I'm thrilled to be part of the Half-Blood tour. I just finished this book and it is incredible! One of my favorites of this year. My review can be found here.
You can follow the rest of the tour, hosted by The {Teen} Book Scene by clicking here.
A lot of people have asked what exactly is a Hematoi and how in the holy Underworld do you pronounce it. Good question. I, myself, have a hard time pronouncing it. So let’s break out the nifty pronunciation key.
Hematoi — HEM-a-toy
A Hematoi, also known as a pure-blood, is a descendent of two demigods. They are not the child of a god and a mortal, which is a demigod. And don’t let their comfy, elitist sort of life fool you. They do use half-bloods, a child of a Hematoi and a mortal protect and serve them, but they are not defenseless by any means. Most, but not all, just feel that fighting is kind of below them.
Being a child of a two demigods, they’re chalk full of aether—the essence of the gods. A Hematoi can wield control over one of the elements: air, water, fire or earth. They can be just as fast and as strong as a half-blood. Their compulsions pack a powerful punch. If a Hematoi suggested that you go play in a street? You’d happily go play in the street.
Why are the Hematoi in such a position of power? Well, it can be summed up pretty easily: their blood is pure. Relationships of any kind with a half-blood, besides a professional kind, are absolutely forbidden. There is no ands, ifs or buts there. The half-blood usually bears the brunt of punishment if they break the big no touchie policy. And we aren’t talking a smack on a wrist or shame. We’re talking indentured servitude.
So in the world of gods and their many offspring, Hematoi are at the top of the food chain. Well, there is one exception but that’s a story for a different day.
Half-Blood by Janenifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press (October 18th, 2011)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Paperback: 281 pages
Series: Covenant #1
The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures.Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden.Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.
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