Review of Blood Passage by Heather Demetrios
I’ll admit, I was a little hesitant to read this book, because I didn’t like Book one that much. One of the issues I had with Exquisite Captive was that the plot was rather slow and somewhat repetitive. It took me a month to read the whole book because the plot dragged so much and there was hardly any action until the end. However, I’m happy to say that I enjoyed Blood Passage much more than the first. I practically tore through most of it, in fact! This was a promising sequel with action and suspense throughout, and it definitely changed my opinion of the series for the better!
What I liked:
The plot of Blood Passage overall was much more interesting than the first. There’s excitement from beginning to end, as the characters search for the sigil and battle the Ifrit. I felt a lot more drawn into the story. It dragged a bit in some places, (especially during their journey in the Bronze city), but I managed to stay interested in the story.
Nalia was a great main character. She’s amazingly strong and powerful, yet passionate and humble, sometimes even insecure. A lot of the jinni dislike Nalia because she’s a Ghan Aisouri, but she proves them wrong through her loyalty and love. It was great to have a powerful character with a royal destiny that wasn’t conceited, rude, or domineering, and I loved seeing her face her destiny as the last Ghan Aisouri, while still remaining loyal to the ones she loves. Nalia goes through a lot of hard times in this book and is forced to face her weaknesses, but she makes it out stronger than before.
I loved the cast of characters in this book. Besides Nalia, we had Raif, his sister Zanari, Malek, and several cool new characters. One of the things that I like about this series is although Nalia is extremely powerful, the other characters get to be impressive in their own ways too. I never felt like Nalia overshadowed them. Bonus points for the diversity in the cast!
In this book, we get more points of view than the first book. One of these additional POVs is Malek, Nalia’s former master. Now, I’ll admit, I hated Malek in Book 1. I hoped he would just go away and die, but I found I enjoyed getting to hear his point of view, unlikeable as he is. It added another dimension to his character, and I appreciate that the author took the time to make him a more complicated character than I expected.
I also liked getting to read Zanari’s point of view. It was interesting to learn more about her dynamic with Raif and her rare powers. She was an enjoyable character, and I appreciated the bit of LGBT romance! Her friendship with Nalia is also wonderful, and I’m glad we get a strong female friendship.
Also just a heads up: There is NO love triangle, which is WONDERFUL, because I think my opinion of this series would have been lowered greatly otherwise. The direction of the romance was made obvious in the first book, and it became even more clear here. By the end, any questions about the romance were fully resolved.
What I didn’t like:
I’ll admit, I’m a little on the fence about Nalia and Raif’s relationship. Lemme tell you,I really wanted to support them. But to be honest, I thought their relationship progressed a little too quickly. I like Raif and Nalia as individual characters, and I thought they had great potential as a couple, but there just wasn’t enough buildup or development of their relationship in Book 1. First they hated each other’s guts, then a couple chapters later they were kissing randomly, and then suddenly, they were exchanging I-love-you’s. It was bordering on insta-love for me. I never felt like they really knew each other that well, and it wasn’t believable for them to suddenly have undying love for one another. I feel like their romance was a bit of a missed opportunity. The author should have given them more interactions and more time to bond in Book 1 to make the romance believable.
I can’t think of anything else that I didn’t like. Guess that’s a good sign, huh?
Overall, I was impressed with Blood Passage, and I look forward to reading the final installment. I wasn’t sure about continuing this series after reading the first book, but this sequel has definitely convinced me!
What I liked:
The plot of Blood Passage overall was much more interesting than the first. There’s excitement from beginning to end, as the characters search for the sigil and battle the Ifrit. I felt a lot more drawn into the story. It dragged a bit in some places, (especially during their journey in the Bronze city), but I managed to stay interested in the story.
Nalia was a great main character. She’s amazingly strong and powerful, yet passionate and humble, sometimes even insecure. A lot of the jinni dislike Nalia because she’s a Ghan Aisouri, but she proves them wrong through her loyalty and love. It was great to have a powerful character with a royal destiny that wasn’t conceited, rude, or domineering, and I loved seeing her face her destiny as the last Ghan Aisouri, while still remaining loyal to the ones she loves. Nalia goes through a lot of hard times in this book and is forced to face her weaknesses, but she makes it out stronger than before.
I loved the cast of characters in this book. Besides Nalia, we had Raif, his sister Zanari, Malek, and several cool new characters. One of the things that I like about this series is although Nalia is extremely powerful, the other characters get to be impressive in their own ways too. I never felt like Nalia overshadowed them. Bonus points for the diversity in the cast!
In this book, we get more points of view than the first book. One of these additional POVs is Malek, Nalia’s former master. Now, I’ll admit, I hated Malek in Book 1. I hoped he would just go away and die, but I found I enjoyed getting to hear his point of view, unlikeable as he is. It added another dimension to his character, and I appreciate that the author took the time to make him a more complicated character than I expected.
I also liked getting to read Zanari’s point of view. It was interesting to learn more about her dynamic with Raif and her rare powers. She was an enjoyable character, and I appreciated the bit of LGBT romance! Her friendship with Nalia is also wonderful, and I’m glad we get a strong female friendship.
Also just a heads up: There is NO love triangle, which is WONDERFUL, because I think my opinion of this series would have been lowered greatly otherwise. The direction of the romance was made obvious in the first book, and it became even more clear here. By the end, any questions about the romance were fully resolved.
What I didn’t like:
I’ll admit, I’m a little on the fence about Nalia and Raif’s relationship. Lemme tell you,I really wanted to support them. But to be honest, I thought their relationship progressed a little too quickly. I like Raif and Nalia as individual characters, and I thought they had great potential as a couple, but there just wasn’t enough buildup or development of their relationship in Book 1. First they hated each other’s guts, then a couple chapters later they were kissing randomly, and then suddenly, they were exchanging I-love-you’s. It was bordering on insta-love for me. I never felt like they really knew each other that well, and it wasn’t believable for them to suddenly have undying love for one another. I feel like their romance was a bit of a missed opportunity. The author should have given them more interactions and more time to bond in Book 1 to make the romance believable.
I can’t think of anything else that I didn’t like. Guess that’s a good sign, huh?
Overall, I was impressed with Blood Passage, and I look forward to reading the final installment. I wasn’t sure about continuing this series after reading the first book, but this sequel has definitely convinced me!
Comments
Post a Comment