Crusade {ARC review} * * 3/4

Crusade by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie

Sep 7, 2010

- paranormal, YA -

reviewed by Tara SG

received for review via Book It Forward Tours

Book Order (Crusade)

1. Crusade * * 3/4 (09.07.10)

Links

Author’s Website :

• Nancy Holder – www.nancyholder.com
• Debbie Viguie – www.debbieviguie.com

Amazon : pre-order hardcover / eBook

Add To Your GoodReads TBR List

This book in 6 words:

vampires, weres, witches, hunters… oh my!

Why did I read this? And am I glad I did?

I came across this on the Book It Forward Tour site and thought it sounded interesting. It was. I’m still a little torn on this one. I liked it, but it felt like there was A LOT going on. We’re introduced to six (well almost seven) main characters. While we’re primarily seeing things from Jenn’s POV, it does switch around a lot. There were also a ton of backstories that didn’t always seem to matter. I thought the ending was predictable. I didn’t really like the torn team dynamic, however, it seemed realistic (I’ll try to explain that in the characters section). I’ll probably check out the next book from the library just to see what happens.

Brief Summary

The ultimate battle. The ultimate love.

For the past two years, Jenn has lived and trained at Spain’s Sacred Heart Academy Against the Cursed Ones. She is among the few who have pledged to defend humanity or die trying. But the vampires are gaining power, and the battle has only just begun.

Forced to return home after death takes a member of her family, Jenn discovers that San Francisco is now a vampire strong-hold. As a lone hunter apart from her team, Jenn is isolated—and at risk. She craves the company of her fighting partner, Antonio: his protection, his reassurance, his touch. But a relationship with Antonio comes with its own dangers, and the more they share of themselves, the more Jenn stands to lose.

Then Jenn is betrayed by one who was once bound to protect her, causing her to doubt all she had held as true. To survive, Jenn must find the courage to trust herself—and her heart.

- via GoodReads.com

Plot/Pacing/Writing Style

The plot wasn’t overly original. Vampires come out and play nice then their “real” nature comes out and war breaks out. The main characters are “hunters” trained at a school in Spain. I did like the dystopian feel and I liked the mix of mythology and politics. While I found it to be predictable, I still wanted to find out if I was right or not.

The story kicks off with a lot of action and maintains that pace throughout most of the book. The only times I found myself skimming was during the little sister’s POVS and I grew bored with a few of the character’s flashbacks.

Characters

The characters weren’t great. They weren’t terrible, I just didn’t care for them. Maybe because they didn’t like each other and talked about it so much. They were a completely dysfunctional team, but somehow that seemed real. With their personalities, if they all got along and trusted each other it would feel fake.

Jenn was boring. I know she’s kinda supposed to be, but it was too the point where I didn’t understand why she was a hunter. I’m not sure what else to say about her because we don’t really get to “know” her. I actually felt like we learned more about the other characters.

Anthony is an emo vampire. Even I’m getting sick of them.

The other hunters were more interesting and I would have liked to have seen more of them (maybe in the future?).

Recommendations

If you like YA paranormal with fighting and a dystopian feel, then maybe you should borrow this one.

Going Deeper

contains spoilers (that really don’t matter IMHO)

Jenn spends a lot of time in the book talking bad about herself. She doesn’t trust herself or her abilities. She thinks she’ll get everyone killed. However, she doesn’t quit. All the other hunters have something that give them an advantage while she is a plain human. Blah blah blah. At the end of the book, the team decides to make her their leader because she is plain. They claimed that it makes her independent and that she thinks like the enemy. If she cared about her teammates lives, she would have quit when she thought she wasn’t good enough. And that’s a good reason to make her your leader?!