Review and Giveaway Requiem for Blood by Alexandra Hope

I feel somewhat contradictory to this book. Did I like it? Yes! How much? I do not know. Initially I was a bit puzzled, but I can say that my patience it was worth it.

There are many things that I liked and some that I do not accepted easily. I wished to be a part of the happy ending or maybe hope even a tinier one, but everything is going in very dark shades of gray. At the same time I appreciated these dark shades and the author’s approach.

That's because Requiem for Blood is different from other books in which vampires and other creatures get very quickly the self-control over their new skills and craves. Requiem for Blood is kept in a cold "realism". Self-discipline? Very elusive and this attracts victims. Manipulation? Yeah, and that attracts other victims. Confrontations? Yes, and the list goes on. Remorse? I wonder how useful they are when your own will and your own feelings are not able to submit the predator instincts? Humanity ... is easily to lose it.

That is what Olivia, our heroine, has to face and that is her torment. Without having a say in the "strange" world in which she was born and raised (how many of us really have something to say and how many will be affect by their family environment), without having something to say in the life and death that is was offered to her, she must cope with new situations and instincts that more than once will slip out of her hands.

The characters are varied and represent reactions or adaptations to a community that treats human life just as a source of food. From cold scholar type in search of "Philosopher's Stone", to the ruthless assassin, to the one who has the power to assert his purity, till to those there are indulging in what is familiar to them, regardless of what the familiar can mean.

The story line is kept hidden for a good part and you will see not where it goes. Any direction is possible and the curiosity will keep you tied to the book.

Writing is a little bit chaotic at first (perhaps a reflection of the characters’ feelings), but the author makes you feel what the characters feel and get to understand them and to want for them to prevail. Therefore, the heroine’s final decision will hit you hard and it will make you want to be a sequel for her to have time to change her mind. And a second volume does not sound too bad especially since some things have remained somehow unsolved. Goals and persons remained hidden, compromises remained unfinished.

The new meaning and direction of the relationship between Olivia and Troy represent that tiny hope that some sort of happy ending is still possible and even necessary for too harsh beaten heroes from Requiem for Blood.

I received the book for review as part of Book Tour - Thank you

 Romanian:

Am sentimente oarecum contradictorii față de această carte. Mi-a plăcut? Da! Cât de mult? Nu ştiu. Inițial am fost un pic contrariată, dar răbdarea pot zice că a meritat.

Sunt multe lucruri care mi-au plăcut şi multe care nu mi-au convenit. Aş fi vrut să existe o parte chiar şi infimă de happy end sau de speranță, dar totul se petrece în nuanțe foarte închise de gri. În acelaşi timp am apreciat aceste nuanțe închise şi abordarea autoarei.

Asta pentru că Requiem for Blood e diferită de cărțile în care vampirii sau alte creaturi reuşesc rapid să controleze şi să-şi autocenzureze pornirile şi noile abilități. Requiem for Blood se păstrează într-un "realism" rece. Putere de control? Cu greu de obținut şi asta atrage victime. Manipulare? Da, şi asta atrage alte victime. Confruntări? Da, şi lista continuă. Remuşcări? Oare cât de utile sunt acestea atunci când propria voință şi propriile sentimente nu sunt în stare să supună instinctele de prădător? Umanitatea... este uşor de pierdut.

Cam asta are de înfruntat şi acesta este chinul Oliviei, eroina noastră. Fără să aibă un cuvânt de spus în lumea „ciudată” în care s-a născut şi crescut (câți oare dintre noi au ceva de spus şi pe câți îi va influența mediul lor familial), fără a avea un cuvânt de spus în viața şi moartea ce i se oferă, trebuie să facă față unor situații şi instincte noi care nu o dată îi vor scăpa din mâini.

Personajele sunt variate şi reprezintă reacții sau adaptări la o comunitate ce tratează viața umană doar ca pe o sursă de hrană. De la tipul rece de savant în căutarea „pietrei filosofale”, la asasinul rece, la acela ce are puterea să-şi afirme puritatea, până la cei ce se complac în ceea ce le este familiar, indiferent de ceea ce acest familiar poate însemna.

Linia poveştii se păstrează o bună parte ascunsă şi nu vei vedea unde se îndreaptă. Orice direcție este posibilă şi curiozitatea te va ține legat de carte.

Scrisul e un pic haotic (poate ca o reflecție a trăirilor personajelor), dar autoarea te va face să simți ce simt personajele şi să ajungi să le înțelegi şi să-ți doreşti să reuşească. De aceea decizia din final a eroinei te va lovi rău şi te va face să-ți doreşti să existe un volum doi pentru a avea timp să se răzgândească. Şi un volum doi nu ar suna prea rău mai ales că unele lucruri au rămas oarecum nerezolvate. Scopuri şi persoane au rămas ascunse, înțelegeri făcute au rămas nefinalizate.

Noua înțelegere şi direcție a relației dintre Olivia şi Troy reprezintă bruma de speranță că un oarecare happy end este totuşi posibil şi chiar necesar pentru eroii prea mult încercați din Requiem for Blood.

Description:

Published March 25th, 2013

Seventeen year old Olivia Cohen has always had an appetite for blood and an aversion to the sun as a human and when she is killed by a mysterious young woman, she finds her appetite has heightened and her skin is now burned by the sun. Living her life in a colony with other people who live a "vampire-like" lifestyle, she has grown up hunting humans and believing there is a blood so powerful it will turn them from vampire-like into true vampires. On one of Olivia's final nights as a human she meets eighteen year old Troy Evans and is immediately drawn to the unique scent of his blood. Now as an actual vampire, she must learn how to suppress her need to hunt and kill for his sake and decide if his unique blood is worth saving from those who seek it.

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About the author:

Alexandra Hope was born in New York, raised in Atlanta and has lived in Germany for the past three years. She writes pretty much whatever she feels like and for her debut novel she chose ninja-like vampires. She's a (Linguistic) Anthropology major, language lover, vocalist in a Japanese band and part-time bad fanfic writer.

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