⋙ Download Shades of Blood Warriors of Ankh #3 Samantha Young 9781468009576 Books

Shades of Blood Warriors of Ankh #3 Samantha Young 9781468009576 Books

Download As PDF : Shades of Blood Warriors of Ankh #3 Samantha Young 9781468009576 Books

Shades of Blood Warriors of Ankh #3 Samantha Young 9781468009576 Books

3 stars -- Another strange reading experience -- I stayed up until 3am finishing the book, but in the end it was only ok for me. This review *might* be a bit spoilery, so you've been warned.

The plot was quite different from what I'm used to in paranormal reads, in that there wasn't really a big bad guy to fight and win against. There were a few enemies, but those plots really seemed to stay in the background, and the climax wasn't traditional either...heck, our heroine wasn't even there to deal with them all. In the end the big bad seemed to be more Eden herself, and her inability to deal with her grief over Stratton and her thirst for vengeance. And while I appreciate the uniqueness of this, I guess I just wasn't completely won over. I'm having a hard time pinpointing why. I guess there just didn't feel like a lot of build up to a climax, a crucial point where things had to be taken care of.

I also didn't see as much growth in Eden as I would have liked. Her issues ended up feeling very repetitive, so maybe I grew bored? But then why did I keep reading til it was over? Maybe I was waiting for something to happen? It's not that I don't feel for Eden...I do. I just ran into a wall with her character and I wanted more.

I had mixed feelings on the romance as well. Geez, I'm not sure this review is going to be worth anything at all -- I can't seem to figure out what I liked and didn't like. Or at least I can't seem to articulate it. I appreciated that the romance was there, but I didn't always feel it...it just existed. I was even hoping for more from Tobe and Cameron, and I didn't really get anything from that either.

And in the end I think the thing that bothered me the most (and bothered me with her other series too) was the questionable morals. Not just in Eden's thirst for vengeance (and quite honestly I don't think she ever really got why killing Romany would be a bad thing for her). But I wasn't really down with Darius and his methods. Or heck, for how they treated the rebellion. I guess I want my heros to be spick and span, or at least have more reasons for behaving badly than these guys did. They just wanted to protect their group of Ankhs, and the authority they had...yeah yeah, I know, so they could focus on the soul eater killing, but no...I just didn't like that at all. So they all went down in my esteem.

Also, the Unforeseen ability? Felt like that was thrown in just to ramp up Eden's thirst for vengeance...felt like a convenient plot device, and really served no other purpose...especially since they wanted to keep it hidden.

Wow. So that really looks like I didn't enjoy it at all. It's not that...it's more like a feeling of disappointment in the end. I guess I'm just not a fan of Ms. Young's paranormals. We'll give her contemporaries a try, but she may just not be a fit for me.


Tags : Shades of Blood (Warriors of Ankh #3) [Samantha Young] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Eden’s life has taken a turn she would never have imagined. She’s gone from soul eater to warrior, left behind a family she was ashamed of and moved in with one she admires. She has a purpose,Samantha Young,Shades of Blood (Warriors of Ankh #3),CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,1468009575,FICTION Romance Paranormal

Shades of Blood Warriors of Ankh #3 Samantha Young 9781468009576 Books Reviews

This is totally on a side note to begin this review, but I have to say that I am so grateful for series that have a definite story arc, a beginning and ending, a story that doesn't just go on and on and on. The Warriors of Ankh series by Samantha Young has been an enjoyable one to read, and Young finds a way to bring the story of Eden, a Soul Eater turned full Ankh warrior, to a satisfying conclusion. This series has been a story of Eden finding herself. From book one where she fought against the soul eater part of herself that was so repulsive to her, to book two where Eden learned to discover her new self fully rid of the soul eater side, and then this book, this has been a journey for Eden to figure out exactly who the Eden was who would be prancing about for all eternity.

In Shades of Blood Eden is fully removed from the soul eater existence that dominated her early life. However she faces an enemy that is a whole lot more difficult to eradicate. A sword swipe across the shoulders is not going to rescue Eden from this danger. In this book Eden has to fight her own personal demons which arise from her need for vengeance and retribution due to her continued anger and despair over the death of her half brother Stellan that occurred in the first book of the series. Despite Eden's newfound calm due to her transformation into an eternal Ankh warrior, Eden cannot find any part of her willing to forgive Romany, the Neith who had killed Stellan despite orders not to do so. It doesn't help anything that Romany also happened to be Noah's girlfriend at the time, so now the emotions of jealousy are also thrown into the pot boiling in Eden's existence. She is angry, and she wants blood. But that attitude doesn't mesh well with the laws of her Ankh society. Killing a Neith in cold blood, even if it is as retribution for what Eden feels is a crime, would constitute murder, and whether the Ankh chose to punish her or not for that, the simple fact that Eden allowed herself to enter that territory would end up destroying her all on her own. This is the major conflict of the book, even though the entire books is full of other conflicts involving a rogue soul eater group and a potential internal threat to the Ankh.

Darius, the reculsive, ultrapowerful, and mega-old Ankh leader-who-is-not-officially-the-leader, decides to test Eden and her new identity as a full Ankh warrior by using the talented Romany to help fight against the forces that are trying to rip the Ankh apart. Romany is shown throughout the book to be a talented Neith, but that dedication and talent is not enough to erase Eden's hatred of her. Darius sends Romany right into the midst of Cyrus's compound where Eden is stationed to see how Eden will react. It is not good. Eden is furious. She's furious with Cyrus who allows Darius to perform this test. She's angry with Noah who tries to help her calm her desire for revenge. She spends a good deal of this book angry. That is a little more of a taste of the old Eden who occupied the first novel in this series. But that Eden was ruled by the soul eater part of her personality that had an almost instictual quality to it. This, instead, is all Eden. Nothing else is causing her anger. Only her. And that is a harder battle to undertake. I will admit that Eden's anger at times in this book got terribly annoying to read. She acted so childish at times, pushing away those who obviously cared about her more than anyone else ever had. As an outside reader I could understand the motivations that were guiding Cyrus and Noah, and so it was upsetting to me that Eden couldn't back down for a second to see that they were behaving the way they were because they loved her. But I think that my frustration was part of the story. Eden was so caught up in her own emotions that she couldn't see the big picture, and don't we all get that way every once in a while when our emotions are high?

I won't say more about the events of the story except to say that Young tied up the story beautifully. Things progressed fairly naturally, and I think that Eden found a way to work through her intense feelings in a way that stayed true to her character. It wasn't just a gooey I-forgive-you fest at the end which would have been very unlike the fiery Eden. But it managed to bring closure to the issue. I especially loved the brief but touching scene where Cyrus showed Eden a place where she could show honor to her brother. That was sweet. I loved the secondary character of Jack. His interaction with Eden was refreshing, especially in the midst of all of her angst-filled interactions with every single other person in the compound as she worked through her anger issues. Every character in this book had layers to their personality that really enhanced their roles within the book. I appreciated that. Part of me wishes that more time would have been spent exploring the outside villains of the story -- the rogue soul eater leader who was holding October's parents, or the rogue Neith who was out to kill Eden. But when I recognize this story as a story of Eden's discovery of who she really is, those outside dangers are not as important. They are simply outside dangers. The real danger was the dark emotions that potentially could destroy Eden from within.

Overall, this was another great book from Samantha Young. I have yet to discover a book written by her that was not complex and engaging and well worth my time reading. I am happy for the ending of this series -- satisfactory in every way.
3 stars -- Another strange reading experience -- I stayed up until 3am finishing the book, but in the end it was only ok for me. This review *might* be a bit spoilery, so you've been warned.

The plot was quite different from what I'm used to in paranormal reads, in that there wasn't really a big bad guy to fight and win against. There were a few enemies, but those plots really seemed to stay in the background, and the climax wasn't traditional either...heck, our heroine wasn't even there to deal with them all. In the end the big bad seemed to be more Eden herself, and her inability to deal with her grief over Stratton and her thirst for vengeance. And while I appreciate the uniqueness of this, I guess I just wasn't completely won over. I'm having a hard time pinpointing why. I guess there just didn't feel like a lot of build up to a climax, a crucial point where things had to be taken care of.

I also didn't see as much growth in Eden as I would have liked. Her issues ended up feeling very repetitive, so maybe I grew bored? But then why did I keep reading til it was over? Maybe I was waiting for something to happen? It's not that I don't feel for Eden...I do. I just ran into a wall with her character and I wanted more.

I had mixed feelings on the romance as well. Geez, I'm not sure this review is going to be worth anything at all -- I can't seem to figure out what I liked and didn't like. Or at least I can't seem to articulate it. I appreciated that the romance was there, but I didn't always feel it...it just existed. I was even hoping for more from Tobe and Cameron, and I didn't really get anything from that either.

And in the end I think the thing that bothered me the most (and bothered me with her other series too) was the questionable morals. Not just in Eden's thirst for vengeance (and quite honestly I don't think she ever really got why killing Romany would be a bad thing for her). But I wasn't really down with Darius and his methods. Or heck, for how they treated the rebellion. I guess I want my heros to be spick and span, or at least have more reasons for behaving badly than these guys did. They just wanted to protect their group of Ankhs, and the authority they had...yeah yeah, I know, so they could focus on the soul eater killing, but no...I just didn't like that at all. So they all went down in my esteem.

Also, the Unforeseen ability? Felt like that was thrown in just to ramp up Eden's thirst for vengeance...felt like a convenient plot device, and really served no other purpose...especially since they wanted to keep it hidden.

Wow. So that really looks like I didn't enjoy it at all. It's not that...it's more like a feeling of disappointment in the end. I guess I'm just not a fan of Ms. Young's paranormals. We'll give her contemporaries a try, but she may just not be a fit for me.