Sunday 3 November 2013

The Split Blood: The Ancient Codex - Part One Book Review

Name of Book: Split Blood: The Ancient Codex - Part One
Author: Louise Herman
Date of Publication: December 14, 2012 (Kindle)
Publisher: Mystical Media Publications
Pages: 333
Genre: YA, Urban Fantasy
Paperback or Kindle: Both


Book Description

When Faith’s mother starts organising the second stage of her arranged marriage to wizard, Damien, Faith knew she needed to escape, so she used her school as a place to retreat. 

Throughout her after school duties, she meets the intense, alluring Rohan, who changes her life forever.

With his ice cold skin, transfixing eyes and enchanting voice, Rohan took hold of Faith’s heart and soul as soon as they looked at each other.

She knew it was wrong.

They were from two different circles and if the Elder’s found out, the consequences would be catastrophic for all involved, but the more time they spent together, the stronger they’re love grew, until one day someone sees them...

Will their love be strong enough to combat their conflicting mythical needs? And what will they do when Faith is dealt a life threatening blow that forces her to make a heartbreaking decision?

This one was a tough one for me as I was expecting soppy vampires or a weak heroine but this was definitely not the case!

We meet a young Faith when she finds out she is a witch and is more excited about going to school with the Namuh’s (human’s backwards! Lol) than understanding her circle and powers as she begins to feel suffocated and yearns from something away from her possessive circle.

It is at school that she meets frustrated fairy, Lily and they develop a friendship based on their mutual hatred of being restricted by their circle as we also find out that Lily is not like the fairies you read about in your traditional fairytales…

Upon finishing helping their teacher clean away her classroom after school, they are confronted by a group of rogue vampires who are very keen to exploit the vulnerable pairs forbidden friendship (beings must keep to their circle when they are out in public and must not communicate with other beings) and taunt them at every turn.

Enter loner vampire, Rohan who saves the girls, without much thanks from independent Faith.

As Rohan struggles to penetrate Faith’s icy exterior they eventually become more than friends with disastrous results.

This book was definitely a page turner for me and had action, intrigue and was packed full of magic on every page.

The grammar wasn’t 100% but I can settle with it being at 90% as the storyline was quite unique and I loved that Faith never settled into that weak female role that needed to be rescued.

I loved the forbidden romance between Rohan and Faith as although the author did not hold back on the ‘more intimate’ moments between the pair, I felt it was written with authenticity and was not over the top like many other YA books I have recently.

And lastly, I really enjoyed reading the African and Romania Gypsy magic incorporated into the story. I felt the author really did her research (especially for the Gypsy magic bits) and it gave it an overall fresh element to an already distinctive story.

Overall I would give this book 4 out of 5 wings because I loved the unique concept behind the story but I had to knock off one star due to the slight grammatical issues.

I would recommend this to any YA Urban Fantasy fans looking something will a little more substance than just your typical soppy romance stories with a little added magic!








Check the Ratings Page to see what 4 wings means!

Click here to buy this book

Alana

No comments:

Post a Comment