Monday, May 16, 2016

BOOK REVIEW: The Progeny (Descendants of the Blood Countess #1) by Tosca Lee

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The scheduled publication date for this book is May 24, 2016.

Emily Jacobs is the descendant of a serial killer. Now, she’s become the hunted. She’s on a quest that will take her to the secret underground of Europe and the inner circles of three ancient orders—one determined to kill her, one devoted to keeping her alive, and one she must ultimately save.

Here's my main issue with this book: I spent 85% of the book shouting (in my head), "WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL? WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE TRYING TO KILL EVERYONE?!" 

Seriously, I didn't get it. The premise didn't really explain the craziness of the plot. The premise just says that Emily is the descendant of a serial killer and she has become hunted. Sounds exciting enough, right? Here's what the premise didn't say: Emily is hunted FOR NO OTHER REASON than the fact that she is the descendant of a serial killer from HUNDREDS of years ago. Seriously. THAT'S IT. Apparently there are these hunters who have spent hundreds of years tracking down every single descendant of this serial killer because the victims never got justice or their land was taken from them or something. I never really got it. And okay, I can understand why THOSE PEOPLE would be upset. But this is the year 2016. There is no one alive who was affected by this woman. Oh, and this woman had some kind of power that she was able to persuade people to do whatever she wanted and all of her descendants inherited that power, but the girls had stronger powers so the hunters focused more on female descendants than male ones. Does that sound confusing and convoluted? That's because it is.

Now that I've gotten my rant about the absurdness of the plot out of the way, I will talk about the characters. Emily actually had her memory erased in some surgery (this is not a spoiler because it happens in the first chapter) because the hunters also are in search of some diary and they can get the memory of people they kill. Really, I couldn't even keep this stuff straight. I didn't really have a chance to get to know the character because she didn't really know who she was. She kept reminding the reader every chapter that she had no memory, but people were still after her. There was some insta love that I wasn't feeling and some friendships with people I didn't even care about. The good thing about this book is that it was full of action and didn't drag at all. The bad part was that I still missed some of the action because my mind was reeling too much with all the craziness and I was trying so hard to understand what was happening. There was a surprise at the ending, but I really don't know if that surprise is enough to make me want to read the sequel. Then again, I have a compulsive need to finish most of the series that I start so we will see.


Buy/Borrow/Skip: Please just skip this one. Trust me.

2 comments :

  1. Oh boy. It sounds like someone is holding a hundred-year-old grudge against Emily. I mean, she's being hunted for no other reason than her bloodline? Don't make sense.

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    1. Exactly Joy! It's so ridiculous. If the premise had included the real reason she was being hunted, I don't think I would have even requested it.

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