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Blood Rights (House of Comarré, #1)

Kristen Painter

Start date: February 1, 2012

Finish date: February 29, 2012

Discussion: Book of the Month

Why we're reading this: Voted as our "First-in-Series Published in 2011" February BOM…more
[close] Voted as our "First-in-Series Published in 2011" February BOM

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* BOM: Group Read History [2025]
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What Members Thought

Dec 31, 2011 Rachel-RN rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2015

Can I say I love, love the cover! Too bad the book doesn't live up to the cover. The first half is a bit slow going. The last half picks up.

Liked: the world building. I appreciated how vampires, varcolai, and fae came into being. I will say the varcolai and fae are much more interesting and unique. The vampires, while their origin is somewhat unique, have (largely) the same disabilities found in myth (daylight, consecrated things and ground= bad, permission to enter private spaces, etc). l also ...more

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Dec 03, 2013 S H A R O N rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014, fantasy, urban-paranormal, urban-fantasy

[I also reviewed this title on my blog: Ishari's Bookshelf]

I won't lie...I was really excited when I started this book. I mean, here we have a vampire book that is different from all the other vampire books out there. In a sub-genre that's as flooded as the vamp one...that is quite a feat. Kristen Painter paints (no pun intended) a vivid world where comarrés are bred and raised for the express purpose of feeding noble vampires. Living her whole life in this form of slavery, Chrysabelle is ready [I also reviewed this title on my blog: Ishari's Bookshelf]

I won't lie...I was really excited when I started this book. I mean, here we have a vampire book that is different from all the other vampire books out there. In a sub-genre that's as flooded as the vamp one...that is quite a feat. Kristen Painter paints (no pun intended) a vivid world where comarrés are bred and raised for the express purpose of feeding noble vampires. Living her whole life in this form of slavery, Chrysabelle is ready to flee her master and escape her gilded cage...only to find, on the eve of her escape, her master murdered in their home. On the run and suspected of murder, Chrysabelle teams up with a rogue vampire named Malkom as they uncover a political web of lies that aim to tear down the veil that has been hiding the existence of supernaturals from ordinary people.

I apologize for that run on sentence.

Anyway, like I said, this book started out really strong. It has a beautiful cover and stays away from the recycled vampire plot and world. Painter's idea of the comarré is an interesting one and the twist she throws in about their world was quite good (let's just say they don't just feed vampires their blood).

But about a third of the way through things started to change. Oh, the world was still fun and the revelations were interesting...but Chrysabelle started to turn into a bit of a Mary Sue...she's the best comarré, she's the best fighter, she's the best blah blah blah. It got old. She's the best. At everything. Got it.

And the plot, which had been moving along quite nicely, devolved into political mush. Oh, there are other things happening in the story other than politics...but it seemed politics were the main focus with some fighting in between scenes.

Then it happened...Malkolm started his monologue about his past (which happens just under halfway through the book or so?) and I knew how the book would end. I hate that. I think if I had stayed immersed in the plot, the big plot twist at the plot climax would have been really great...instead, I felt disconnected from the story and had a general feeling of "yep...saw that coming".

I think this read is three stars because of the world building and it really did start out as an interesting read. Maybe I just read the book at the wrong time or something. As it stands at the moment, however...I don't plan on continuing the series. ...more

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