A review by dtaylorbooks
Blood Forever by Mari Mancusi
5.0
How did we end up here
Mari’s pretty much sent me all of these Blood Coven novels except for maybe a couple. I just love them so because they’re so snarky and they love The Lost Boys and they rip on Twilight and how could you not love them? I mean really . . .
Okay, book. You've got 50 pages. Go!
I’ve been hooked since the first book and I really do need to go back and read the one or two Sunny-POV books that I skipped over towards the beginning because, really, I didn’t like Sunny when I started this series. Now? And especially in BLOOD FOREVER? Her teenager girly mall girl flame has been sufficiently snuffed out, she’s so much more grounded, so much more intelligent and she’s such an awesomer character than she used to be.
The first fifty pages were a snap to read because Mari has this succinct way of writing that just shoots you down the story’s pipeline like a bullet. When you finally come up for air you’re well past 100 pages and aren’t sure what day it is. But here, Sunny’s (and Rayne’s) world has been rebooted in an attempt to circumvent their world from ending and everything going to hell (literally). So the story starts and you really can’t help but wonder if you’ve read this before. I actually went back and checked to see if this was a middle book or something because I was a little confused. But it all evens out. I couldn’t stop at 50 pages if I tried.
What worked . . .
From the vampires to the girls and even Bertha, everything was told with this Joss Whedon-esque style that’ll have you thinking Buffy without even trying. It has the sass and the smarts and the snark all rolled up into one tightly controlled coffin that may be on the verge of exploding. Despite the redundant beginning it took on a life of its own when the girls tried to keep their lives in check and failed miserably. Enter shenanigans and the world nearly goes to hell all over again.
And zombies. And a zombie queen that controls them. That’s hard to beat, I think.
Rayne can’t help but get herself in over her head and her approach still has the tendency of sucking but she’s lucky things end up working out in her favor in the end, usually because she’s right about the things she’s acting on. And poor Sunny only wants what’s best for Magnus and she can’t help but let her own feelings for him get in the way and it kind of mucks things up a little and it really isn’t long before all the devil-deal-making gets flushed down the toilet. It’s crawling up out of that U-bend that really makes it fun to read.
Let’s not forget the Lost Boys reference and the Twilight-ripping. LOVE.
What didn't work . . .
I’m not the biggest fan of the lovey-dovey schmoopy-woo goo-ness that goes on between Rayne and Jareth and Sunny and Magnus but I can let it pass because the rest of the book is pretty awesome. I don’t give too many authors passes for that kind of vampire love but really, it wouldn’t be the book without it.
And in the end . . .
The Blood Coven series is a parody of all that is teen vampires. If you go into it thinking anything else, like it’s actually something to be taken seriously, you’re going to be disappointed. But knowing that Mari is a true vampire girl that’s a total Lost Boys fan and knows damn well that real vampires don’t sparkle it makes the books all the better. You can appreciate the not-so-subtle jabs she takes at current YA vampire trends, the homages to The Lost Boys she makes and the Buffy style she channels from Sir Whedon. BLOOD FOREVER has no shortage of any of this and it rounds out what is quite literally one of the best vampire series I’ve read. It’s just so incredibly fun and entertaining and plucks at all the right cockle strings. Mari knows how to snark it out, love it up and stake it down and I can’t help but love that.
Mari’s pretty much sent me all of these Blood Coven novels except for maybe a couple. I just love them so because they’re so snarky and they love The Lost Boys and they rip on Twilight and how could you not love them? I mean really . . .
Okay, book. You've got 50 pages. Go!
I’ve been hooked since the first book and I really do need to go back and read the one or two Sunny-POV books that I skipped over towards the beginning because, really, I didn’t like Sunny when I started this series. Now? And especially in BLOOD FOREVER? Her teenager girly mall girl flame has been sufficiently snuffed out, she’s so much more grounded, so much more intelligent and she’s such an awesomer character than she used to be.
The first fifty pages were a snap to read because Mari has this succinct way of writing that just shoots you down the story’s pipeline like a bullet. When you finally come up for air you’re well past 100 pages and aren’t sure what day it is. But here, Sunny’s (and Rayne’s) world has been rebooted in an attempt to circumvent their world from ending and everything going to hell (literally). So the story starts and you really can’t help but wonder if you’ve read this before. I actually went back and checked to see if this was a middle book or something because I was a little confused. But it all evens out. I couldn’t stop at 50 pages if I tried.
What worked . . .
From the vampires to the girls and even Bertha, everything was told with this Joss Whedon-esque style that’ll have you thinking Buffy without even trying. It has the sass and the smarts and the snark all rolled up into one tightly controlled coffin that may be on the verge of exploding. Despite the redundant beginning it took on a life of its own when the girls tried to keep their lives in check and failed miserably. Enter shenanigans and the world nearly goes to hell all over again.
And zombies. And a zombie queen that controls them. That’s hard to beat, I think.
Rayne can’t help but get herself in over her head and her approach still has the tendency of sucking but she’s lucky things end up working out in her favor in the end, usually because she’s right about the things she’s acting on. And poor Sunny only wants what’s best for Magnus and she can’t help but let her own feelings for him get in the way and it kind of mucks things up a little and it really isn’t long before all the devil-deal-making gets flushed down the toilet. It’s crawling up out of that U-bend that really makes it fun to read.
Let’s not forget the Lost Boys reference and the Twilight-ripping. LOVE.
What didn't work . . .
I’m not the biggest fan of the lovey-dovey schmoopy-woo goo-ness that goes on between Rayne and Jareth and Sunny and Magnus but I can let it pass because the rest of the book is pretty awesome. I don’t give too many authors passes for that kind of vampire love but really, it wouldn’t be the book without it.
And in the end . . .
The Blood Coven series is a parody of all that is teen vampires. If you go into it thinking anything else, like it’s actually something to be taken seriously, you’re going to be disappointed. But knowing that Mari is a true vampire girl that’s a total Lost Boys fan and knows damn well that real vampires don’t sparkle it makes the books all the better. You can appreciate the not-so-subtle jabs she takes at current YA vampire trends, the homages to The Lost Boys she makes and the Buffy style she channels from Sir Whedon. BLOOD FOREVER has no shortage of any of this and it rounds out what is quite literally one of the best vampire series I’ve read. It’s just so incredibly fun and entertaining and plucks at all the right cockle strings. Mari knows how to snark it out, love it up and stake it down and I can’t help but love that.