Review: Pure Blooded – Amanda Carlson & Fated – Sarah Fine

I have a double-whammy of disappointing urban fantasy for you guys – woohoo!

pure bloodedPure Blooded (Jessica McClain #5) – Amanda Carlson

Jessica arrives back from the Underworld to find her father embroiled in a battle against the Made wolves. She and her crew drop everything to join them.

Once she arrives, the threat is after her. Jessica is lured into danger when her adversary takes something precious from her. With help from an unlikely source, Jessica goes up against her creator in a battle that will decide the path of everyone involved. She must war against a new set of foes, ones who could not only steal her power, but could take her soul as well.

Rating: 2/5

I really enjoyed the first three books in the series, but somewhere by book 4 I was left pretty disappointed in the series and unfortunately book 5 didn’t do much for me either.

I was initially attracted to the series by its fresh premise, but things that I could gloss over in the beginning are now a tad annoying.

Firstly, while I love me some action-packed series, there’s never any downtime with Jessica McClain at all – she goes from one problem to a bigger problem to an even bigger problem, so the characters are constantly on the go and its exhausting just reading about it. I want to see some scenes where the characters are just allowed to chill, without fear of impending doom.

Secondly, while Jess is a pretty tough lady, she’s a special snowflake in terms of her abilities. She starts out as the first female werewolf, and from there she just keeps getting more special and more powerful – I mean, in this installment, she has to literally reshape fate. And it’s not just our MC – her best friend Marcy, a very young, recently trained witch, somehow has the ability to do stuff way beyond her level or skillset. Its no fun watching characters who can just keep doing things without any struggle.

Overall, I didn’t particularly enjoy this book, although I found the last part to redeem it somewhat, and I think it might be time for the series and I to go our separate ways.

ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

fatedFated (Servants of Fate #3) – Sarah Fine

Aislin Ferry and Jason Moros have only days until they will be called to account before the Keepers of the Afterlife. Yet as they race to restore order and make their case, their worlds fall into total disarray.

Mutiny within the fractured Ferry family threatens Aislin’s hold on power and role as Charon. Meanwhile, the fearsome Lord of the Kere has family trouble of his own. Someone is unraveling the fabric of fate, and Moros suspects one of his supernatural siblings is behind the terrible bid to unleash Chaos.

Now unlikely allies, Aislin and Moros each need the other to escape the wrath of the Keepers. As the stakes rise, it becomes clear that protecting their respective empires is not the endgame. With the fate of all humanity dangling by a thread, Aislin and Moros must surrender completely to one another if they are to fight their common enemy. And as time runs out, someone must make the ultimate sacrifice.

Rating: 2/5

Another series where I was attracted by the premise – I really enjoyed the first book, but found the second one distasteful, and this final installment has pretty much devolved into the typical UF/paranormal tropes.

The male characters are all carbon copies of each other – he-man, I must have her and protect at all costs types, and honestly, I’ve had about enough of these types of dudes. All in all, I found Fated incredibly cheesy – if you like paranormal romance, then you’ll probably enjoy this series, but there’s nothing particularly new here in terms of characterization.

I do think the world the author created was quite original and had a lot of potential – in fact, I was more interested in the background than I was in the romance and the main characters.

ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 
Posted in urban fantasy amanda carlsonfatedpure bloodedsarah fine

10 thoughts on “Review: Pure Blooded – Amanda Carlson & Fated – Sarah Fine

  1. joyousreads says:

    Can I just say I’m pretty surprised to find out your read UF? Impressive! Sorry they didn’t work out for you, though. Boo.

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    1. fullybookedreviews says:

      Haha, I adore UF, but I have had a bit of a reading drought in terms of the UF genre. I’m due for a Kate Daniels reread though, since the latest one has just come out!

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  2. Maja (The Nocturnal Library) says:

    I have to agree with you about Jessica McClain. The series pretty much lost me after book 3. It all got to be ridiculous. As for Sarah Fine, I haven’t read her adult series yet, I just didn’t feel any desire to, but I’m curious about the distasteful comment.

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    1. fullybookedreviews says:

      Yup, I thought I’d try book 5 just to see if it picked up again, but ridiculousness abounded. I didn’t like book 2 because it used the trope of ‘rape victim needs to consummate marriage with male MC in order to save the world’, and it didn’t sit well with me at all. Here’s my review, if you’re interested: https://fullybookedreviews.com/2015/03/11/review-claimed-servants-of-fate-2-sarah-fine/

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  3. Angie says:

    Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy them. Hopefully you didn’t read them back to back! I hate it when I read two duds in a row.😦

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    1. fullybookedreviews says:

      Haha luckily I had a book or two in between to buffer the despair!

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  4. Kate @ Ex Libris (@ExLibris_Kate) says:

    Sorry that these didn’t work out for you. It’s always hard when a series looses its momentum😦

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    1. fullybookedreviews says:

      Eh, I know. It’s a tad disappointing, but plenty more books in the proverbial sea, I guess!

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  5. Lauren Becker says:

    That’s a bummer you didn’t really like these two – sounds like both series aren’t really getting better, and that’s a shame!

    -Lauren
    http://www.shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com

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    1. fullybookedreviews says:

      Yup! I know authors can’t always keep up the momentum going all the way through a series, but these seem to be more down than up.

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