Series Review: Blue Bloods
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So last week I posted about the first book in the Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz. I said it was hard to get into, but once I did it was intriguing to say the least. I also promised that this week I would talk about the whole series (and expanded literary universe).
So the Blue Bloods series actually has several spin-off and squeal series (I’m going to list all the books at the bottom in my recommended reading order, and if you are interested please consider helping me out and using the affiliated links. They help me run this blog.)
There’s the Blue Bloods series itself, Wolf Pact, The New Blue Bloods Coven, and also Witches of East End (and it’s squeal series, Summer on East End) is in the same universe with some of the same characters. I’ve read and will be talking about everything except Witches of East End (with the exception of the last book of The New Blue Bloods Coven, White Nights, which I will explain soon.) If you want me to read and review Witches of East End let me know down below!
So Blue Bloods itself was a really interesting series de la Cruz has an interesting take on her vampire mythology by making them fallen angels and by the end of the series I was on the edge of my seat- a lot different reaction then my review to the pilot book. I felt the characters became more interesting and fleshed out, the story was completely saturated in extensive and detailed world building, and it was a vivid and actually great series to read.
I did, however, have some issues that actually had very little, if anything, to do with the actual plot of the series- and that is the spin-offs.
My first issue is with Wolf Pact. It was originally released as four books, which are all named Wolf Pact: Part(number), but has since been released as one book. Why it was released as four books first, I have no idea and most copies are still in the separate format. On top of that, you actually had to read them to understand the LAST book in the Blue Bloods series itself. They follow Bliss in her quest to find wolves to help with defeating Lucifer at the end and it directly impacts the final climax of the whole series. It’s also odd that Bliss is a main character for most of the series, but for two books she doesn’t appear at all and instead Wolf Pact happens at the same time as some of the books.
I understand that it’s a very separate story line, but I would have preferred her story to be written as Bliss, Schuyler, and Mimi’s stories had been written since the beginning, in jumping POVs in the same book. Sure, we probably would have gotten more Blue Bloods books as a result, but is more books ever an issue? Also, it would have helped to orient me as a reader.
My next issue, and probably my biggest issue, is that the squeal series,
Let me explain. When Melissa de la Cruz was writing White Nights she decided she didn’t like how it was coming along. (I as a writer have also experienced disappointment in my work. I think a lot of us have.) The release date for White Nights got pushed back further and further and fans were really grumpy because Vampires of Manhattan had ended in such a cliff hanger. So, instead of no ending and leaving the story as is, or pushing through the creative block to give fans a satisfying ending de la Cruz did the most unsatisfying thing I think I’ve ever seen an author do with a series. She published an unfinished draft, available only on eBook, and donated the money to charity… yeah.
The only good thing about this situation is that the money went to charity (which is why I bought the book and it’s sitting on my Kindle unread). She assures us the story is complete, but it’s pretty much a lightly polished first draft and hasn’t even been glanced at by an editor- and she’s very unsatisfied with it. Are we even supposed to regard this as canon?
I haven’t read it, I’m honestly scared to. I don’t know how many typos there will be or how bad the writing is. I don’t know the extent of the “polishing” it underwent and my biggest pet peeve when reading is unfinished, unedited work (unless I’m editing, your critique partner, or your beta reader. That’s different, then it’s my job to fix it.) It throws you out of the story, and I don’t know about you, but I read fiction to fall into the story and out of my real world.
If you want me to try and read it and do a mini-review, I will. Let me know down below, but until then I really don’t know what to make of the whole situation as a whole, except to feel a little let down as a reader…
If you’re interested in Blue Bloods as a whole and are put off by White Nights I recommend stopping at the end of the original series. I’ll put my recommended reading order down below my normal closing.
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Recommended Reading Order for the Blue Bloods and it’s extended literary universe:
Blue Bloods Series
Blue Bloods
(A companion novel that is optional, but it makes the most sense to read it here)
(read all four of them here, but they happen at the same time as Misguided Angel and Lost in Time)
(a novella, but it makes the most sense here)
The New Blue Bloods Coven
Witches of East End
Summer on East End
