Review--Bloodkin by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Sixteen-year-old Kadee is proud to be a part of the Obsidian guild, whose members refuse to bow to anyone in Midnight--including the vampires who claim to rule this world and the shapeshifter royals who obey them. 

Kadee knows firsthand what it's like to live with the Shantel and serpiente, and she'll never forgive these shapeshifters for taking her from her real father as a sick and frightened human child. Fortunately, Kadee is the master of her own life now, but some of the choices she's had to make to protect her Obsidian family--and one of her peers in the guild--have begun to haunt her.

When a shapeshifter nation is charged with a crime against Midnight that Kadee and her friend Vance played a hand in, Kadee feels compelled to return to the Shantel forest and the prince who helped her years ago. There, she must confront her past and the decisions she made in the pursuit  of freedom. How much is one life worth, and when is the price too much to pay?

In Bloodkin, the second book in the Maeve'ra trilogy, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes delivers a powerful tale about fate, ideals, and the lines that should never be crossed. 

With finishing the second installment of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' latest trilogy, I had hoped to be won over with Bloodkin, but sadly, I was only mildly moved. Amelia still weaves a very detailed world that is interesting, but again, I feel lost somewhere in the execution of everything.

The first thing that threw me just pages in, was Kadee--as this book is told through her point of view, this go around--mentions being fifteen. This threw me at first, because the first word in the description is sixteen. But Kadee says again how she's fifteen. And thus just begins a series of unfortunate events.

I can't figure out why I am not enjoying Amelia's books lately. I loved them once upon a time ago...but somewhere down the lines they started to get more confusing. I guess it was the abrupt change in narrators. I'm all for new narrators when they take place in the same world, I just wish there could have been a better introduction of the character, or to have one to begin with! Den of Shadows failed this in the latter half, and with the Kiesha'ra series, it just confounded me to go from one book with Danica being pregnant to the next book and having what I believe was a teenage girl...unless she was twenty there as well.

Anyway, with this story we get to have a little more insight to Kadee, who was the young girl--fifteen apparently--that helped Vance out four months ago. So basically this takes place a few months after the events of book 1. When they failed in their attempt to kill Jeshickah and her trainers/vampire croonies, they inadvertently laid blamed on another clan of sorts, the Shantel. Kadee has past connections with this clan, so when she and Vance were to travel to them to assist them with their negotiations with Jeshickah and Midnight, it brings back old feelings that she rather leave forgotten.

Vance continued to annoy me in this one too. I feel like he tries to be this tough, macho guy who's fearless as all get out, but to me, he comes off as a petulant little boy trying to play tough guy. He's newly freed of Midnight and yet I can't help but feel he acts like a seasoned solider against the fight to bring Midnight down once and for all. Perhaps, I'm still a tad annoyed that this boy is fourteen. If he was a little older and had a touch more experience with life, I wouldn't be annoyed so much. But I mean come on, even Harry Potter took gradual steps into being the badass hero he becomes by book 7! But I digress.

The pacing was a mite slow as well. It seems Kadee and Vance just go back and forth between their campgrounds to the Shantel's camp to Midnight and then back and forth again. All in the process of making these negotiations with Jeshickah. There's still no romance, which is fine with me. I feel like these characters are too young for that anyway. Though it did seem a time or two that Kadee had something going on with a friend from the Shantel camp. But it chalks up to being a thing of the past. If it really was anything beyond friendship that is. Which makes sense, because again, she's only fifteen too. And since it's been 2 or 3 years, that would've made her twelve or thirteen.

The ending was a bit exciting and confusing at the same time. Details can't be mention due to spoilers, if you can make heads or tails of my review or the book that is! Though it was quite shocking and will set the characters on their next and final path. Though I do wonder who will be the narrator then and if it will change the way we see the people we've met to date. For some reason, I am banking on that.I probably will be reading the next book out of more loyalty to the author who spawned my love all things paranormal, but alas, this series just doesn't seem to be my ultimate enjoyment. Though I do enjoy the combination of the previous two worlds being formed into one as we see here.


Overall Rating 3/5 stars