The Turning: Blood Ties Bk. 1 (MIRA) Review
Although they represented my number one childhood night time fear I've kind of been on a Vampire thing lately. I'd watched movies and TV shows, but had yet to read a book that strongly features vamps as main characters. So when (much to my surprise) I actually enjoyed "Queene of Light" by Jennifer Armintrout I decided to give her camp series a try.
Blood Ties is a four part series about Dr. Carrie Ames a recently credentialed emergency room doctor in Grand Rapids Michigan. One night a particularly terrible looking assault victim came into the ER-and Carrie-who hates failure-froze up. The patient (John Doe) died and being the take charge type Carrie decided to confront his body in the morgue and get over it.
Only he wasn't dead. And he attacked her. And turned her into a vampire.
Carrie doesn't know what is happening at first-but after that long recuperation period the attack mandated, she starts to discover odd things. Like sun light hurts. No amount of food or cigarettes will stop a craving. And she's taking an unhealthy interest in her patient's blood.
This being the 21st century naturally Carrie looks for answers on the internet. And discovers Nathan Grant a new age bookstore owner and vampire who informs her that yes, there are indeed vampires, she is one of them and if she doesn't join an organization dedicated to whipping them off the face of the earth (formed by the good vampires) he will kill her, as he tried to kill John Doe. Nothing personal.
Carrie also learns that John Doe -the vamp who turned her-is one of the more evil vampires on the planet. And she had a physic tie to him because of his blood in her veins meaning he can influence her in all sorts of weird ways.
"The Turning" is ninety percent Carrie waffling around about weather or not she really likes/loves Cyrus (her very twisted sadistic sire) or it's just the blood tie or does she love Nathan? And which way will she go-to the good side or the bad side?
Parts of this book are really entertaining but Carrie's endless whining and indecisions interspaced with moments of determined conviction (which often vanishes with the wind) get old really fast. Fortunately this is a very fast read so there wasn't really time for me to tire of it. Had the book been longer though...it would have gotten more than annoying.
Four stars.
The Turning: Blood Ties Bk. 1 (MIRA) Overview
I'm no coward. I want to make that perfectly clear. But after my life turned into a horror movie, I take fear a lot more seriously now. I finally became Dr. Carrie Ames just eight months ago. Then I was attacked in the hospital morgue by a vampire. Just my luck.
So now I'm a vampire, and it turns out I have a blood tie to the monster who sired me. The tie works like an invisible leash and I'm bound to him no matter what I do. And of course he's one of the most evil vampires on earth. With my sire hell-bent on turning me into a soulless killer and his sworn enemy set to exterminate me, things couldn't get much worse -- except I'm attracted to them both.
Drinking blood, living as an immortal demon and being a pawn between two warring vampire factions isn't exactly how I'd imagined my future. But as my father used to say, the only way to conquer fear is to face it. So that's what I'll do. Fangs bared.
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- Child of Darkness (Lightworld/Darkworld)
Customer Reviews
Also couldn't finish it - SallyS - Ohio
I agree with the reviewers who stopped reading part way through and I am disappointed that I spent my money on a kindle edition which I don't even want to keep. I loved the opening chapters and thought the writing interesting, original and literary enough to get me involved. Then it was as though the book switched authors half way through. The characters were poorly drawn, inconsistant; the lead character became confusing and unlikable. It became a throw away read, as though the author had a brain transplant, gave up on her original idea and turned the book into every other bad teen vampire story.
A fun read - Angie - Boulder, CO USA
I read this to take a break from some other books whose text is really tiny, because they have been contributing to my headaches. I found this really engaging and overall enjoyable.
As far as sex and violence, there is a lot in common with the Sookie Stackhouse books. But I have to say it's really refreshing to get to read a book about a new vampire, instead of yet another romance between a male vampire and a mortal female. The character was fairly strong, which I appreciate. She did wind up in one or two situations from which she had to be rescued, but in the end she wound up having to do the heroics, so I appreciate that she wasn't just some feisty damsel in distress.
I have to say, the vampires in these books may be the most polarized I've ever seen. On one end, you have these completely sadistic, evil, irredeemable monsters who delight in rape, torture, and murder. On the other, you have the vampires who believe they should all be wiped out as a species. Fans of White Wolf games will understand what I mean when I say that this setting really needs an Anarch Movement!
Interesting Premise, Sloppy Execution - Chelsea Marie Spencer -
This book caught my attention when it was recommended as similar to Patricia Briggs and Laurel K. Hamilton. It doesn't really live up to those standards, and I ended up giving up on it about 200 pages in.
The premise is that a Carrie, a newly trained doctor, is attacked in the morgue by a vampire and subsequently turns into one. She is then caught up in a war between two very different vampire men. One, Nathan, is a member of an elite league of vampires dedicated to the extinction of their own kind. The other, the vampire who turned Carrie, a blood thirsty and uncaring yet captivating monster. Nathan tells her that in order to remain alive, under the orders of his organization, she must join forces with them and follow their rules. Meanwhile, her sire tries to seduce her, desiring her as a companion.
First of all, I'd like to say in this books favor that it is very gritty and suspenseful. Much happens in a very short amount of time. I can sort of understand the comparison to the Anita Blake and Mercy Thompson books. The first person narrative, a tough loner type heroine, and a considerable amount of gore. The side characters were probably the best part--I liked Nathan and his foster son, Ziggy. I also thought that Cyrus was one of the better villains I've encountered in books such as this.
The problems are numerous. Carrie is pretty hard to relate to and even harder to like. I got the sense that I might warm up to her depending on how the story progressed, but I never fully did. She's cold, lacks empathy, never demonstrates much competence in her career or life in general, and makes some very bad choices throughout the book. It's not that she's poorly written--just unlikeable. Most of the minor premises are pretty shaky. The plot with the self exterminating vampires had some potential but it came of as a bit stupid and unfounded. Then there's Cyrus' underling and her destructive tendencies which struck me as childish, pointless, and wholly unnecessary. All of this distracted from the otherwise decent central plot--that being lonely human woman tries to cope with vampirehood--so much that I lost interest.
I feel that this is the sort of book that you will either like or hate, and it's entirely dependent on your feelings toward the lead character. I for one am sick of independent to the point of stubborn to the point of stupid heroines who constantly need to be rescued from the messes they create. Especially when those heroines have few other qualities to redeem them. I wouldn't recommend this book.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 06, 2010 06:54:05
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