Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Revelations


Revelations: A Blue Blood Novel
Melissa De La Cruz


Revelations is the third book in the Blue Bloods series. In order to review the first two books, let me quote from my review of Blue Bloods (the first novel):

When we think of the term "Blue Bloods" we think of those who are fabulously rich and can trace their wealth back generations. That is what the term means in this book, but it also means so much more. Blue Bloods are vampires -- have been vampires since they were expelled from the Kingdom of Heaven. They want atonement -- to be accepted back into Heaven. Until then they live their lives (or cycles as they are called) using their wealth to bring culture to and do good for others. The Metropolitan Museum of Art? Founded by Blue Bloods. You get the idea. Although there is a theme of reincarnation, the vampires are born human and when they are fifteen, they start changing. Schuyler has just discovered that she is a vampire, not an easy thing for her to accept at first. But worse things are happening. Vampires are supposed to be immortal, but somehow the young teenage vampires are dying and the older vampires seem to be in denial about what's going on. Schuyler is in danger and so she and a couple of her friends set out to figure out who is causing the vampire deaths.

In Revelations, it is painfully obvious who the evil ones are – Silver Bloods. Silver Bloods are vampires who prey on other vampires. Unlike Blue Bloods, Silver Bloods care nothing for atonement – they just want to win the ages-long war they have had with the Blue Bloods. What isn’t obvious is exactly who all the Silver Bloods are and it is that revelation at the end of the book that is shocking and leads one to count the days until the next book is released. From the beginning Schuyler is in danger, but while some of her enemies are obvious (she is, after all, in love with a man who is quite taken), others are (to use a cliché) hiding in plain sight. The climax takes place in Rio de Janeiro and is certainly shocking.

Overall, Revelations is a decent book. It moves quickly and I never guessed the ending. I would say it suffers from being a middle book in a series. It moves the series along, but there’s not a good resolution to any of the plot lines because there are more books to come. I read somewhere that Melissa De La Cruz is planning ten books in the series – I’m not sure her fans will be willing to wait seven more years to a conclusion.

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