Reviewer: Holly
Scions: Resurrection by Patrice Michelle
Series: Scions #1
Publisher: Silhouette
Publication Date: January 1st 2008
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy
Pages: 288
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books

Series Rating:

Everyone believed vampires were extinct. Everyone was wrong.
When Ariel Swanson wrote a novel about vampires, she hoped it would exorcise her fear of the creatures that had, not so long ago, terrorized the human population.
Instead, it brought her to their attention.
And to the attention of Jachin Black—a man banished from the Saguinas, a vampire pack, and forced to hunt among the despised humans. For he clung to the prophecy given years ago, of a better way for his kind to live—a prophecy Ariel unknowingly used as the basis of her novel.
Ariel hates and fears vampires. Jachin despises humanity. But the prophecy—and passion—binds them in ways they could never have imagined. Ways that may heal the past, and change the future.…

It took me almost a month to read this book. Can you believe that? And the worst part about is it had nothing to do with the book itself, but whatever weird reading funk I was in.

I think Scions: Resurrection started off kind of slow. It took me a good 40 pages or so to get into it, but once I did I really enjoyed it. There’s a lot of action and adventure, and it was really fast paced. Unfortunately, I think that worked against the romance element.

Ariel hates and fears vampires because they murdered her family. So as a form of therapy, she writes a novel about vampires, depicting them not as the bloodsucking villains she knows them to be, but as a race struggling to fulfill a prophecy so they can live a better life. What she doesn’t realize, however, is that the prophecy she thinks she made up is in fact real, and one the vampires of the world think she’s the key to.

Even though Jachin was baned from his clan 10 years ago, he still believes in the prophecy and knows if they can fulfill it his race will finally begin to heal and find peace. So when he realizes Ariel is the key to the prophecy he knows he needs to bring her to Braeden, the leader of his clan. Only there are few small problems with this. First, Jachin isn’t the only vampire who wants to bring Ariel in, only the others aren’t willing to be as kind about it. Second, Jachin is attracted to Ariel and wants her for himself. But the biggest problem of them all? Ariel’s blood doesn’t poison Jachin. And it’s been a long time since he’s had pure human blood.

I think this book read like a fun, fast paced Sci-fi adventure I’d find on t.v. There were explosions, vampires, werewolves, a prophecy, action, adventure, and a little romance. The problem? I think there was just a bit too much going on.

I don’t think the characters were fleshed out quite enough. Though I enjoyed them, I never really connected with them. I also think they were somewhat contradictory. Take Ariel for example: She’s terrified of vampires, but within a few hours of meeting (read: being kidnapped by) Jachin, she’s already attracted to him and considers that he’s probably worthy of her trust. As the story progresses, she continues to trust Jachin, but not any other vampire. Which makes sense to a point, since they were bad vamps and not too worried about not hurting her. Still, the way she just flipped around and did a 180 in her feelings about vampires didn’t make much sense to me. Especially since she continued – in her internal monologues – to profess her belief that all vamps were monsters and evil and blah blah blah. Yet her actions clearly didn’t convey that. Jachin also seemed contradictory, constantly wanting Ariel but determined to give her to someone else. I don’t even think he liked her half the time.

Toward the middle of the story, however, I think things evened out and I was drawn to the story despite my issues with the characters. Ms. Michelle really put a new twist on the vampire mythology that I enjoyed. The idea that our government created them to be weapons against biological warfare and then abandoned them when they couldn’t be controlled isn’t all that far fetched. And vamps creating werewolves so they’d have something to hunt for sport? Interesting and different.

As I mentioned before, the action is well done and the background relationships are interesting. I’m especially curious about Landon, the werewolf Jachin interacts with (I believe his book is next in the series).

Overall, the plot was interesting, the action well written, but the romance and character depth somewhat lacking. I am anxious to read the next book in the series however, so I’m going to give it:

3.75 out of 5

The series is as follows:

Scions: Resurrection
Scions: Insurrection (Available May 1st)
Scions: Revelation (TBA)
This book is available from Silhouette Nocturne. You can buy it here or here in e-format.