Bloodlines

I stood in line forever at BEA for this one, and I am glad I did. I loved Sydney when we first met her in Moscow. I thought she was the only female character to rival Rose in the entire VA world. Here, though, Sydney is kind of lame. She is prudish, socially awkward, and I really wanted her to be a bit cooler. By the end of the book, Sydney had improved. I do hope Mead gives her a leading man worth his weight in gold, because I just feel as though Adrian is Rose's sloppy seconds. Trey looks promising. My other gripe about the book is that nothing but set up happens for the first two hundred pages. Yawn. Once it does get going, it is great. I was up until two last night finishing it.
Ooops, one last gripe. I think this series would really benefit from breaking out on its own-no more walk-on's from VA characters. Let Sydney and the crew take the ball they have been given and run with it. I love the new characters, especially the Professor. I AM loving that Eddie gets to have a life in this one, Adrian I could live without. I like Jill very much. She's a tough little cookie.
I didn't expect Sydney to have such a low opinion of herself, and I am glad to see that evolving into a more healthy direction...
A note about the cover, I know I have an ARC, and I hope the cover art is not final. The model's hair looks dirty and green. The tattoo is just as I imagined it, but who is the guy? It that supposed to be Adrian? I think that VA has always had great covers, and that this one is a little icky.