Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Publication Date: April 3, 2012
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Source: PublisherThere is need. And then there is Fate…
Being destined to become some kind of supernatural electrical outlet isn’t exactly awesome–especially when Alexandria’s “other half” is everywhere she goes. Seth’s in her training room, outside her classes, and keeps showing up in her bedroom–so not cool. Their connection does have some benefits, like staving off her nightmares of the tragic showdown with her mother, but it has no effect on what Alex feels for the forbidden, pure-blooded Aiden. Or what he will do–and sacrifice–for her.
When daimons infiltrate the Covenants and attack students, the gods send furies–lesser gods determined to eradicate any threat to the Covenants and to the gods, and that includes the Apollyon… and Alex. And if that and hordes of aether-sucking monsters didn’t blow bad enough, a mysterious threat seems willing to do anything to neutralize Seth, even if that means forcing Alex into servitude… or killing her.
When the gods are involved, some decisions can never, ever be undone.
Goodreads Summary
Since there are over 90 blogs participating on this tour, I’ve decided to do y’all a favor and keep this review on the short side. Or try to, at any rate. 😉 I feel like I’ve been getting a bit too verbose in my posts lately, and I know y’all have other things to do then listen to me blabber on and on. We all know how much I stalk love anything Jennifer L. Armentrout, so anything I say in this review shouldn’t be too surprising.
The summer is over and Alex has settled back into the Covenant school routine after spending three years away. Alex is still required to continue her extra training sessions, except now Aidan and Seth are splitting teaching responsibilities. It seems that an Apollyon-in-training has more to learn than the average student, and what better person to help out with that then the Apollyon? Alex is still madly in love with Aidan – even though it’s forbidden – and he is doing his best to protect her and ignore her at the same time. It’s quite maddening, really. Seth is a continual source of annoyance to Alex, since he seems to be everywhere she is and their connection is getting stronger, which makes it more difficult to keep anything private. Alex and Aidan have a major episode (SOB!), and Alex finally comes to the realization that sometimes people don’t always get what they want.
On the non-romance side, the daimons are becoming a serious threat and have now figured out how to infiltrate the Covenants/schools and are attacking from within. This development is a major blow, and the pure’s seem to have a hard time facing reality. In my opinion, anyway. The class issues in this series are fascinating, and Pure does nothing but drive a deeper wedge between the pures and half-bloods. About halfway through the semester, Alex leaves the safety of the school to attend the council session to give her testimony about the events leading up to, and including, her mother’s death. It seems that not everyone is jazzed about the idea of having two Apollyon’s, and Alex is continually targeted and harassed throughout her stay.
Since Aidan is sort of out of the picture now, Seth really steps up to the plate and watches out for Alex. In Half-Blood I thought Seth was a real jerk, but we get to see a different side of him in this book. Now, this is 100% my opinion, but I’m not sure that what Seth feels for Alex is romantic love. It always felt a bit familial to me (yes, even after the 324th time of reading the book). I think Seth is too arrogant and pompous (in an endearing, completely lovable way of course) to really ever settle down. While I think Alex is the most important person to him, and he genuinely likes her, I never got the impression that it was because he was in love with her. It was more of a “hey, we’re the only two of our kind, so it’s me and you against the world” type of love. Granted, I haven’t read whatever scene JLA wrote from Seth’s POV in the digital copy of Pure, so I could be totally off base. Am I wrong? What do you think? If I am right, I do wonder how Alex the Apollyon could ever be with Aidan (which is what I’m rootin’ for, trust me). Alex and Seth have such a unique bond, and it seems like they come as a package. I’m so nervous about how it’s all going to work out! Seriously, I’m biting my nails over here.
My Summary: Pure was deliciously amazing in every possible way. It was leaps and bounds away from the dreaded Second Novel Syndrome, and it did a great job of keeping the passion, mystery and excitement up going into the rest of the series. JLA pulled every emotion out of me in this book. I cried, I laughed, I swooned and I desperately wished for a real life Seth to drop in my life. JLA has perfected the art of creating characters that I care about, that I need to be happy and safe. I have no predictions for where the series is going (clearly), but I’ll happily go along with wherever JLA will take me.
My Rating: A+
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