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heabooknerd's review
4.0
So apparently DRINKER OF BLOOD wanted to try its hardest to make me cry because Caleb is really just getting crap from all sides. I felt so bad for him and I don't think the next book is going to be any easier on him. I won't go into details so as not to spoil anything but things are definitely coming to a flashpoint with Caleb and his status with SPECTR.
John as well is really struggling to keep up with cases and play the politics needed to keep Caleb and Gray safe. My heart feels so pulverized for them and I just want to give them all a hug and tell them it will be ok. DRINKER OF BLOOD also introduces a new character that is sure to shake up the rest of the series and I can't wait to see what happens!
Content Warning: workplace harassment; hate crimes
John as well is really struggling to keep up with cases and play the politics needed to keep Caleb and Gray safe. My heart feels so pulverized for them and I just want to give them all a hug and tell them it will be ok. DRINKER OF BLOOD also introduces a new character that is sure to shake up the rest of the series and I can't wait to see what happens!
Content Warning: workplace harassment; hate crimes
authorofthings's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
teresab78's review
5.0
****Reviewed for Prism Book Alliance®****
4.5 stars. Review to comeThis series continues to keep me enthralled and longing for the next installment. Drinker of Blood was fast paced and moved the story arc along while providing an interesting monster in the meantime.
I was frustrated with Caleb/Gray for keeping things from John and not trusting him. It’s something I detest in relationships. The consequences for their actions you must read for yourself. This book dealt a lot with how Caleb feels. How he feels about being trapped with SPECTR, how he feels about Gray, and how he feels about John.
The monster was frightening and challenging. The details of it and its carnage kept this book closer to horror in some places. It was deliciously creepy.
As I said, each book keeps me wanting another in the series. I loved it.
4.5 stars. Review to comeThis series continues to keep me enthralled and longing for the next installment. Drinker of Blood was fast paced and moved the story arc along while providing an interesting monster in the meantime.
I was frustrated with Caleb/Gray for keeping things from John and not trusting him. It’s something I detest in relationships. The consequences for their actions you must read for yourself. This book dealt a lot with how Caleb feels. How he feels about being trapped with SPECTR, how he feels about Gray, and how he feels about John.
The monster was frightening and challenging. The details of it and its carnage kept this book closer to horror in some places. It was deliciously creepy.
As I said, each book keeps me wanting another in the series. I loved it.
tetiana's review against another edition
5.0
I adore this series – heart-pounding action, lovely characters and a unique twist on polyamorous relationship are making it one of the best contemporaries I’ve read.
It’s also fantastic in terms of structure – it actually feels like a tightly-wound tv-show with extremely effective monsters in each episode, but also a looming overarching threat you can sense through the series. Excellent read!
It’s also fantastic in terms of structure – it actually feels like a tightly-wound tv-show with extremely effective monsters in each episode, but also a looming overarching threat you can sense through the series. Excellent read!
claudia_is_reading's review
5.0
Still loving this series. But.
First, I want Grey to eat Barillo. The man is a waste of space, a bigoted asshole, who is making Caleb's life a hell. And this brings me to John. Don't get me wrong, I love these three together, but John doesn't seem to understand what's going on with Caleb on SPECTR headquarters. Asking for patience, when he knows how hard all of this is for both, Caleb and Grey, it's unfair.
That said, the plot in this one keeps getting more and more exciting, and the whole Yuri/Dru story is interesting but, with all the lies that are going around, I can't help and think that this is yet another disaster waiting to happen.
And I'm really, really happy I already have the next story, because I can't wait to know what will happen next.
First, I want Grey to eat Barillo. The man is a waste of space, a bigoted asshole, who is making Caleb's life a hell. And this brings me to John. Don't get me wrong, I love these three together, but John doesn't seem to understand what's going on with Caleb on SPECTR headquarters. Asking for patience, when he knows how hard all of this is for both, Caleb and Grey, it's unfair.
That said, the plot in this one keeps getting more and more exciting, and the whole Yuri/Dru story is interesting but, with all the lies that are going around, I can't help and think that this is yet another disaster waiting to happen.
And I'm really, really happy I already have the next story, because I can't wait to know what will happen next.
amyiw's review
3.0
The last left John and Grey in a good place with thanks and praise. This one doesn't. John is getting the brunt of his superior's ire, but Caleb feels it. Caleb meets other subs at a group that supports being ostracized for just being who they are. All the while there is a loose demon that is really more powerful than Grey, at least while he is not full strength. another cliffhanger to cliffhanger like the last three of the last series. They start out as readable stand alones for the first couple, then turn into a 3 book ending. I'm ready for another 2 as these are quick so actually not bad in this format if read altogether. I'll have to finish but I might bump this up as it was really good start of this new plot line which seem a bit like deja vu in plot.
Spoiler
Grey ends up meeting another living drakle and keeps it from John, only John finds out in the end, they don't kill the demon, and his meeting friends all shun him as a demon. And this is where the story endsSpoiler
the other drakle to me seems like the coming show downpaperbackstash's review against another edition
3.0
I was starting to suspect this development. I'm not sure where it's going but eek! I do like the other 'creature' (won't do spoilers here), but not sure what it means for the future of John. The Spectr job is really getting under my skin too - I wish John could see how damaging it is and how much stuff Caleb is having to put up with. They're stuck and I'm eager for them to break free...somehow. Unfortunately this book was even shorter than the others. Wish another book was available right now - the horror of waiting!
the_novel_approach's review against another edition
4.0
Maybe it’s just me, but I find there’s always a little bit of nervous behind the excitement of a new release in a favorite series. How does an author keep a series that’s in its second iteration fresh yet still maintain the obsession with what’s made it great to begin with? If you’re Jordan L. Hawk, one way is to keep introducing new characters. The second way is to introduce these new characters and then make readers want them to stick around for the long-run so we get to know them much better. That’s exactly what’s happened in Drinker of Blood; there’s a new paranormal entity in town, and I can’t wait for the next installment(s) to see what, if any, impact they will have on John and Caleb and Gray, and, of course, SPECTR itself.
Whether it’s presented in a historical or contemporary setting, we’ve come to expect a lot from this author and her brand of speculative fiction, and she always manages to deliver. There’s a new enemy in town for John and #TeamGrayleb and Agent Zahira Noorzai to track down and identify in Drinker of Blood, a seemingly unconquerable monster pulled straight from the pages of mythology—as well as finding the person who summoned it—and, as always, the danger and consequences to humans is not negligible. In addition, there’s a mysterious entity who impacts Caleb and Gray in thoroughly compelling ways, and I have to say that not only did this character layer the plot with an undercurrent of apprehension, there was also an added level of excitement because of the implications and possible complications this character introduces to the overall storyline.
What also is not negligible in this installment of the series is some of the real-world elements, namely a thoroughly bigoted and horrid District Chief Barillo (the comment “so much the f*cker” in my highlights pretty well sums up my feelings about him and the actions he takes at the end of the book), and the straight-from-the-headlines reminder that privilege exists and that some humans, for no moral, ethical, or logical reason, are elevated as more valuable than others (see above comment on that particular subject). The disgust I felt a couple of times during this reading played well against the romance and the danger when all hell broke loose—as it always does for the guys—and then, there’s Caleb and Gray. Their circumstances and the sheer complications and, let’s be real, the loneliness of their very existence grabbed me by the feels. The deftness on Hawk’s part to lay this emotional undercurrent alongside the clear and present threat to the safety of humanity—and watching some of those humans turn on Caleb and Gray—was so well done. It deepened my love for them and John and this series all the more.
Fans of SPECTR and its cast of key and wonderfully diverse role players should be thoroughly geeked by Drinker of Blood; the way Jordan L. Hawk is teasing out this story a bit at a time continues to keep me salivating for more. And, let me just say as a random aside that if there was ever a book series I’d love to see animated, it’s SPECTR. Can you imagine Gray in full living color??? I can, and I want.
Reviewed by Lisa for The Novel Approach Reviews
Whether it’s presented in a historical or contemporary setting, we’ve come to expect a lot from this author and her brand of speculative fiction, and she always manages to deliver. There’s a new enemy in town for John and #TeamGrayleb and Agent Zahira Noorzai to track down and identify in Drinker of Blood, a seemingly unconquerable monster pulled straight from the pages of mythology—as well as finding the person who summoned it—and, as always, the danger and consequences to humans is not negligible. In addition, there’s a mysterious entity who impacts Caleb and Gray in thoroughly compelling ways, and I have to say that not only did this character layer the plot with an undercurrent of apprehension, there was also an added level of excitement because of the implications and possible complications this character introduces to the overall storyline.
What also is not negligible in this installment of the series is some of the real-world elements, namely a thoroughly bigoted and horrid District Chief Barillo (the comment “so much the f*cker” in my highlights pretty well sums up my feelings about him and the actions he takes at the end of the book), and the straight-from-the-headlines reminder that privilege exists and that some humans, for no moral, ethical, or logical reason, are elevated as more valuable than others (see above comment on that particular subject). The disgust I felt a couple of times during this reading played well against the romance and the danger when all hell broke loose—as it always does for the guys—and then, there’s Caleb and Gray. Their circumstances and the sheer complications and, let’s be real, the loneliness of their very existence grabbed me by the feels. The deftness on Hawk’s part to lay this emotional undercurrent alongside the clear and present threat to the safety of humanity—and watching some of those humans turn on Caleb and Gray—was so well done. It deepened my love for them and John and this series all the more.
Fans of SPECTR and its cast of key and wonderfully diverse role players should be thoroughly geeked by Drinker of Blood; the way Jordan L. Hawk is teasing out this story a bit at a time continues to keep me salivating for more. And, let me just say as a random aside that if there was ever a book series I’d love to see animated, it’s SPECTR. Can you imagine Gray in full living color??? I can, and I want.
Reviewed by Lisa for The Novel Approach Reviews
claudia_is_reading's review against another edition
5.0
Still loving this series. But.
First, I want Grey to eat Barillo. The man is a waste of space, a bigoted asshole, who is making Caleb's life a hell. And this brings me to John. Don't get me wrong, I love these three together, but John doesn't seem to understand what's going on with Caleb on SPECTR headquarters. Asking for patience, when he knows how hard all of this is for both, Caleb and Grey, it's unfair.
That said, the plot in this one keeps getting more and more exciting, and the whole Yuri/Dru story is interesting but, with all the lies that are going around, I can't help and think that this is yet another disaster waiting to happen.
And I'm really, really happy I already have the next story, because I can't wait to know what will happen next.
First, I want Grey to eat Barillo. The man is a waste of space, a bigoted asshole, who is making Caleb's life a hell. And this brings me to John. Don't get me wrong, I love these three together, but John doesn't seem to understand what's going on with Caleb on SPECTR headquarters. Asking for patience, when he knows how hard all of this is for both, Caleb and Grey, it's unfair.
That said, the plot in this one keeps getting more and more exciting, and the whole Yuri/Dru story is interesting but, with all the lies that are going around, I can't help and think that this is yet another disaster waiting to happen.
And I'm really, really happy I already have the next story, because I can't wait to know what will happen next.