A Blood and Bone Novel Agent Luke Bennett proved that humans could rise just as high in the ranks as their vampire colleagues—until a kidnapper held him captive for a year and turned him without his consent.Now he’s Took: a reluctant monster afraid to bite anyone, broke, and about to be discharged from his elite BITERs unit.When an old colleague suggests he consult on a BITERs case, Took has … BITERs case, Took has little to lose. The case is open and shut… but nothing is ever that easy. As he digs deeper, he discovers a lot more than one cold case is at stake, and if he wants to solve this one, he’ll need the help of the BITERs team. Even if that brings his old commander, Madoc, back into his life.
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I would rate this 4.75 stars.
This story features Agent Luke Bennett, aka Took, a member of the BITERs unit of the Anakim (vampire) police known as VINE. The reader is thrown into the action two years after Luke was Taken and turned. He’s been in therapy and is acting as a P.I. His case throws him in the path of his old commander Madoc, who wants him back at work, and is in love with him. It seems obvious to say Took has PTSD; he can’t remember the night he was taken and his fear seems to be getting worse instead of better, until he becomes consumed by this case and takes back his agency, literally and figuratively. As a former Cardinal for the Anakim, Madoc has always been a type of enforcer. He has a strength that Took finds and matches during the book. It switches between Took’s and Madoc’s POV. These are complex, three dimensional charcters. They have their blindspots, insecurities, and make mistakes; yet, both of these men can be cold, arrogant and prickly. For as much as these characters are not pleasant people, I loved them so much. Yes, the romance relies on the longer, off-page relationship in order to work, but the love scenes are hot (and bloody) and I love their working dynamic and banter.
I liked this new take on vampires, werewolves, and hunters. There was something called a Goat, but there wasn’t much detail about this species. I believe there may be other shifters, but that’s not explored in this book. While the political landscape is painted enough for this story to be successful, I wanted more, even if I think this book wasn’t quite the right time without info dumps that I wouldn’t want. There is also a weird shadow realm that is intriguing and terrifying, but not explained at all. The sorcerers are also not explained very much, but they are not capitalized like everyone else so I guess they are not considered born as their own species. There are times where the chapter or scene starts abruptly and I felt like I missed something until I kept reading and everything was explained: while this is a valid stylistic choice, I found it jarring. Although the secondary characters are all effectively utilized and would be great to build upon in other stories, I would have liked them a bit more concrete. (I did appreciate there wasn’t a formulaic meet these characters that will be the couple in the next book type of setup.) These may be minor things, but they did keep me from giving this a 5 star rating. It was a near thing because I loved everything else about this, so let’s talk about that. This is a book I will reread and will be on my best of the year list.
For those not familiar with this author, she always describes the scenes in stark details–gross, grimy, gory–but effective. This is brutal, as with any police case involving violence. I don’t want to give spoilers, but for trigger warnings and tags you might want to keep these in mind: child abuse, brainwashing, murder, child trafficking, kidnapping, and torture. I found this urban fantasy/police investigation mashup really effective; both the world and the case are interesting and well thought out. The action scenes are really well done. The world-building here is fantastically layered in throughout the book. There is information the reader gleans from the thoughts and instincts of the characters, suppressed memories, flashbacks, dialogue, and the actions and their consequences. All of the events and discoveries lead to logical conclusions, but not always the ones that I thought they would from the beginning, yet I never felt blindsided with too many plot twists. I liked the intricacies of the story that require thought. Now that this world is built, I want so many new cases to be written, but I am also content if they are not. The last sentence of this book was perfect. Don’t cheat, you have to read the whole thing.
The cover art is by Kanaxa. I didn’t love it, although it is striking and conveys violence and blood, which are main themes of the story.
I was lost for the first quarter of the book. The terms were confusing and so was the story. When I finally started to understand (mostly) it got better. Interesting, different take on vampires. A lot of it was new lore for me. If you are going to read this book you need to give it your full attention with no interruptions.
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Sarah –
This is wonderfully dark dystopian Urban Fantasy. In a world where humans and vampires almost manage to coexist without constant bloodshed, Took finds himself torn between worlds when he’s made a vampire against his wishes. This first book sees Took slowly finding his way back to himself, the job he loves, and the relationships he needs after his horrific attack. As Took becomes Luke once again, his work with the BITERs has him investigating a string of gruesome murders.
This is an exciting, gory read. Luke is a slightly unreliable narrator and his fear and mistrust forces readers to question everyone in his life. Luke’s BITERs team is fantastic but Luke suspects that someone in the BITERs team had something to do with his kidnapping. Luke’s suspicions make his relationship with his boss, Madoc, complicated, especially as attraction flares between them. Something about the human-vampire investigative pairings within the BITERs team reminds me of Charlie Cochet’s THIRDs books but this book replaces the light humour of that series with angst and layers of dark secrets.
I love the different sides I’ve seen to TA Moore’s writing in the past couple of years. I think I probably prefer the Digging Up Bones books to this new series, but I really like Moore’s darker writing and I’m loving the imagination that went into creating this alternate reality. It’s pretty difficult to find a fresh take on vampires in such an oversaturated market but the world Moore builds in this story feels fresh and fascinating – even if it pushes more into dystopian horror than I usually like. I’m really excited to see how this series develops and I’m already keen for the next book.
Avid Reader –
M/M Paranormal
Took, formerly known as Luke, is coming to grips with his new life. He was part of a BITER team before, but now, after he was kidnapped and turned against his will, he will have to figure out where he fits. He is in between two worlds – stuck. Took is constantly thinking about his abduction – who can he trust? Why would someone do this to him? What will happen now?
Madoc is leader of the BITER team and has loved Luke/Took for a while. When he realizes that Took is working a case that the BITER team deemed closed, he’s a little mad, somewhat confused, and a lot curious. Madoc has a new human partner and even though he does trust her, he knows that Took had special skills that nobody else had and wants to see where Took will go with the investigation.
What follows is a lot of strange occurrences and a somewhat disjointed relationship. I had difficulties, at times, comprehending the narrator’s side. He was suspicious and sometimes with his memories, not very comprehensive in his thinking. And while it was an intriguing mystery, it just felt very choppy.
However, the mystery of Took’s kidnapping did get me interested enough that I want to try book two and see if there are questions that are answered. Hopefully the second book will feel a little less disjointed for me.
Possible Triggers: Torture, Kidnapping, Murder
Reviewers received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.
I’m really not sure where to start. On one hand I was immediately sucked into the story and in love with the characters on the first sight. I always am when I’m reading anything written by TA Moore. Her characters are always flawed, on the verge of a breakdown, burdedend with their pasts, but never broken. It makes them human and relatable even if technically they are not human, which is the case in this book. The blurb introduced us to Took, but for me Madoc took over the moment he entered the first scene, or better, stept out of the vehicle. In, let me say overused or overcrowded vampire/werewolf urban fantasy book world, this author managed to find a fresh approach. And here it gets complicated. I’ll admit I had some trouble to comprehend and get a grasp on the complicated world she created. Usually I don’t have this kind of problem but in this case a glossary of acronyms and characters would be more than welcome. This way the author doesn’t have to take away from the pace of the story or a scene. It’s actually quite common in urban phantasy books. The ending felt a bit rushed and some issues unresolved, so I really hope we’ll read more about it in the next installment of this series. As for side characters – they were more tnan interesting so I’m looking forward to read more about them in the next book in this series. Pally especially.
Luke was taken and tortured and turned, becoming Took. He hasn’t come to touch with his new life and is on leave from the Biters. He is working private consultations and takes a case that gets him in deeper than he dreams of.
Madoc comes when he hears that Took is in trouble. Madoc is an old vampire and very much wants Took, but did he want him enough to be the one that had taken him in the first place? Can he convince Luke he wasn’t?
I felt the story had a good premise and I snapped it up because I love TA Moore and loved the Digging Up Bones series and I cannot get enough vampires, especially MM ones.
I felt like I was missing a lot here. It was like I came in the middle of a series. There was a lot of words, and stuff that I wish there had been an index at the front of the book explaining. The world was built and I never figured out some of the things.
It is a good story, it was just hard for me to read since I had a lack of understanding of a lot.
Warning…there is a lot of graphic violence and this is no sparkling vampire love story. now having said that I LOVED the relationship between Took and Madoc. That was the best part of the story for me.