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thegothiclibrary's review against another edition
4.0
Vance always thought of himself more as a valued companion of the volatile vampires who took him in than as their enslaved prisoner. But when he meets another shapeshifter like himself, he realizes that there's a wider world out there and he may have been wrong to put his trust in vampires.
I read this one too fast, though. I'll have to go back and jog my memory if I ever get around to the sequel.
I read this one too fast, though. I'll have to go back and jog my memory if I ever get around to the sequel.
lfro2013's review against another edition
3.0
I'll be honest I'd hoped for more after the Kiesha'ra series but this one isn't as compelling as those. Good world building though
kaiouelios's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this up at random. I didn't enjoy the beginning. It had a decent ending but I will not be continuing the series.
maidmarianlib's review
3.0
Very rich and atmospheric, but I needed a lot more background to really understand the political aspects of this world which would have led me to care a little more about the main characters plight.
skyturtles's review
3.0
3.5 stars. Unpredictable plot, with characters both new and old. Thematically picks up where Midnight Predator left off, exploring concepts of slavery, loyalty, and freedom. The last quarter of the book dragged a bit.
princess_starr's review
3.0
Going back to when I read the Kiesha’ra omnibus, I had just learned that Amelia Atwater-Rhodes was going to come out with a new series called the Maeve’ra. “Oh,” I think, “Maybe this will get into the falcons’ backstory and history.” Well… not so much.
Bloodwitch actually expands on the fall of Midnight as we somewhat glimpsed in the prologue for Promises to Keep. Which is okay, I guess? The history of Midnight and the vampire slave trade isn’t one of my particular favorite plotlines (especially since Midnight Predator now retroactively excuses Jaguar’s involvement in the empire, not to mention the whole vibe of “What, this is totally for your own good. We’re not like human slave-owners.”)
(SingleEarth! I want to know more about SingleEarth! Or if we’re going to delve further into Den of Shadows history, what about New Mayhem? I’d be much more interested in that than Midnight.)
What also doesn’t quite work about Bloodwitch is that Atwater-Rhodes puts a lot of Midnight’s major players up front, and it kind of takes away any suspense. I understand why Jesickah would be a major presence in this, but I want to see more of the characters that we don’t already know.
There are some really interesting aspects in here, though. I know that I keep bringing up the earlier books in both the Den of Shadows and the Kiesha’ra series, but reading those series at first felt like “Okay, these are two separate universes with some nods to each other, but they’re standalone.” Even when Persistence of Memory brought in the Mistari in, it still felt like “Okay, vampires and witches are over here, and the shapeshifters are here.” (Especially since the serpiente and avian weren’t really mentioned in the latter half of Den of Shadows.) Bloodwitch, on the other hand, features the full melting-pot of supernatural creatures that have shown up before and even a few new ones.
And while I do still like the world-building of the book, my main problem here is that this drags on too long. Vance continuously waffles between recognizing he’s being manipulated and abused by the people he considers his family, only to backstep a chapter or so later and say, “But they’re really good people! I’m not a slave!” I get that Vance is supposed to be a naïve and sheltered character, but for as short as this book is, it just goes on far too long.
And it’s frustrating because there is some really interesting things going on whenever Vance and Malachi aren’t arguing about what Vance really is to the nobles of Midnight, such as Vance’s newfound friendship with the Shantel guard, or the introduction that the white vipers were the progenitors of Obsidian, or even the whole idea of what a bloodwitch is. Or Vance’s species—I really wanted to get more into the quetzal history, or have it touched on a little more than what we get in here. And I think this is really due to one of Atwater-Rhodes’s big plotting problems which is “Oh, these people are being mysterious because ANCIENT MYSTERY that I will probably never fully explain. WOOOOO~” I think that this book would have benefited from a multiple perspective, instead of Vance’s first-person POV, because there’s so much that we don’t learn throughout the book, and Vance’s continually backsliding into “But the vampires are super-nice to me, they can’t be manipulative!”And then the book ends with the biggest anticlimax that I have read from Amelia Atwater-Rhodes—we have Jaguar, Nathaniel, and Jesickah all coming down with the mysterious plague, and anyone who’s read either Midnight Predator or even the last two books knows that they’ll be fine because oh look, Jaguar and Jesickah are still prancing around in the modern-day.
(You know what I thought about halfway through reading this? This is like the first half of M.T. Anderson’s The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing vol. 1, except not as smart and well-written. And with vampires and shapeshifters and witches.)
I don’t think this is a terrible book, but I do think that it’s a very mediocre one. For as short as Amelia Atwater-Rhodes books are, this drags on too long, and there’s so much denial I can take from the main character. I might go pick up the next book in the series, but I think after I get through “The Rebel” short story, I’m probably going to take a break from her for a while.
Bloodwitch actually expands on the fall of Midnight as we somewhat glimpsed in the prologue for Promises to Keep. Which is okay, I guess? The history of Midnight and the vampire slave trade isn’t one of my particular favorite plotlines (especially since Midnight Predator now retroactively excuses Jaguar’s involvement in the empire, not to mention the whole vibe of “What, this is totally for your own good. We’re not like human slave-owners.”)
(SingleEarth! I want to know more about SingleEarth! Or if we’re going to delve further into Den of Shadows history, what about New Mayhem? I’d be much more interested in that than Midnight.)
What also doesn’t quite work about Bloodwitch is that Atwater-Rhodes puts a lot of Midnight’s major players up front, and it kind of takes away any suspense. I understand why Jesickah would be a major presence in this, but I want to see more of the characters that we don’t already know.
There are some really interesting aspects in here, though. I know that I keep bringing up the earlier books in both the Den of Shadows and the Kiesha’ra series, but reading those series at first felt like “Okay, these are two separate universes with some nods to each other, but they’re standalone.” Even when Persistence of Memory brought in the Mistari in, it still felt like “Okay, vampires and witches are over here, and the shapeshifters are here.” (Especially since the serpiente and avian weren’t really mentioned in the latter half of Den of Shadows.) Bloodwitch, on the other hand, features the full melting-pot of supernatural creatures that have shown up before and even a few new ones.
And while I do still like the world-building of the book, my main problem here is that this drags on too long. Vance continuously waffles between recognizing he’s being manipulated and abused by the people he considers his family, only to backstep a chapter or so later and say, “But they’re really good people! I’m not a slave!” I get that Vance is supposed to be a naïve and sheltered character, but for as short as this book is, it just goes on far too long.
And it’s frustrating because there is some really interesting things going on whenever Vance and Malachi aren’t arguing about what Vance really is to the nobles of Midnight, such as Vance’s newfound friendship with the Shantel guard, or the introduction that the white vipers were the progenitors of Obsidian, or even the whole idea of what a bloodwitch is. Or Vance’s species—I really wanted to get more into the quetzal history, or have it touched on a little more than what we get in here. And I think this is really due to one of Atwater-Rhodes’s big plotting problems which is “Oh, these people are being mysterious because ANCIENT MYSTERY that I will probably never fully explain. WOOOOO~” I think that this book would have benefited from a multiple perspective, instead of Vance’s first-person POV, because there’s so much that we don’t learn throughout the book, and Vance’s continually backsliding into “But the vampires are super-nice to me, they can’t be manipulative!”
(You know what I thought about halfway through reading this? This is like the first half of M.T. Anderson’s The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing vol. 1, except not as smart and well-written. And with vampires and shapeshifters and witches.)
I don’t think this is a terrible book, but I do think that it’s a very mediocre one. For as short as Amelia Atwater-Rhodes books are, this drags on too long, and there’s so much denial I can take from the main character. I might go pick up the next book in the series, but I think after I get through “The Rebel” short story, I’m probably going to take a break from her for a while.
kkaste's review
3.0
This is the new story in the world of this author. The stories have all taken place in the same universe. It took me a while to get into the plot. Once I did I enjoyed the new characters. The plot moved slowly but not boringly. Overall the story was good, I'm glad to continue reading stories from this author I have read since I was 14.
nerdyscrivener's review
3.0
not favorite but interesting start to a new Trilogy. I have not been a fan of the some of her shapeshifters but i really like the idea of quetzal, it was different from the normal shapeshifters
victorianrogue's review
4.0
Although not the best writing, and parts seemed rush, I still loved this. I am glad to be back into Atwater-Rhodes' shapeshifter world. This series looks so promising!