Review: Blood Feud

Blood Feud (The Drake Chronicles #2) by Alyxandra Harvey
Published: 22nd june 2010
Publisher: Bloomsbury PLC


Goodreads Description:


The action and romance continue as the Drakes face a new vampire with a 200-year-old grudge. It’s been centuries since Isabeau St. Croix barely survived the French Revolution. Now she’s made her way back to the living and she must face the ultimate test by confronting the evil British lord who left her for dead the day she turned into a vampire. That’s if she can control her affection for Logan Drake, a vampire whose bite is as sweet as the revenge she seeks. 

The clans are gathering for Helena’s royal coronation as the next vampire queen, and new alliances are beginning to form now that the old rifts of Lady Natasha’s reign have started to heal. But with a new common enemy, Leander Montmarte—a vicious leader who hopes to force Solange to marry him and usurp the power of the throne for himself—the clans must stand together to preserve the peace he threatens to destroy. 

This second adventure in the Drake Chronicles—told from both Logan’s and Isabeau’s perspectives—has all the same butt-kicking action, heart-pounding romances and snarky humor that readers loved in Hearts at Stake, as well as exciting new revelations about the vampire dynasties to keep readers coming back for more.


My thoughts:

This is the 2^nd book of the Drake Chronicles and, if it’s even possible, better than the first. Isabeau’s character was so strong and resilient that you instantly loved her. It was really good seeing how difficult her life was in the French revolution, and the horrors she went though after being turned, that definitely helped me bond with her character.

I also enjoyed learning more about the Hounds, the pagan-esque vampire group who live in caves, wear bones and train dogs. I thought the Hounds were pretty awesome and it was great to learn more about how they lived, why they existed and all about their rituals. I love the mythology that Harvey has created in this series, it’s so unique and yet still maintaining important aspects of traditional vampire lore. There was less exposition in this book than in the first, which I definitely appreciated.

This story focuses on another of the Drake boys and in this book it’s Logan, the self-proclaimed ‘best dressed’ of the pack. I really liked how Harvey introduces a different Drake brother, a new love interest, a new plotline and yet manages to still incorporate the plot and main characters from the previous book. We still hear about Solange and Kieran and Lucy and Nicholas, which I really admire, tying that many elements together in a coherent fashion cannot be easy.

The book takes place only a week after the previous, which was a clever move as the last book ended with an insane battle scene, so the immediate aftermath of that is avoided, but it’s also not too far in the future that you want to know how things worked out. You learn more about the intricacies of the problems facing the Drake family in the aftermath of the previous book which I liked, it wasn’t all “lalala now everything is perfect” but also not too much drama that it got annoying. There was a great balance in the plot, especially between the scenes revolving around Logan and Isabeau and the scenes relating to the main plot.

Despite the vampires, teen characters, and love stories these books are an absolute breath of fresh air. I feel so…clean after reading them. It’s so easy to tell that they’re not written to fulfil popular criteria simply to get published, they’re well thought out and well executed and whilst not exactly deep and meaningful they’re a light and enjoyable read whilst still including my favourite YA elements.  

Harvey’s snappy prose and hilarious character exchanges make these books a perfectly entertaining read-great for a relaxing afternoon! 5/5