good, fast read. enjoyed the self centered main character ( )

I had a few misgivings when I learned that the latest book by one of my new favorite writers was going to be an urban fantasy vampire story. Not my thing. I didn't make it even half-way through a crazy popular novel about sparkly vampires that's been made into crazy popular series of films. I finished, barely, a literary classic that had been paranormalized with vampires and zombies. But based on my delightful experiences with Cherie Priest's [b:Boneshaker|1137215|Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1)|Cherie Priest|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1270598392s/1137215.jpg|1124460], [b:Clementine|7670800|Clementine (The Clockwork Century, #2)|Cherie Priest|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1277163268s/7670800.jpg|10282140], and [b:Dreadnought|7911067|Dreadnought (The Clockwork Century, #3)|Cherie Priest|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1293632674s/7911067.jpg|10282187], I had to give Bloodshot a try.

It worked for me. It kept me awake past my bedtime turning pages (which is more than I can say for the classic science fiction book I set aside). I'll tell you why. You can read the cover blurb for yourself.

Action. This book has plenty of action. One thing you must say about being a vampire master thief on the run from every police department including Interpol is that you don't lead a dull life. When Raylene isn't breaking into somebody else's warehouse or office, somebody is breaking into hers. This tends to lead to either a fight or a chase or both. The author does a great job with them all.

Adventure. This comes from being on the run and being a vampire. Raylene inhabits the night. She has to keep moving. Her latest job has her tracking down and stealing government documents about a secret project. This forces her to travel the country to follow clues and break into the aforementioned warehouses and offices and the reader gets to follow along.

Suspense. There are some good twists and turns here. I did see a couple of them coming, but not all. Secret government projects and mysterious men-in-black are not unfamiliar territory. But the author does a good job of weaving them into a fairly believable story (once you get past the bit about vampires existing).

Snark. I wasn't sure I would be able to tolerate Raylene's first-person narrative for the entire 359 pages. It grew on me. I mostly enjoyed it. I didn't find the humor to be laugh-out-loud funny. But the note of bemusement kept the tone of the story light.

I have a few complaints. There is at least one killing in the book that does not seem justified, even by Raylene's apparent moral code. Then again, she's a vampire, and a thief, and a killer. On at least one, maybe two, occasions I felt a little cheated by the ease and convenience of Raylene's escape from an impossible situation. This wasn't due to her skill or power, just a break that went her way.

But overall I was happy with my reading experience. I give it 4 stars out of 5. I'll be looking forward to the next Cheshire Red book, along with the next Clockwork Century book, and anything else that Cherie Priest writes. ( )

Even more fun the second time around. Natalie Ross did a great job reading the audiobook. I'd love to see this as a movie! ( )

I enjoyed her writing style, and found it to be a fun read. Not exactly literature, but hey not all films are oscar worthy. Would label it brain candy. Didn't once get bored, or flip ahead. So whatever to the other folks below. Only negative I have is there is still a lot of misspellings in the text. Think instead of thing...and so on. ( )

This one was fun. I like the characters, like where the story is going. ( )

The first-person narrative is well suited to this novel. The strong willed smart talking vampire thief read almost like a mystery novel with dashes of thriller thrown in. The most exciting part of the story without giving away any spoilers was just after she received the call about the PDF and what it drove her to do. The weakest part of the story was when she confronted the intruder in her warehouse, I thought she should have been much tougher and less vulnerable then she appeared to be.

There is a second book in the series and I’ll be checking it out, this being one of the most enjoyable urban fantasies that I’ve read. I recommend this book to fans of Kim Harrisons Hollows series, although I enjoy the Hollows series more.
( )

My favorite thing about this novel: It's vampire fiction that does not focus on sex. Sexuality is involved, but it highlights the story rather than taking center stage.

What you get instead is Vampire spy/caper and action. Great read. ( )

Delightful. The whole thing took a while to grow on me, but I really enjoyed the gender stuff and the narrator's sass. She's fun and crazy in the head without being unable to function, Adrian and Sister Rose are The Absolute Best, and the kids are great. Not crazy about the guy she ended up kissing, but I can roll with it. I'd definitely like to read the next one. ( )

Raylene is a century-old vampire with some paranoid/OCD tendencies. She survives by being a very good thief. One day, she takes on a vampire client who wants more information on the procedures to which he was subjected when he was captured by the government. The search takes her to some dangerous places, and also gets her entangled with a buff ex-military drag queen. I had fun, though Raylene assumes she should use the pronoun that tracks that character’s current visual presentation at any given time, but doesn’t ask, and I wish she had. ( )

Although the book started off well, and seemed nicely paced, I found myself impatient with the narrative. Cherie’s writing has a very clean style that lends itself particularly well to the genre, and I quickly found myself engaged by the ‘voice’ of Raylene. Yet, at the same time, I found myself frustrated with the literary device of a first-person narrator.

After the first few chapters, I was sorely tempted to just put the book down, move onto something else, and then come back to it later. I knew that if I did that, though, I’d likely never come back to it. So, I persevered, and I finally realised what was bothering me about the novel – I simply liked Raylene more as a narrator than I did as a character. Fortunately, I also realised what it was about the novel that ultimately managed to draw me in and keep me reading – the supporting characters.

The blind vampire, Ian, seems like little more than a plot device at first, but he is slowly and subtly developed into a sympathetic character. For all his superhuman strength, his mental powers, and his immortality, his blindness makes him human. Our sympathy for Ian even extends to his ghoul of an assistant – a character who could have better developed (he only really begins to develop a distinct personality towards the end), but who still works to remind us that Ian is NOT human, no matter how sympathetic he seems.

As for the homeless children squatting in Raylene’s warehouse, I was initially annoyed by their presence. The last thing I figured this story needed was a pair of brats who would serve only to get into danger and allow Raylene to betray the human compassion beneath her vampire exterior. Much to my delight, Pepper and Domino turned out to be decent characters on their own, and while Cherie uses their situation to heighten the tension, she never succumbs to the temptation to exploit them as a plot device.

What really sold me on the novel, though, was the introduction of Raylene’s drag queen sidekick. Yeah, I know, are you really surprised? Both an ex-Seal and an ex-son (his parents disowned him out after discovering a feather boa in his closet) who is looking for answers in the disappearance of his sister-turned-vampire, Adrian is by far the most complex and most interesting character in the novel. We first meet ‘him’ in full drag mode, bitchy and catty, and read to take the stage. We even get to enjoy a bit of his show, before he’s forced to lead Raylene on a crazy high-heeled escape through some of the nastiest back alleys in fiction. It would have been far too easy to play him as a caricature, but he’s as nasty as a man as he is naughty as a woman, and there’s a clear distinction between roles/personalities.

I think the plot could have benefited from a little less CIA silliness and a little more vampire nastiness, but that’s a personal preference. There is nice twist at the end when it’s revealed who is behind Project Bloodshot, but I think exploring that a little earlier on would have really given the story some edge. As it is, we’re left to ponder that twist and wonder how Cherie will tackle it in Raylene’s next adventure.

As for a next adventure, so long as Adrian is along for the ride, I just might be willing to entertain a sequel . . . but I’m not so sure Raylene could carry it on her own

http://bibrary.blogspot.com/2011/02/review-bloodshot-by-cherie-priest.html ( )

Cheshire Red is a vampire and an acquisitions expert (thief). Raylene likes that many people assume Cheshire Red is a man and she’s not about to dissuade them, enjoying working in the shadows as she does. Ian, another vampire who is oddly blind, has hired her to track down his medical records from his enforced stay at a secret government complex. Yet before she can dig into this case, things start to unravel in her cushy little life in Seattle – someone breaks into her warehouse and someone else blows her well laid cover. She drops it all to follow a thin lead in Atlanta. As Raylene continues to snoop into Ian’s affairs, things get more and more risky. Before you know it, her best defense is a military-trained drag queen and her best offense is one seriously ticked off blind vampire.

This book was a lot of fun. Raylene definitely has a fluid sense of morals with few hard sticking points. She takes pleasure in her work – removing the priceless and rare from the rich and pretentious. She’s used Seattle as the base for her operations for a few decades now; hence, the warehouse where she stores (or hoards) some of her collection as a financial safety net. There’s also two homeless kids, Pepper and Domino, who she lets live there. She doesn’t really like kids but for some reason keeps the heat and electricity on in one section of the building for them. Oh, and makes sure they have a cell phone to call her. And she checks in on them regularly. Perhaps she brings them food. Not that they’re pets or anything. As you can see, Raylene has this tough exterior and this gooey caramel soft center. I really liked all the snark and Ray’s enjoyment of her own sexuality and being a vampire. I also like that she’s prone to panic attacks and that her powers don’t make her invincible – just really hard to kill.

Ian is a bit of a quandary. It’s very unusual for a vampire to have any debilitating injury that becomes permanent. So Ian’s loss of sight is disturbing. If it can be done to one vampire, it can be done to another. He also uses a ghoul, Cal, which Raylene doesn’t like. However as she gets to know the two of them a bit more, she starts to reconsider her views on ghouls. Cal obviously still has a mind of his own and Ian treats Cal with respect and it’s obvious he needs some amount of help being blind. Still, there are plenty of unanswered questions surrounding Ian and he is indeed very reluctant to elaborate on what little he has already told her.

Then we toss in a military-grade highly driven mad scientist and a large number or highly-trained military ‘acquisition experts’ that want Raylene and perhaps even want Ian back and everyone has to scatter to the four winds. Raylene ends up in Atlanta chasing down a lead. This is where my second favorite character, Adrian (aka Sister Rose), comes into the picture. Sister Rose is a drag queen and great at her nightly performances. Adrian is ex-military and has some specialty training. He initially becomes Raylene’s unwilling ally. Adrian was great with all the glitz and fringe and yet muscle and sensible behavior. I like that we never find out whether he’s straight, gay, or bi, or celibate. Raylene is too polite to ask.

There’s plenty of action and interesting characters in this urban fantasy. The ending was solid. We lose a little and gain a little and have a ton of questions for Book 2. Ian definitely has some some things to follow up on. I’m hoping Adrian will continue to be a part of the series. While Raylene and crew took out several of the questionable military bad guys, I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of them.

Narration: Natalie Ross did an awesome job with this book. All the characters are distinct and her male characters are great. She does this remarkable thing with Adrian’s two personas (Adrian versus Sister Rose). There’s also various accents that she does well. It’s just a very, very good performance. ( )

Bloodshot might not be particularly deep, but it’s just the sort of fun beach read I was looking for. Raylene, our anti-heroic protagonist, is a neurotic vampire thief. Another vampire, Ian Scott, hires her to retrieve some documents for him after the US army experimented on him and took his sight. What follows is a whirlwind hunt across the United States as Raylene discovers more and more about this government conspiracy.

This wasn’t my first time reading Bloodshot, but after a couple of DNFs I was looking for something more reliable. Luckily, I had ebook copies of both Bloodshot and its sequel on hand. The last time I read the book was sophomore year of high school. This time around, there were a few things I noticed more than previously.

Firstly, Raylene is definitely an anti-heroine. If I had to give her a Dungeons and Dragons style alignment, I’d put her at chaotic neutral. She’s a vampire who doesn’t have much compunctions about killing people, and she’s a thief who doesn’t care at all about the rules of law. She actually reminds me some of Cas from S.L. Huang’s Zero Sum Game. While Raylene stays within anti-heroine territory for the entirety of the book, she does become less of a loner as the course of the book (and the series) develops. She also has a casual, snarky voice that makes her an enjoyable narrator.

I mentioned in the opening paragraph that Raylene’s neurotic. She also says that she might have a form of OCD. However, in both these cases I felt like this information was being told instead of shown. For instance, she says a number of times that she feels like she is about to have a panic attack, but there’s not description of what that actually feels like, and she never actually has one.

Something I also noticed more this time around is that other than Raylene, there’s only one other reoccurring female character. And this character’s an eight year old girl without much plot impact. Since I’ve read the sequel, I’ll note that it does introduce a couple more female characters.

While Bloodshot might not be an especially great book, it is fun and entertaining. Bloodshot contains: a female vampire protagonist, government conspiracies, men in black, and a badass Cuban drag queen. I don’t know if I’ll reread it again in the future, but I was glad that I came back to it this time.

Originally posted on The Illustrated Page. ( )

A fun, if shallow read. I enjoyed Reylene's OCD self-identified craziness. I loved the drag queen side kick and I thoroughly enjoyed that the vampire love interests was a little broken and vulnerable—no alpha a-holes here.

It was a little on the predictable side and the writing was nothing extraordinary (though perfectly readable). Basically, the book was a fun, fluffy vampire read. ( )

I think Cherie Priest said, “hey, this paranormal vampire action stuff is popular – I could write one of those!” (or two… or three.) And she did. And it is actually really quite good. Unlike, say, the ‘paranormal vampire action’ book I read last year by Chloe Neill, which was just NOT GOOD. As opposed to the one in that book, Priest’s vampire heroine is witty, clever, relatable and cool. I can’t help feeling that there’s some authorial wish-fulfillment going on there, but hey – it works for my wish-fulfilling tendencies too. I feel like this book was written very quickly – but it also reads very quickly. It’s not Priest’s best, deepest book – but it’s good fun. I’d highly recommend it to fans of the True Blood TV series (more so than the Harris books.)
It’s action-packed, it’s got a mystery to solve, the Southern, flapper, investigator and professional thief, vampire Raylene is bad-ass and hip, and who won’t be won over by a sexy undercover ex-Navy SEAL turned drag queen?
( )

I really wanted to love this. It sounded exciting and has a heavy dose of snark, which is the secret passageway to my heart. But. I kind of just didn't care what happened. I found myself choosing to watch reruns of tv shows I had already seen instead of reading more. Not a good sign. I mostly like the main character (although she talks too much about being neurotic - show, don't tell!). But I spent so much time being suspicious of every single other character that I couldn't form any attachments to them. For some reason I could not get my imagination to gel with Ian=sexy. The kiss thing seemed wooden, out of nowhere and just...zzzzz. Adrian was more interesting,if nothing else. I did have warm fuzzies at the end when they're all living in her new building. But I'm not sure I'll be back for more of this series. ( )

A secret government project, a neurotic vampire thief of indeterminate age, a pair of Dickensian siblings, an ex-SEAL drag queen... what's not to like?

Well, okay. I do have one or two quibbles with this book, primarily the lead character's apparent age. Different clues bounce it around between thirty (Lords of Acid counts as "old" and she's younger than the Lieutenant) and a hundred (faked a death in 1933), with the result being that her "voice" never quite feels as authentic as I thought it should. All the same, she's an entertaining character with a fun supporting cast, and I'm curious what she'll get up to in Hellbent. ( )

Raylene is a thief who happens to be a vampire, and that's just the beginning of the unusual cast that peoples Bloodshot. Add in two runaways who live in her building (one obnoxious, one adorable), one blind vampire client, and one ex-Marine drag queen, and there's most of them.

This is one of my favorite urban fantasy series, up there with those by Seanan McGuire and Tanya Huff. Priest is a great author and weaves a thoroughly enjoyable story around this odd cast. ( )

I must admit, the blurb for Bloodshot didn’t do much for me, but I decided to give it a chance anyway and read the first few pages. Raylene’s narration pulled me in immediately. Although Raylene gets caught an awful lot for a supposedly world-class thief, I have to love a vampire who, instead of being all suave, suffers from panic attacks and paranoia. I also enjoyed the supporting characters, Ian, Domino (aka. “the little shit”), Pepper, and of course, ex-Navy SEAL/drag queen Adrian. Overall, some parts are a tad slow, but Bloodshot is just the kind of fun, light-hearted entertainment I was in the mood for. ( )

Bloodshot is an urban fantasy novel. It was a quick read and great as a beach book. ( )

One of the best opening lines of a book! Fun story! ( )

I really enjoyed this book. When I finished it, I immediately did a search to see if there was another in the series, or at least with the same characters. It is uncommon that I enjoy a book enough that I will seek out others by the same author rather than continue through my current reading list...so that might be 'nuff said.

Naw... I'll add more. The main character is strong and independent and non-whiny (nice change for female leads in urban fantasy) and while there are men in the story, she is not dependent on them being around to save her. There are some decent supporting characters - none of which are stereotypical. In fact, it is almost like Priest thought about what *would* be stereotypical in this genre, and twisted them to something else completely.

The ending was not as resolved as I would have liked it to be, but it was not a cliff-hanger, and, of course, it is book one (of two at the moment)... so I suppose there has to be something to resolve to warrant book 2. And I will go out now and get it! ( )

Summary: Raylene Pendle is a famous thief who also happens to be a vampire. She's not the sort for friends - letting anyone too close is a good way to be uncovered as being both a criminal and non-human. So when she's approached for a potential job - at her unlisted home address - she's understandably a little wary. Her client is Ian Stott, another vampire. That's unusual enough, but Ian's case has a wrinkle that really grabs Raylene's attention: Ian is the victim of a group that's conducting experiments on vampires, and he wants Raylene to steal the documents relating to the secret project that left him blind. She's intrigued - and outraged - enough that she's willing to help, but going up against the Men in Black may prove too much for even Raylene's formidable skills.

Review: This book was fun to read, and I didn't have any major problems, but in the final analysis, urban paranormal mystery/thriller just isn't a genre that's my favorite, or even one in which I'm particularly interested. I suppose I knew that going in; detective thrillers are usually not my favorites to begin with (and even though Raylene is a thief, she's acting enough like a detective in this case to count). It turns out that making the protagonist a vampire didn't really help a lot - her vampirism takes a back seat for most of the book, usually only making her faster and stronger in a fight. So the meat of the book really is straight-up thriller: people getting into fights and shooting at each other and chasing each other and things getting blown up, etc. So that was fun, Priest keeps things moving quickly and with plenty of action, so I was certainly entertained throughout.

Priest also does a nice job with the characters. Raylene's voice is clear and distinctive, and done without relying on gimmicks or tics or catch phrases that so often substituted for real character development. I particularly liked her interactions with the two street kids she's allowing to squat in her warehouse of stolen goods, and I thought the character of Adrian, the ex-military drag queen who winds up becoming Raylene's sidekick, was done really thoughtfully.

I didn't think the mystery aspect was as well developed as it could have been. There were elements I didn't guess ahead of time, so I guess that's in the book's favor, but I was hoping for something more complicated and interesting than "shadowy government conspiracy", but that's all there was. This may be because there is at least one sequel to the book, so more of the secrets behind Project Bloodshoot may be yet to be revealed, but for this book as a standalone, I didn't find the resolution entirely satisfying. I also don't think I'm particularly likely to pick up the sequel. Again, this is a fine book, well-written, funny, lots of good action and good characterization, and I was certainly entertained the whole way through. But it's just not a genre on which I'm particularly interested in spending much of my time, even if there are vampires involved. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: If you like urban fantasy or mystery thrillers, this is (as far as I can tell) a fun and well-written addition to the field. If you're reading it mostly for the vampires, though, it's probably not going to entirely satisfy. ( )

Raylene steals things for a living. And she is also a vampire. Not the sparkly kind nor the really scary kind, just a human kind with un-deadness. Its an nice relief from all the other vampire types out there. Which is to say, Raylene is powerful, but not too powerful. She is also is very human, which is a welcome change from most urban fantasy novels with vampires.

Raylene is powerful, but paranoid and alone. Its a typical set up for most heroines of this sort of story. As far as the story goes - its fairly typical of the genre. A mad scientist, interesting characters and a well written plot make this book stand out in a genre of repetition. ( )

RATING: 1.5 stars.

I ended up finishing this because I really dislike leaving books unfinished... and I have book 2, too.

It wasn't all bad and I actually think the writing was good. But Raylene and the narrative style got on my nerves. Oh well, maybe book 2 is better?

Full review to come (maybe).

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Cherie Priest é conhecida pela sua série de Steampunk, "The Clockwork Century". No entanto, apesar de ter também um dos livros desta série, a Fantasia Urbana é mais a minha onda... por isso tinha de experimentar os Cheshire Red Reports; afinal diz-se muito bem desta escritora e, bem é fantasia urbana, after all.

Apesar de não ter grandes expectativas (a não ser vagas, devido a todos os elogios), devo dizer que me senti desiludida. O principal problema deste livro, para mim, é que não invoca qualquer emoção no leitor. Ou pelo menos esse foi o caso comigo. As personagens e o enredo não me despertaram interesse, de tal modo que até pensei (seriamente) em desistir do livro. Mas como já tenho o número 2, decidi ler até ao fim. Mas foi com alguma dificuldade, confesso.

As personagens não são memoráveis. De todo. O seu desenvolvimento é incipiente e nenhuma delas é particularmente carismática. A protagonista, a Raylene, é bastante irritante com as suas neuroses e manias (poderia ter sido uma personagem interessante mas o facto de estas características não terem qualquer razão de ser... ou de a mesma não nos ser explicada, tornou esta faceta da personagem bastante desagradável). Os protagonistas masculinos são do mais aborrecido que se possa imaginar apesar de serem (I kid you not) um drag-queen e um vampiro cego.

Quanto ao enredo, tenho de confessar que tinha potencial apesar de ser também um bocado cliché. O Governo tinha um projecto onde fazia experiências em seres sobrenaturais. Mas o ritmo da narrativa (que se arrasta) e o pouco que se passa efectivamente em todo o livro fizeram com que não conseguisse sentir o mínimo interesse pela história. O livro pareceu-me uma longa conversa entre diversas personagens (os momentos de "info-dump") com partes em que as personagens esperam por algo e fazem coisas mundanas como beber chá ou ver televisão. Estas são as partes melhor descritas; as cenas de acção não mereceram tanta atenção.

Outro aspecto irritante: o facto de isto ser, supostamente, "fantasia urbana", mas de fantasia urbana ter muito, mas muito pouco. A Raylene é um vampiro, mas para além de nos estar sempre a lembrar deste facto não acontece assim muito de sobrenatural. É como se o facto de a heroína ser um vampiro fosse só uma curiosidade. É certo que se serve das suas "vantagens" vampíricas de vez em quando mas fora isso, pouco sabemos em relação ao seu mundo e proveniência.

No geral, um livro que tive bastante dificuldade em ler. A escrita é competente mas o desenvolvimento da história e das personagens e o ritmo lento e aborrecido da narrativa fizeram com que fosse quase uma tarefa terminar "Bloodshot". ( )

Read and reviewed in 2010

Cherie Priest has created a great new character and added a fresh new face to the Urban Fantasy genre with Bloodshot's Raylene Pendle/Cheshire Red. A vampire and a professional thief, Ray is very good at what she does, but she is also highly OCD and prone to panic and anxiety attacks, which makes her much more "real" and likable than many characters in Urban Fantasy that are just all tough with no faults. Ray also tends to collect around herself a rather eclectic and motley crew of characters - a pair of kids that squat in a warehouse that she owns (and stores her ill-gotten gains inside), a fellow vampire who has escaped from a sinister government group that did experiments on supernaturals - leaving him blind, and an ex-Navy SEAL who is also a kicking drag queen! With characters like these, you know the book is going to be great.

The basic plot is that Ian - the blinded vampire - wants Ray to find and steal the medical documentation kept on him while he was under government control so that he can hopefully have some of the damage reversed. Unfortunately no sooner does Ray begin her research than Men in Black start showing up all over the place to try to run her down.

This is a must-read for anyone who enjoys vampire novels, Urban Fantasy and/or paranormal thrillers. Don't miss it!! ( )