Review: Masquerade

Masquerade: a Blue Bloods novel by Melissa de la Cruz
3 stars

Reasons for reading: I enjoyed the first book in the series, so chose this one for Young Adult Challenge 2009

Description: "Schuyler Van Alen is starting to get more comfortable with her newfound vampire powers, but she still has many unanswered questions. A trip to Italy in search of her grandfather only serves to make things more confusing. What secrets are the leaders of The Committee hiding? Meanwhile, back in New York, preparations are feverishly underway for the famous Four Hundred Ball. In true Blue Blood fashion, the ball is totally fab, complete with masks-and hidden behind this masquerade is a revelation that will change the course of a young vampire's destiny."


First line: "The pigeons had taken over St. Mark's Square."

My thoughts: This was a fairly solid second entry in this series, although I definitely didn't like it as much as the first one. The vampires-as-reincarnated-angels lore is starting to get very complicated and a bit creepy. For example, vampires who are reborn into new bodies may find themselves being the sibling or cousin of their "bonded" soulmate, leading to rather inappropriate behaviour by "Red Blood" standards. In the first book I found the historical element of Blue Bloods being reincarnated from the pilgrims and other figures interesting, but in this one the whole angel thing got weird - 16 year-olds who are the embodiment of the Angel of Death? Who have been bonded to each other since prehistory? Just weird.

I liked learning more about Schuyler's family and the trouble she was having with being the first ever half-blood. And the theme of a missing 19th century heiress was interesting. But remembering who was related to whom and who they'd been in a previous life was a bit much.

The verdict: If you're a rabid A vampire-lit fan, go for it. The teens at my library have been requesting the not-yet-published third book, The Van Alen Legacy, since last year, so there are obviously lots of fans. I might even read on to see what happens, but it's not at the top of my dying-to-read list.