- Grammar-1/2
- Punctuation-1
- Formatting-1
- Opening Chapter-1
- Plot Development-1
- Plot Pacing-1
- Narration-1.
- Character Development-2
- Variety-1/2
- Ending-2
Total points: 11 (5+ stars)
A few years ago, I went to Atlanta around Christmas time. I was visiting family, and we walked around looking at the buildings. We ate at various restaurants (I also got completely wasted and made an utter fool of myself, but that’s a story for another time and place), visited the CNN center, rode the MARTA train, celebrated when the Falcons put the St. Louis Rams in their place (no offense to Rams fans), and of course, visited Underground Atlanta. To this day, I still give my brother crap about he spent $10 to have his picture taken with an owl.
In Blood Master by Kirsten Campbell, Atlanta has been completely leveled by an earthquake, rendering Underground Atlanta a refuge shelter. The displaced people who have survived the devastation of the earthquakes, the Death Plague, and the Clover Virus are forced to forage for supplies. Tassta and her brother Penn are on a raid to locate supplies for the Brotherhood Fortress, a unit of resistance against the cruel Guild Faction, when they encounter Griffin Storm. Griffin is the only known albino left, all the others having died in the Guild Faction’s experiments. As they take Griffin in (he was injured in the raid), they come to realize that he may be the one prophesized to defeat the Guild Faction. And Tassta realizes she is falling in love with him. Griffin is torn between staying at the Brotherhood Fortress with Tassta or returning to the Underground to the children in his care and his best friend, Waylene. Things become more complicated when Griffin begins to undergo a ‘transformation.’
Ms. Campbell’s ability to develop characters is incredible. She makes you want to pull the characters out of the book and talk with them. Griffin is without a doubt the single most sympathetic character I have ever encountered in a novel. He goes through all kids of hell, including a “dipping” experiment at the Guild Faction and the Death Plague. The poor guy just wants a regular life! Is that too much to ask for? And just when you think things might finally start to settle down for him, he starts to “transform.” Why, oh why, can’t he just have a normal life with the woman he loves? He has certainly earned it. The reader will root for Griffin and Tassta the whole way, and can’t help but hope things turn out well for them.
This book also has a completely satisfying ending that makes you want to read the next book, which I will get to very soon! I will never be able to go to Atlanta again without thinking of Griffin and Tassta.
The Minter Book Reviews 