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Vampires of Manhattan (New Blue Bloods Coven #1)
Melissa de la Cruz
Published: September 9, 2014 (Hyperion)
Purchase at: Book Depository
Review source: copy provided by author in exchange for an honest review
Reviewed by: Candace
Rating (out of 5): 3 stars
This is my first time reading a novel by Melissa de la Cruz, and that put me at a definite disadvantage.
The gothic cover piqued my interest and we’re Vampire Book Club here, and Manhattan is one of my favorite places, so naturally I wanted to read. I’m going to preface my explanation by saying that this in no way reflects on de la Cruz’s capabilities as an author. Her writing is fantastic. She creates an incredibly visual world, complete with stylish supernaturals.
But so much of Vampires of Manhattan is flashback, which made me think that this was a combination of maturing Blue Bloods and Cliff Notes-style explanations for what happened in the Blue Bloods series. Apparently, there was a great war and Lucifer was destroyed. There is a vampiric police force, called the Venators, who basically keep the peace post war. The point where the story begins is ten years after the war and Oliver is the new head of the Blood Bloods Coven.
He plans a 400-Year Ball, just as violent crimes are happening, which point to supernatural perpetrators. Oliver’s human lover is murdered the night before the Ball, which puts him in a world of trouble. Vampires who murder humans can now be executed, and Oliver is the prime suspect. Pentagrams are presents at various violent crimes happening across the city, which possibly means that someone is intending to escape Hell. Mimi and her husband Kingsley are currently residents there, which is something else that makes me want to read the earlier books because Kingsley apparently felt at home there and, well, it’s Hell.
Oliver intrigued me. He’s the only former human turned vampire in Manhattan, yet he’s leading the Coven. And his situation completely changes by the end of the book, leaving his story with a lot of possibilities. I was very curious to see what happens with him. There are new characters, but the reader should be fully up-to-date on the continuing characters before that happens.
The next book in the series will hopefully be in a better place, with new readers being on the same page as readers of the Blue Bloods Coven series. That would be fantastic, because de la Cruz has a lot of possibility with this series, and I look forward to seeing how it plays out.
Sexual content: Sex.
I didn’t read the YA series this one stemmed from but when I was asked to review the audio and one of my favorite narrators, narrated it I said sure. But sadly even he couldn’t save this book for me. After listening for a couple of hours I had to DNF it. I just couldn’t get into the characters and story. I think mostly because I felt like I was missing too much back history on the war that happened in the other series.
Jennifer, this was the first De La Cruz book I have ever read and, IMHO, she is a fantastic writer. But, for me, the flow of the book was distracted by the flashbacks. I hope that the flow for the next book in this series can be smoother because there is a lot of potential.