Reviews
** spoiler alert ** I have absolutely fallen in love with this series, these characters, and the world building Vela Roth has done. I mean it: seriously some of the most beautiful world building I’ve seen, especially in a romance book. But, with Blood Union I felt throughly annoyed and I see some others felt the same way. I could come to peace with the fact that we are five books in and Cassia is not a Hesperine yet. I really could. Being brought to the brink not once, but TWICE…that was just unnecessary. It was bad enough going through all the preparations of Cassia’s gift night just to have it pushed back. But to have her agree AGAIN to receive the Gift, and have her push it back AGAIN in the same chapter gave me a splitting headache. It truly felt like it was being dragged out just for the sake of another book. Not to mention Cassia’s incessant back and forth between appreciating being a human and anger at not being a Hesperine yet. Cassia has built herself into a rigorously smart and capable character, which is why I was a bit disappointed at some of her decision making here. I can appreciate the sudden change to everything she thought she knew causing some rashness. But some things, particularly the ending, just seemed so vastly out of character for her. Blood Union Part 1 was fantastic for world building - I loved getting to finally see and learn more about the empire and its political intrigue. Unfortunately many aspects of it also just seemed like filler. I truly felt that we had arrived at the right time in the plot for Cassia’s gift, but it was yanked away a little (no pun intended) gracelessly. I still have high hopes for the rest of the series, since Vela Roth is such an excellent writer!