Bloodshot (2011)

Read and reviewed in 2010

Cherie Priest has created a great new character and added a fresh new face to the Urban Fantasy genre with Bloodshot's Raylene Pendle/Cheshire Red. A vampire and a professional thief, Ray is very good at what she does, but she is also highly OCD and prone to panic and anxiety attacks, which makes her much more "real" and likable than many characters in Urban Fantasy that are just all tough with no faults. Ray also tends to collect around herself a rather eclectic and motley crew of characters - a pair of kids that squat in a warehouse that she owns (and stores her ill-gotten gains inside), a fellow vampire who has escaped from a sinister government group that did experiments on supernaturals - leaving him blind, and an ex-Navy SEAL who is also a kicking drag queen! With characters like these, you know the book is going to be great.

The basic plot is that Ian - the blinded vampire - wants Ray to find and steal the medical documentation kept on him while he was under government control so that he can hopefully have some of the damage reversed. Unfortunately no sooner does Ray begin her research than Men in Black start showing up all over the place to try to run her down.

This is a must-read for anyone who enjoys vampire novels, Urban Fantasy and/or paranormal thrillers. Don't miss it!! ( )

vacation read #3. Good pool book. ( )

2.5 stars

Bloodshot
I’m not sure how I feel about this book. The first half was so-so, the second half quite good. Much of it wasn’t predictable. There were elements that pushed the first half up and the second half down. And one overarching problem: The main character is basically a sociopath. For example, in the beginning she kills someone just because he breaks into her warehouse even though he was unarmed. She never regrets this or thinks it was unjustified.

Yes there are changes later but I was never satisfied. Frankly, I think all of the characters were too comfortable with murder. None of the characters acted as a conscience. But the character is a vampire after all. There is no assumption vampires are evil, they just are and they kill people sometimes, more frequently when they’re younger. Apparently it’s not as big a deal if you kill homeless people. That’s basically okay. That’s pretty much enough to make me not want to read further.

But I pushed through because it takes place in Seattle and it was obvious she actually lives in Seattle rather than visited it once. It was a pleasure to read that but still the beginning was a little boring.

Then I hit a joke I consider mildly racist but I can be way too sensitive about things like this. You decide:

“A different abbreviation, one I hadn’t thought to scan for: ‘J. Roe.’ A jole about a Japanese pop singer sprang to mind, but I was a good girl and didn’t say it out loud—even though there was no one to hear me.”
Pg. 96


Also, only a lesbian should use the word “dyke” and the main character isn’t a lesbian. But the book was definitely gay friendly, so I went with it. See my confusion?

The second half was much better and introduced one of the best UF characters I’ve seen in awhile. Not amazing like Stacia Kane’s Terrible, but still very good. But the book was leading me towards one guy as a love interest, building him up as being hot and sexy and sweet and strong and beautiful. The other she mentioned only twice as being someone she cared about and only once as being attractive (near the end) and he was the one she chose! I felt betrayed.

Something mildly picky: She says PDF (Portable Document Format) instead of PDF file (Adobe's preference) and she says “Adobe processed it.” Adobe is the company, not the product. It’s like saying “we waited while Microsoft imported the text file.” The product is Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader. Again, I'm overly picky because I worked there for nearly a decade.

I’m mildly curious about what happens next but I am not sure if I can stomach the immorality.


( )

2.5 stars

Bloodshot
I’m not sure how I feel about this book. The first half was so-so, the second half quite good. Much of it wasn’t predictable. There were elements that pushed the first half up and the second half down. And one overarching problem: The main character is basically a sociopath. For example, in the beginning she kills someone just because he breaks into her warehouse even though he was unarmed. She never regrets this or thinks it was unjustified.

Yes there are changes later but I was never satisfied. Frankly, I think all of the characters were too comfortable with murder. None of the characters acted as a conscience. But the character is a vampire after all. There is no assumption vampires are evil, they just are and they kill people sometimes, more frequently when they’re younger. Apparently it’s not as big a deal if you kill homeless people. That’s basically okay. That’s pretty much enough to make me not want to read further.

But I pushed through because it takes place in Seattle and it was obvious she actually lives in Seattle rather than visited it once. It was a pleasure to read that but still the beginning was a little boring.

Then I hit a joke I consider mildly racist but I can be way too sensitive about things like this. You decide:

“A different abbreviation, one I hadn’t thought to scan for: ‘J. Roe.’ A jole about a Japanese pop singer sprang to mind, but I was a good girl and didn’t say it out loud—even though there was no one to hear me.”
Pg. 96


Also, only a lesbian should use the word “dyke” and the main character isn’t a lesbian. But the book was definitely gay friendly, so I went with it. See my confusion?

The second half was much better and introduced one of the best UF characters I’ve seen in awhile. Not amazing like Stacia Kane’s Terrible, but still very good. But the book was leading me towards one guy as a love interest, building him up as being hot and sexy and sweet and strong and beautiful. The other she mentioned only twice as being someone she cared about and only once as being attractive (near the end) and he was the one she chose! I felt betrayed.

Something mildly picky: She says PDF (Portable Document Format) instead of PDF file (Adobe's preference) and she says “Adobe processed it.” Adobe is the company, not the product. It’s like saying “we waited while Microsoft imported the text file.” The product is Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader. Again, I'm overly picky because I worked there for nearly a decade.

I’m mildly curious about what happens next but I am not sure if I can stomach the immorality.


( )

I was so excited to have won this on First Reads, and overall, it was quite enjoyable. Ms. Priest does a little too much telling in the first couple of chapters, i.e. having the protagonist describe herself in detail, but once past that bump, when the story got going, it really got going.

Vampires, ghouls, black ops, a drag queen Navy SEAL, a venal but somehow appealing museum employee, and lots of fast-paced action overall made this an exciting read. Taken individually, all of the plot elements and most of the characters in this book have appeared elsewhere, but all together they're a thrill ride. I will definitely keep an eye out for the next book! ( )