Fairly typical for Saintcrow, but that beginning. Sheesh. ( )

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy.
allthingsuf.com

If THE HISTORIAN adds hints of supernatural mythology to academic research, BLOOD CALL does the same for the romantic thriller. While the premise and subtle mix of genres are great, Anna and Josiah are problematic at best. Though the narrative tries to focus on this ultimately unsatisfying relationship, it was only the background of myth and reality colliding that really worked.

Anna is so shocked and hurt for the first several chapters of the book, she doesn't register as anything other than vulnerable. Josiah, unfortunately, choses this time to be very sexually aggressive. Depending upon your tastes, this will either set up a dominating, coerced sexual dynamic between two characters that are physically attracted to each other but emotionally shattered, or it will make Josiah an irredeemable rapist who took advantage of Anna when she was vulnerable.

While I found Josiah's choices problematic, I was still invested in his story. Once out of shock, however, Anna proves to be alternatively helpless and irrational, wanting to both use Josiah's skills and shame him for them. Josiah's earlier sexual dominance evaporates into regret and he seems to be attracted to Anna's worst traits, her helpless naivete and physical fragility. The only portions of BLOOD CALL that I truly enjoyed where where Josiah and Anna are too busy fighting for their lives to draw attention to their flaws.

The action portion of the story can't carry everything, however. Seeing the preternatural bleed into the "real world" was the only detail keeping me engaged, and Josiah and Anna were too involved with their terrible romance to have much of a reaction at all. Not cinematic enough to bring the fights and violence to life, not twisty and political enough to make a mystery worth following, BLOOD CALL felt like a great premise left unfulfilled.

Sexual Content: References to rape, sex scenes ( )