Review: Blood Crown by Ali Cross

Title: Blood Crown

Author: Ali Cross

Series: The Eden Project #1

My Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Genres: YA, Sci-fi

Published February 20th 2014

Format read: eARC, NetGalley

Goodreads/Amazon/Book Depository

Description from Goodreads:

Androids have claimed power over what remains of the human race. They rule without remorse. They are the Mind and humans exist only to serve them. 

But it wasn't always so.

Before the android uprising, select droids, called Servants, were pivotal in engineering anew human race with nanotechnology enhanced DNA. The Blood Crown theorum was to be humanity's crowning glory and the key to their survival in deep space.

But Serantha, Daughter of the West, was the last female to receive Gifts from her Servant and when the Mind mutinied, she was hidden away, and presumed dead. 

Without Serantha there is no hope of the Blood Crown being realized so Nicolai, Son of the East, abandons his crown to join the rebel forces. He might not provide the future for his people he had once dreamed of, but he will not go down without a fight.

When Nicolai discovers Sera among a small compliment of kitchen staff, everything changes--but Sera's Gifts were never completed and she is ill-equipped to face a legion of androids determined to wipe her, and every other human, out of existence.

Their only hope is the Blood Crown--but even if Serantha and Nicolai can realize their potential it may be too late to save mankind.

My Review

Let me start by saying how much I love the book cover. I mean, it's SO PRETTY!!! I can't stop looking at it. *Sigh*

I really enjoyed reading Blood Crown, and I think it's a great book. After reading Shattered Veil (read my review *cough* my fangirling here), I was like "I want to read more Sci-fi books".  And when I saw Blood Crown on NetGalley I requested it without even reading the synopsis; I was totally swayed by the gorgeous cover.

I'll be honest, though. I did have some issues with Blood Crown. First of all, I have to say that it was hard for me to get into the story, because like I said earlier, I didn't bother to read what it was about before diving into it. Also, Blood Crown is told from different points of view which is another reason why I struggled with it. However, when I finally clicked with the characters, I couldn't stop reading. Another issue I had was the insta-love. I couldn't understand why Sera felt instantly attracted to Nick, and the affection these two felt for each other didn't seem realistic to me. But later on, I discovered that <spoiler>the two had formed a bond when they were little kids</spoiler> which explained the "strong connection" they felt. And I was glad that everything made sense.

The world building. I think the world building was great! While I was reading, everything took place clearly in my head. So, I liked that it wasn't confusing, and appreciated that there weren't a lot of information to take in all at once. But I was left with a couple of unanswered questions, such as, "How do they produce food on space?" and "How can they live with infinite electricity?"
The book was fast paced, and I was focused on the fight between the Mind and humans, so my questions didn't pop up until after I finished reading the book. And I know these questions are probably irrelevant, but I'm kinda curious. I hope they will be dealt with in the sequel.

The characters are a strong point in Blood Crown. The plot was great too, with a few twists that I didn't expect, but I think the characters are the reason why I highly enjoyed this book. Sera is a wonderful main character; I loved seeing how this lonely girl, whose only wish was to be accepted, grew confident and found her rightful place. She is strong-willed, but she also has some insecurities, and I like that she isn't perfect. On the other hand, we have Nick. Now, if you ever read this book you will probably fall in love with Nick. As a prince, he has lots of responsibilities; I like that he's passionate, and that he fights back. The side characters were notable, too. I particularly liked Archibald, and was amazed with how loyal he was. 

Overall, I think this is an amazing book. I did have some issues with it, but I ended up really enjoying it. If you love reading YA and Sci-fi books, then I would definitely recommend this book to you.