Blood Rights by Kristen Painter is one of those books I’ve been meaning to pick up for ages. The first time I ran across it was in a post on unusual urban fantasy by Chelsea Mueller over at Heroes & Heartbreakers. Putting “Unusual” and “Urban Fantasy” in the same sentence is a sure way to get my attention, and the gorgeous cover didn’t hurt, either. The final installment of the series just came out, so I’ve been running into buzz about it everywhere. And, a teaser showed up at the end of Nicole Peeler’s Tempest Reborn, the finale of one of my all time favorite urban fantasy series. I blew through the first chapter in a handful of minutes, and I was hooked.
Granted, I’m only halfway through, but so far, this book has everything I love in an urban fantasy series.
- It’s creepy.
And I mean genuinely creepy. There were scenes I read with my hand over my face. The villainess is sufficiently evil to make me sleep with the light on, but Painter humanizes her, too. There are hints at real pain in her past. I can’t help but be intrigued and horrified at the same time. - It’s sexy.
The centerpiece of Painter’s world is the relationship between vampires and the comarre, a special breed of humans bred to feed them. The set-up is fraught with sexual tension, and Painter works it between the two leads and the side characters, as well. - It’s rich.
The world building is gorgeous. It’s intricate, but deftly done. No data-dumps, here. And it hints at a deeply wrought backstory I can’t wait to discover more of.
What about you? Have you read any House of Comarre titles? Discovered any other great new-to-you series recently?
Paranormal Unbound 
This is an awesome series! I highly recommend it.
Right? I’m kind of embarrassed it’s taken me this long to discover it.
This is a great series. The world is definitely original. The second book suffers from an unbelievable love triangle but then the series rights itself and gets good again!
I’m looking forward to discovering more of the world. There are so many tantalizing little hints dropped here and there… it’s my favorite kind of world building.
I have the first 3 or 4 books on my shelves, but still have to start reading it. But why o why did you have to use the word Creepy. I don’t do creepy. It will take me a long time to forget that word …
I am glad you are enjoying it though.
I also still have to start reading the Nicole Peeler books, have the first 5.
Aurian, I thought of you when I wrote this post! (“Hmm, this will probably not sound appealing to Aurian…” LOL) It’s not *too* creepy. There are just creepy parts. For example, at one point, the villainess vampire transforms into a swarm of wasps to fly away. Maybe a better description is “darkly inventive.” Definitely not as relentlessly dark as Trickster.
I absolutely adore Peeler’s Tempest series, and I think you will like it, too. It’s not creepy at all, though there are enough dark moments to make the plot feel high-stakes. It’s also funny and charming and clever. One of my favs. More your style, I think 🙂
Thanks AJ, I will read both series someday. My TBR is about 3.000 paper books …
I’ve not read it yet, but that cover definitely drew me in 🙂
Isn’t it gorgeous? The whole series is done in the same style, and I think it’s marketing genius. It really conveys the feel of the book.