Review: Crusade

Crusade

By Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

Publication date: September 7, 2010

My review:

Crusade presents an interesting premise: a world where vampires have revealed their presence and people have bought into their lies not realizing until it is too late that the vampires have not come in peace. The world of Crusade is a horrible place to live for humans. There are those who blindly follow the vampires as groupies, those who know the truth but sell out hoping to save themselves, and those who choose to fight.

The main characters in Crusade are a new team of vampire hunters. While Jenn is the focus of the book, the story is told through the point of view of other members of her team: Antonio, Skye, Eriko, Jamie, and Holgar. At first this was a good way to get to know the characters but later on it became annoying. In a way it seems like there are too many narrators and at times it causes the story to suffer. The transitions were not always the smoothest.

While I liked Jenn for her determination to fight vampires and protect those she cares about she can be really whiny and weak especially where Antonio is concerned. She loves Antonio but doesn't always think about what is best for him in regards to their relationship and his safety. She is a contradictory character who can stake a vampire but falls apart over other things. The other females in the book were also a mix of strength and major weakness/doubts. Eriko is supposed to be the leader but she isn't a very good one. Skye suffers from doubts as well which undermine her abilities. The guys on the team also have flaws/weaknesses but they seem more capable than the girls. Antonio has a major secret which is revealed very early in the book. This secret causes complications for his relationship with Jenn and it also presents problems at times for the team. I found him to be a mostly admirable character though and aside from Holgar he is one of my favorite characters in the book.

There are quite a few flaws in this book that prevented me from loving it but I did enjoy reading about the world that the authors created. The material is definitely promising. I am hopeful that book two will be better. I would like to see Jenn grow as a character and see how the complications presented at the end of Crusade will play out.

Readalikes: The Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine, Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda, Slayed by Amanda Marrone, Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow

Note: I originally received an ARC of this book to read as part of a tour but didn't have time to finish it so I obtained a published copy and my review is based on the finished version of the book.