Reviews

Blood Trinity by Dianna Love, Sherrilyn Kenyon

cherie_amor's review

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4.0

More a 3.5

jacqueline1989's review

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5.0

This series is definitely going to be five-stars! Blood Trinity in particular, however, is truly ranked at a four star for just one tiny reason: the world is HUGE!

Overall, I absolutely adored this story! Evalle in particular is, and no doubt will continue to be, a fascinating character. Her counterparts, Quinn and Tzader, are equally compelling, fun, and all out alpha to the extreme. There are so few books on the market that allow readers to overwhelmingly care about the characters to the point that one is able to love the story despite any apparent flaw.

Blood Trinity's only negative against it deals with the fact that it's somewhat confusing. There are so many different types of species of characters, different powers and cultures that didn't feel truly explained. However, I'm completely confident such will be extrapolated upon at a later date in subsequent novels. This is, after all, the first book in a new series. Diana and Sherri will no doubt clear the air on any confusing issues remaining over what exactly Beladors and Altarants are and from where they derive.

Still, despite this one flaw, this book was so entertaining! I'm left completely enthralled with this story and am thrilled about the next book. I adore the fact that this is a continuing story, which is very surprising since I'm not that big a fan of extrapolated story-lines. The series is absolutely going to be amazing, for there are so many plot lines, characters, and emotions left unexplored! Vyan, Sen, Isak, Storm - Feenix, Evalle, Quinn, Tzader - the list of awesome people in this book is truly endless!

Books that are so entertaining are truly downright impossible to review. Having been so caught up with the story and characters, it's so difficult to separate my consciousness from the book and evaluate it without a lot of apparent hyperbole. But who cares! I loved the book, I loved the story, and that's all that matters!

caseemiller's review

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3.0

I didn’t expect to love this book. I expected to like it just because I generally enjoy Sherrilyn Kenyon’s voice. I’m burnt out on the Dark Hunters (I still haven’t read No Mercy). The current series and/or books that she has out don’t really interest me. This one sounded intriguing enough to pick up, so that I did. When I first finished it, I felt like saying WTF, yo. Where the f was the romance? Where was the sexual tension that Kenyon is known for? Oh, I know that Dianna Love is also a part of this new writing duo, but as I’m more familiar with Kenyon I expected more of Kenyon. I either got more of Dianna Love or a whole new voice all together.

Just when you think there is not another supernatural world to be had, Kenyon and Love create a new one. In this one, there are Beladors. They are warriors that are extraordinary (aren’t they always?) and fight to protect humans from demons. Beladors can link to each other and become that much stronger to defeat their enemy. The only problem is that if one dies while linked, the whole lot of them die at the same time.

Evalle is half Belador, half not. It’s the half not part that has straddling two worlds. For her entire life she has fought for the Beldador race, but she will never be accepted for what she is; a half-breed. As long as there are “abominations” like her on the planet, there are a select few that won’t stop until she is dead. Now Evalle only has a few days to prove that she isn’t responsible for the death of a human. If she doesn’t, she’ll get put away “for her own good”. With precious little resources, Evalle not only has to prove her innocence, but she has to help the race that she thinks hates her.

There’s a rock (a pretty effing cool one) out there that is about to choose it’s master. Once it does, the world is pretty much doomed. The Belador’s want to stop it while their enemies want to find it and use it for their own fanatical purposes. Evalle has to work with a walking, talking lie detector. Someone that has as many secrets like her has a lot to hide and a lot to lose. Though she has friends that will go to bat for her, Evalle will never put those she loves in jeopardy.

So this is where the book finally got interesting; when they started looking for this mysterious rock. It had already found it’s owner who was really sad herself. She ended up falling in love with one of the bad guys that wasn’t really bad. That was so contrived it had “INSERT LOVE STORY HERE” written all over it. It was lame-o. I was really disappointed. While my romantic heart wanted to believe that it could happen, it was so obviously not meant to be there that it was laughable.

This isn’t really a romance. I would call it more of an Urban Fantasy. There’s definitely a love triangle going on. Evalle is afraid of men, but is now attracted to two different men which is huge for her. I really liked her as a heroine. When I finished the book, I really was leaning more toward a 3. After letting it sit with me for awhile, I can’t help but like it more. Evalle was a terrific heroine. She even had a pet gargoyle. I give it a 4 out of 5.

jaclynder's review

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4.0


Originally reviewed at The Book Adventures.

Thanks to the Kate Daniels series I’ve been more inclined to read urban fantasy of late and for whatever reason I somehow came across Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love’s Belador series. Blood Trinity is the first in the series and introduces readers to Evalle, an outcast in the larger brotherhood of the Belador warriors.

Like the other warriors Evalle has power and she uses those powers to fight against other paranormal beings. Unlike the other Beladors, Evalle is a half-breed and as such she is an Alterant, a person that can shift into beast form. Unfortunately, this transformation is unique to Alterants and the other Beladors fear that Evalle will lose control of her beast and kill without consequence; a fact that has been proven over and over again with other Alterants. Evalle has been successfully avoiding being caged by the Belador elite thanks to two loyal friends who have covered for her in the past. However, when a new player rolls into Atlanta is seems that Evalle might not be able to avoid being caged unless she can prove that she’s not responsible for a recent murder. Complicating matters is the impending apocalypse. Sigh. As if your day job isn’t tough enough.

The first thing to know about Blood Trinity is that there is A LOT going on. Readers are pretty much thrown into Kenyon and Love’s world and it’s not always clear what the rules for this world are. In some instances I felt that there was a back-story that I was missing, but from what I can tell there is no previous book in the series. Someone correct me if I am wrong. While there is a lot to absorb right off the bat, there is so much to enjoy!

The biggest highlight of Blood Trinity is the character of Evalle. Evalle is prickly, justifiably so, and funny. There was an interesting dynamic to Evalle character. She was both kickbutt and also innocently vulnerable. This dichotomy made her a compelling character, and one that will keep me reading the rest of the series. The Beladors don’t treat her as an equal yet she feels such loyalty to them? How will that uneven relationship work out? Character development; it is in spades in Blood Trinity.

Great characters aside, I also like that Blood Trinity had a mystery element to it. Evalle is trying to track down who has killed a demon and searching for a missing, powerful, magical object. Obviously, demons and magical objects are not your average mystery fare, but that mystery element is there and I thought it was done really well. There were a lot of players involved but instead of being messy this really worked in the books favour, further fleshing out the world.

I also liked that there was a more overt romantic tone to Blood Trinity. As much as I like the Kate Daniels series, I’m always hoping that romance will take a more central role. While the romance plot is only at its beginning in Blood Trinity, I thought the focus on Evalle’s reaction to her suitors was great. It didn’t overpower the larger plot, but the romance still played an important role in the story. Considering Evalle’s traumatic past I don’t expect the romance to really move at a rapid pace throughout the series, but I do like how it impacts Evalle as a character. I’m telling you, the characters are fantastic!

So, if you’re a fan of Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series it is more than likely that you will enjoy Blood Trinity. Not only is it also set in Atlanta, it also features a snarky heroine. And, if that’s not convincing, I also had my sister (the biggest Kate Daniels fan out there) read the series and she’s in love with it too. Blood Trinity is Kate Daniels approved!

lnzlou55's review

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4.0

I have had this book for quite a while and just haven't gotten up the will to read it till now. I love everything that Sherrilyn Kenyon has done, but this was different then her other series and I didn't want to not like it, so I just never read it, lol. I am glad that I finally did though. While it held some aspects of her other books, it was different enough to not compare, which I liked. Even though Evalle was a little typical I found myself really liking her. I also loved Feenix! I hope he shows up more in the next books. I found the book a little confusing at first, but once I really got into it everything fell into place. I thought it was a pretty good story with enough drama and twist to keep me guessing. I'm not as found of this book as Sherrilyn's other series, but this is a great one all on it's own.

lforto20's review

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4.0

Really good book. Well written characters. I'm excited to see where the writers take the story in the coming books.

somecharm's review against another edition

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4.0

Not quite what I expected but still very good

prawntaar's review against another edition

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3.0

Last fall, I was going to attend Sherrilyn's book signing at my local bookstore so I picked up a copy of the book prior to the event. I had all of the best intentions to pick it up, but I think I must have read the back cover 20 times before taking the plunge. Now I'm all done.

Here's the good, bad and ugly on Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love's "Blood Trinity":

The good - The writing is fabulous. The story progresses at a nice pace. I don't feel that it drags at any point and it had my attention from page 1 to page 518. I really liked some of the characters and I wish that the focus had been more on the VIPER folks rather than on Evalle. Evalle spends a lot of the book by herself, where I would have liked to see her interact a bit more with other people in the book.

The bad - I didn't care much for the central character Evalle. First of all, the girl's name is Evalle. I don't care that early it's broken down that it's pronounced "E-vahl", I'm going to continue to read it as "evil". Second, she's the classic female-with-chip-on-shoulder type that I tend to find rather annoying. This book was also all over the place. It should be noted that "Blood Trinity" is book 1 in the Belador series. I'm not sure if I'm to expect future books in this series to be 17 story lines wrapped into to one or if, as the first book in the series it was trying to introduce all of the characters, or what. Oh, and did I mention that it is 500+ pages long?

The ugly - The resolution for Evalle's dead body in the morgue (of which the story opens with) was COMPLETELY unsatisfying. The body in the morgue gets a lot of things rolling and it's just kind of nonchalantly wrapped up in a couple of sentences near the end of the book.

I know I just spouted off a bunch of criticisms, but at the end of the day, I did feel that "Blood Trinity" was a fun read. I picked it up in the Romance section of the book store, but I didn't feel that it was truly a "romance". There is a romantic interest, but there isn't a central romance - this was an element I liked about it. The Belador series definitely has my attention and I look forward to picking it up when it comes out this fall (2011).

rosetyper9's review against another edition

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1.0


I wanted to get into this book but it is just to much like every single other book like it I have read. I needed something to make it stand apart and I just couldn't find it.

jacqueline1989's review against another edition

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5.0

This series is definitely going to be five-stars! Blood Trinity in particular, however, is truly ranked at a four star for just one tiny reason: the world is HUGE!

Overall, I absolutely adored this story! Evalle in particular is, and no doubt will continue to be, a fascinating character. Her counterparts, Quinn and Tzader, are equally compelling, fun, and all out alpha to the extreme. There are so few books on the market that allow readers to overwhelmingly care about the characters to the point that one is able to love the story despite any apparent flaw.

Blood Trinity's only negative against it deals with the fact that it's somewhat confusing. There are so many different types of species of characters, different powers and cultures that didn't feel truly explained. However, I'm completely confident such will be extrapolated upon at a later date in subsequent novels. This is, after all, the first book in a new series. Diana and Sherri will no doubt clear the air on any confusing issues remaining over what exactly Beladors and Altarants are and from where they derive.

Still, despite this one flaw, this book was so entertaining! I'm left completely enthralled with this story and am thrilled about the next book. I adore the fact that this is a continuing story, which is very surprising since I'm not that big a fan of extrapolated story-lines. The series is absolutely going to be amazing, for there are so many plot lines, characters, and emotions left unexplored! Vyan, Sen, Isak, Storm - Feenix, Evalle, Quinn, Tzader - the list of awesome people in this book is truly endless!

Books that are so entertaining are truly downright impossible to review. Having been so caught up with the story and characters, it's so difficult to separate my consciousness from the book and evaluate it without a lot of apparent hyperbole. But who cares! I loved the book, I loved the story, and that's all that matters!