Blood Rights (House of Comarré, #1)

by Kristen Painter

Gothic fantasy meets vampire fiction in this debut novel from Kristen Painter -- full of politics, intrigue, and blood.

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle's body bears the telltale marks of a comarre -- a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world. . .and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.

Now, Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.

• ISBN10: 0316084778
• ISBN13: 9780316084772
• Publish Date: 1 October 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[inlibrisveritas]

Blood Rights is a book that has been on my TBR for some time. I initially requested it from netgalley years ago, but could never really get into it enough to really leave a proper review. I decided it was time to give it a go this year, and now I realize that even after finishing it I still don’t have a lot to say about it.

The story centers around Chrysabelle who is a Comarre, or a special race of humans that have been bred for the sole purpose of feeding vampires, and Mal, a mysterious vampire that has been avoiding drinking human blood for years. I personally liked Chrysabelle a lot, especially the fact that she can kick ass. I, however, do not have much of an opinion on Mal, who is reminiscent of several other vampire characters (i.e. Louis) but kind of failed to make it own mark in my mind. This, unfortunately, means that Chrysabelle and Mal’s relationship also fell on indifferent ears.

There are plenty of things that do leave me with positive feelings, like the caste system that the vampires maintain. The idea of having a set group of people meant purely for blood donation is actually really cool, and I love that the Comarre is somewhat dependent on the vampires to stay healthy and maintain their long lives. The interesting aspect of different Houses for the vampires as well as the individual powers that they can manifest was a great addition as well.

As for Abby Craden’s narration, I found it pretty good. I wasn’t fond of all of the voices she chose to use, but I think she did a good job differentiating the characters and reading at a good pace.

Overall I’m sort of just neutral on this. I certainly don’t hate the book, but at the end of the day, I find myself really disappointed at how little I care.

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

Review coming soon.

[littleread1]

I wavered between 3 & 4 stars for this one. The story was very unique, but I felt lost for the first half and then some. Now that I have finished it and kind of get what was going on, I realize I was so focused on figuring the world & races out that I didn't connect with any of the characters. Not on the level I want to.

But the story ... *swoon* it was so beautiful. A slightly futuristic world, a very intricate society, complex histories ... it was just ... beautiful. (Repetitive words, I know - hence why I am not an author!) It is one of those stories that just sucks you into the world and is so well written that even if you aren't getting "involved" in the characters, you keep reading to find out more.

The "big reveals" near the end were very predictable, I think about half way through I figured out most of what was going to go down, but not quite how it would happen. And there is certainly enough WTF left over to make me interested in reading the next in the series.

[Amanda]

Actual rating: 3.5

Original review: http://onabookbender.com/2012/02/08/mini-review-blood-rights-by-kristen-painter/

Blood Rights has been recommended all over the place. I picked it up during Bout of Books, but my reading enjoyment got interrupted by some work, and I think that I may have enjoyed it more, had I not read it in small bits and pieces. There seemed to be a lot of world building and setting up of the story, and while I liked the thoroughness of it, it took longer for me to become engrossed in the story. In some ways, Blood Rights reminds me of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series in the sense that it focuses on many other characters besides the main characters. I don’t mind this, but it did seem to make it more difficult (or, longer) to connect with the characters. On the other hand, the focus on other characters makes me more attached to their stories and what happens to them in the long run.

I loved the idea of the Comarré (as the synopsis reads: a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility). It is brilliant and original. I want to know more. Blood Rights ends on a note that will have you wanting the next books in the series, without leaving on too much of a cliffhanger. There were a few things that I figured out before they were revealed, though I don’t know if that’s because it was predictable, or if I was just on my game. I prefer to think the latter. I will definitely be continuing the series once I get my hands on Flesh and Blood.