First Drop of Crimson (Night Huntress World, #1)

by Jeaniene Frost

[Berls]

As we make our way through our Readalong, it was gratifying to be reading a book that I hadn't simply forgotten but had actually never read. My first time through, I only read the Cat and Bones books, so this was a step away from that and I have to say I'm thrilled Anne put together the readalong to include the entire world. Brandee and I buddy read this one and she loved it too.

The characters really made this book. Spade and Denise - who we already know and love from the Cat & Bones series - are very different in tone from what we've grown accustomed too. They are both very serious, carry the world on their backs, type of people. They've both suffered a lot of loss, but I think it's also worth noting that they've also both experienced true, deep love (that they lost). I think that made them uniquely suited to know and understand each other, which made this a really enjoyable read. It wasn't AS funny as Cat and Bones - but thankfully we do see some of the characters that we've grown to expect to bring the humor... and they do liven things up when they arrive :)

These books are different from Cat and Bones, in that we actually get both POVs, which made for a richer experience and greater knowledge of the world through Spade's eyes. While I have been partial in the past to first person POV, I really enjoyed this vantage point and I think we would have lost a lot not getting Spade's perspective.

There was a lot of action in this book and some really interesting developments for the overall Night Huntress world - ones that I'll be interested to see develop both in this series and in Cat and Bones. I was definitely MORE compelled by the characters, but I did enjoy the world building and some really great action scenes, for sure!