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Katrina, The Beginning (Royal Blood Chronicles #1)

Author: Elizabeth Loraine

Synopsis: “As a vampire, being hunted was nothing new, finding out that I had to protect those hunting us was.’

Katrina is a young royal blooded vampire from a very old vampire family. She along with young members of each royal vampire family have been called to council. Why? No one knows, but Katrina feels the danger all around them and feels that she will be the one called upon to save them all. This fast paced historical saga begins here with Katrina as she begins the journey that will change all their lives forever. It’s full of romance, intrigue, danger and betrayal. To succeed the Five must become the many.”

SPOILERS!!!

Review: Katrina, the Beginning follows seventeen year old Katrina, a princess who also happens to be a vampire. She lives in a world full of beauty and refined taste. A world any girl would dream of. But soon that world is threatened by those who do not understand the vampires, a select group of humans known as the Volator who seek out vampire covens to destroy them. But Katrina soon realizes they are not the only threat.

The Council has called a meeting to discuss those who will venture into the New World called Americas, so they can begin building covens there. But just as the other kings arrive from the other royal clans someone attacks, hoping to kidnap the other four princesses and at the same time take down Katrina’s father before he can become the new High Regent. Katrina manages to save herself and help rescue the other girls. But just as all seems at peace again, a new threat emerges along with secrets Katrina was no where near prepared to hear.

I have a like/hate relationship with this book. I started off thoroughly enjoying this book. I was very interested to see what a royal vampire family would be like. I enjoyed the Renaissance romantic atmosphere behind the novel. The descriptions of the elegance and sophistication were vivid, you could truly feel as if you were apart of Katrina and her royal life. I also loved that at the beginning both Katrina and Quinn narrated the book.

Katrina is seventeen but wise for her age. She is strong and intelligent. She isn’t a total girly girl and doesn’t mind getting dirty. She can stand up for herself, voice her own opinions and fight her own battles. I really enjoyed that about her character as well as the other girls. They didn’t simply care about dresses and boys and wealth. They truly care about their families and defending their kingdoms to make sure peace remains.

I did get annoyed at a couple of things within the novel. The pacing is very zig-zag like. There’s action but the suspense built up is lacking. It’s either too quick or too dragged out. Like the fainting scene with Katrina, in the same sentence she faints then comes to like it never happened. There is either not enough time to really appreciate what’s going on and get invested or the scenes are written with too much useless description or dialogue. The dialogue is a bit harsh at times. It’s flow seems strained as if the author is trying too hard to make sure readers feel some kind of connection with her characters.

The scene where Katrina’s mother comes back into her life, it’s completely out of left field! Readers hadn’t heard anything about Katrina’s mother until she showed up. There was no build up leading up to her entrance and the new information that followed. She just simply shows up.

Katrina goes from being madly in love with Quinn to passing it up as “blood lust” then saying she’s in love with vampire Damien but continues her flirtation with Quinn. Um . . . What the hecks?! Readers barely have time to adapt to the romance between Katrina and Quinn, to read their love flourishing, when Katrina just throws him to the side and goes after Damien. Then Quinn is all okay with it and happy she’s with Damien and they can still be friends. I just didn’t buy it *frown*

Quinn just disappears for a huge chunk of the story and I much preferred him over Damien. I really like Quinn’s character and hated the fact that he was taken out so abruptly. He comes back into the story but out of no where and acting as if everything is fine. Again, that’s just unbelievable.

I skimmed and sometimes just skipped entire pages because the story was just dragging too much and making me bored. I tired very quickly of reading of the girls constant descriptions of clothes and the elaborate parities.

Katrina is probably one of the characters readers are truly able to connect to and Quinn from the beginning. The actions scenes were actually quite well written. There was plenty of action through Katrina, The Beginning. It was fun being able to see how Katrina sees and senses everything with her special gifts. I also enjoyed the scenes where all five girls connect their powers to enhance each other’s gifts.

Katrina, The Beginning was a very interesting read. Full of beauty and elegance along with powerful female characters young girls can look up to. There are some rough edges to the novel but a novel worth giving a chance nonetheless. I look forward to reading the next installment of the Royal Blood Chronicles, I just hope the dialogue and pacing of the novel are far better than the first.