it does a great job of keeping the reader in the book. I look forward to more from this witch hunting city!
-Beth
Jessie Leigh is a witch in New Seattle. She has lived place to place, hiding from the Holy Order. Silas Smith, an agent of the Holy Order, is charged with finding Jessie’s witch brother and killing him. Silas finds Jessie, and together they set out to try and find her brother. He doesn’t know that she is a witch, and she doesn’t know he means to kill her brother.
You know how this story goes almost at once. Big burly man sees leggy woman. Leggy woman is hot and burly man is hot, but they are enemies. Sounds like hundreds of other romance novels. What set it apart was the awesome setting. New Seattle was built on the ruins of old Seattle after a major earth quake that split the city in two. There is a huge trench in the middle of the city. It feels very urban, yet this is futuristic. I was more interested in the city than Jessie at first.
I considered Jessie’s attraction to Silas strange at first. He hunts witches, and kills them for a living. Jessie’s family was torn apart because of hunters such as Silas. Her whole very sad history was formed by people like Silas. So when she starts to think about what is under his clothes, it makes me grind my teeth a little. This feeling changes over the course of the novel. Later on I found myself glued to the pages hopeful for things to work out.
The best part of the novel for me was the anticipation. Silas doesn’t know Jessie’s a witch. It is his job to kill witches. That one fact kept me turning the pages. The scenes between them get hot and heavy, which only made the anticipation that much worse. Of course Jessie doesn’t know that Silas is sent to kill her brother. That didn’t excite me as much as Jessie’s secret.
The only problem was that I didn’t really get into Silas, not as much as Jessie did anyway. I am picky with my lead men and Silas grunts to often for my taste. He tends to keep his head in the game or try to, but he came across as a little dense. It wasn’t until a lot later in the book that his connection with Jessie made me root for them. My dissatisfaction also stems from the end. Everything is wrapped up well, but his character seemed very different.
Blood of the Wicked is a typical Paranormal Romance with an awesome back drop. Although the story is typical, it still reeks with anticipation to keep the reader involved. I was not a fan of Silas or his grunting, but did like the two of them together, and the steamy scenes between them. It is a fast paced read. The action is intense, and it does a great job of keeping the reader in the book. I look forward to more from this witch hunting city!
-Beth
cocktailsandbooks1's review against another edition
3.0
I'm going to make a confession. I bought this book partially to piss my husband off. He was nosing around reading an open email I had from Harper Collins and opened a blurb for this book. He looked at me while I was cooking dinner and asked "Is this the kind of crap that you're reading?"
I immediately took issue with this classifying my book selections as crap and ordered the book that he was so offended about. Really....if he thinks this is bad, I shouldn't let any of the erotica lay around.
On to the book.....
I'm still on the fence about this one. I know this is the first book of the series, so the stage was being set, but I just didn't like the way we got left hanging.
Jessie Leigh has been hiding for her entire life. A witch who has lived under the radar, she keeps to the lower levels of New Seattle in hopes of staying out of the reach of the Holy Order (which has deemed witches the root of all evil which must be eradicated). She realizes her luck has run out when Agent Silas Smith walks in the strip club she bar tends at asking about her brother.
Seems Jessie's brother Caleb is now running around with a coven that is practicing dark magic and killing humans. The Holy Order has decided to use Jessie to get to Caleb. Jessie figures they'll kill them both, so she decides to go along with their plan in hopes of saving her brother and herself. What she doesn't expect is Silas breaching her barriers.
Silas is a broken soul, who's watch too many innocent people hurt or killed by witches. At the same time, he has a problem with following the orders of a Holy Order that is bent on killing in the name of all that's holy. Despite years of being in their service, he's become jaded and doesn't believe the propaganda any longer.
He reluctantly agrees to use Jessie (still believing her to be an innocent human) but vows to keep her safe. But keeping both of them safe turns out to be a lot harder than one would expect when you've got witches chasing them (instead of the other way around) and the order breathing down their necks.
The book seemed to alternate between being very fast paced to unnecessarily slow. And then when we got to the big fight scene, things happened so fast I needed to go back to try and figure out just what had happened.
I did really enjoy Jessie and Silas (even though Silas is a horrible name for a man with a body as hot as what's on the cover). Both worn down by the lives they've lead, it was nice to see them both decide there was more to life than what they had.
I could take or leave this one.
3 Cocktails.
I immediately took issue with this classifying my book selections as crap and ordered the book that he was so offended about. Really....if he thinks this is bad, I shouldn't let any of the erotica lay around.
On to the book.....
I'm still on the fence about this one. I know this is the first book of the series, so the stage was being set, but I just didn't like the way we got left hanging.
Jessie Leigh has been hiding for her entire life. A witch who has lived under the radar, she keeps to the lower levels of New Seattle in hopes of staying out of the reach of the Holy Order (which has deemed witches the root of all evil which must be eradicated). She realizes her luck has run out when Agent Silas Smith walks in the strip club she bar tends at asking about her brother.
Seems Jessie's brother Caleb is now running around with a coven that is practicing dark magic and killing humans. The Holy Order has decided to use Jessie to get to Caleb. Jessie figures they'll kill them both, so she decides to go along with their plan in hopes of saving her brother and herself. What she doesn't expect is Silas breaching her barriers.
Silas is a broken soul, who's watch too many innocent people hurt or killed by witches. At the same time, he has a problem with following the orders of a Holy Order that is bent on killing in the name of all that's holy. Despite years of being in their service, he's become jaded and doesn't believe the propaganda any longer.
He reluctantly agrees to use Jessie (still believing her to be an innocent human) but vows to keep her safe. But keeping both of them safe turns out to be a lot harder than one would expect when you've got witches chasing them (instead of the other way around) and the order breathing down their necks.
The book seemed to alternate between being very fast paced to unnecessarily slow. And then when we got to the big fight scene, things happened so fast I needed to go back to try and figure out just what had happened.
I did really enjoy Jessie and Silas (even though Silas is a horrible name for a man with a body as hot as what's on the cover). Both worn down by the lives they've lead, it was nice to see them both decide there was more to life than what they had.
I could take or leave this one.
3 Cocktails.
elizabethlk's review against another edition
2.0
I went into this book wanting to love it. Expecting to love it. The entire premise of a futuristic witch hunt combined with Seattle having collapsed into the San Andreas fault line and being rebuilt on top of itself sounds beyond interesting to me. Throw in a love story and I'm good to go.
I didn't love it though. I came out the other end feeling that it was just okay.
Good points:
-Again, the premise. Witch hunt, New Seattle, etc.
-Sex. The sex scenes were entertaining enough.
-Varying powers that the witches had were quite interesting.
-Jessie's relationship with her brother.
-It went at a good quick pace.
Bad points:
-It wasn't long enough. And I don't mean that in a "it was so good I never wanted to stop reading it" sort of way, I mean that in the sense that there was just not enough there.
-The back story was weak as all hell. Silas seemed to have a real hate on for witches and they don't explain why--being brainwashed by the Mission is a shit reason when he's already a member of the Mission. And where do his injuries that have him limping around come from? Why has he been gone for fourteen years? They explain that he fucked up, but not in a very clear way or why that would have him out of town for a decade, what he did while gone, or why he came back. What exactly happened to Jessie's mother? "She was murdered" doesn't explain it, it just makes me want more information that never comes. Why is Caleb willing to kill innocent people to take out this coven? Who is this Matilda chick and why is she relevant? Matilda is so mysterious that I would have thought there was something going on there. Why is Silas all of a sudden willing to get past decades of brainwashing and witch hating issues that are never explained to be with Jessie? I felt like so much was left out with all of this that it took away from some of the enjoyment. Maybe some of it is covered a bit in later books in the series, but I felt a lot of this stuff was needed, well, now.
-The actual premise of the world, which is part of what I had liked so much, was poorly done. Not enough back story on the mission, not enough on the witches, not enough on New Seattle. They make reference to things falling apart elsewhere and never explain it. They never explain why the Mission was formed and why they felt they needed to destroy all witches.
I felt that this book had a lot of potential that it didn't live up to. I felt that it missed out on so much and could have been great. Overall it still managed to be entertaining, so I give it 2.5 stars. I expected more though.
I was entertained enough, and I'm still hopeful about where this series could go, that while I have not read the next book in the series yet, I intend to in the hopes that it will get better.
I didn't love it though. I came out the other end feeling that it was just okay.
Good points:
-Again, the premise. Witch hunt, New Seattle, etc.
-Sex. The sex scenes were entertaining enough.
-Varying powers that the witches had were quite interesting.
-Jessie's relationship with her brother.
-It went at a good quick pace.
Bad points:
-It wasn't long enough. And I don't mean that in a "it was so good I never wanted to stop reading it" sort of way, I mean that in the sense that there was just not enough there.
-The back story was weak as all hell. Silas seemed to have a real hate on for witches and they don't explain why--being brainwashed by the Mission is a shit reason when he's already a member of the Mission. And where do his injuries that have him limping around come from? Why has he been gone for fourteen years? They explain that he fucked up, but not in a very clear way or why that would have him out of town for a decade, what he did while gone, or why he came back. What exactly happened to Jessie's mother? "She was murdered" doesn't explain it, it just makes me want more information that never comes. Why is Caleb willing to kill innocent people to take out this coven? Who is this Matilda chick and why is she relevant? Matilda is so mysterious that I would have thought there was something going on there. Why is Silas all of a sudden willing to get past decades of brainwashing and witch hating issues that are never explained to be with Jessie? I felt like so much was left out with all of this that it took away from some of the enjoyment. Maybe some of it is covered a bit in later books in the series, but I felt a lot of this stuff was needed, well, now.
-The actual premise of the world, which is part of what I had liked so much, was poorly done. Not enough back story on the mission, not enough on the witches, not enough on New Seattle. They make reference to things falling apart elsewhere and never explain it. They never explain why the Mission was formed and why they felt they needed to destroy all witches.
I felt that this book had a lot of potential that it didn't live up to. I felt that it missed out on so much and could have been great. Overall it still managed to be entertaining, so I give it 2.5 stars. I expected more though.
I was entertained enough, and I'm still hopeful about where this series could go, that while I have not read the next book in the series yet, I intend to in the hopes that it will get better.