• Blood Games

  • Chicagoland Vampires, Book10
  • By: Chloe Neill
  • Narrated by: Sophie Eastlake
  • Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,511 ratings)

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Blood Games  By  cover art

Blood Games

By: Chloe Neill
Narrated by: Sophie Eastlake
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Publisher's summary

While Merit didn't choose to become a vampire or Sentinel of Cadogan House, she vowed to fight for her House and its Master, and she's managed to forge strong alliances with powerful supernaturals across Chicago. But even though Merit has had wild adventures, this may be her deadliest yet. A killer is stalking Chicago, preying on humans and leaving his victims with magical souvenirs. The CPD hasn't been able to track the assailant, and as the body count rises, the city is running out of options. Vampires and humans aren't on great terms, but murder makes for strange bedfellows. Can Merit find the killer before she becomes a target?

©2014 Chloe Neil (P)2014 Tantor

What listeners say about Blood Games

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

DON'T CHANGE NARRATOR MID SERIES

DON'T CHANGE NARRATOR MID SERIES AND IF YOU DO, AT LEAST GET SOMEONE WITH THE SAME STYLE.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A good ones for fans of GP Drama!

My Initial Reaction...
I love the books in this series that involve lots of GP BS, because it makes me so angry. Blood Games was no exception to that rule. So, of course, I loved it!

Note: some series spoilers to follow.

The Narration...
I enjoyed Sophie Eastlake narration for Blood Games as usual. She's Merit for me now and I think that if I were to read these books I'd hear her voice for Merit. For Blood Games, though, I noticed for the first time a lot of bleed over between Ethan and Jonah's voices, to the point where I got confused sometimes who was talking. I think it was Ethan's voice bleeding into Jonah's, which was unfortunate, because I felt like some of his personality was lost as result too at moments. But still a solid performance and I'll definitely continue listening to this series.

The Characters...
I think the characters are what captivate me about this series. I just love them all in Blood Games- from Merit and Ethan, to the Omsbudies and Merit's grandfather, to Jonah and Mallory and the Cadogan vampires. There's so many personalities and they're all so well-developed and unique.

Ethan and Merit are having troubles again and when I saw that coming my stomach about dropped. Thankfully, though, this was more of the kind of trouble you expect for any long-term couple, especially when one of the partners has hundreds of years of life history. So yeah, Ethan's past is rearing it's ugly head and neither one knows quite how to navigate those waters. Ethan is falling back on his go-to protect and exclude, while Merit is worrying and going on the defensive. I enjoyed watching them figure out how to navigate this aspect of their relationship, while still loving and being there for each other.

I'm a really big Jonah fan, so I was personally really happy with the time he got in Blood Games. His interaction with Merit was fun and increasingly more comfortable, we got to learn some fun new details about him, and I'm curious about what may be on the horizon for him.

The Omsbudies are doing so much better now that they have the support of the mayor again. I was really happy to see Merit's grandfather on the mend. I would always like a bit more Jeff, but I'm partial to him ;) Things between Mallory and Catcher are also so much better, I'm loving seeing their new relationship. I love the new Mallory, too. She's been healing slowly over the last few books and I feel like we've finally reached a point where trust is returned. She's learned from her experiences and is doing something about it for others, too, which I thought was great to see. I don't think her and Merit's relationship has (or ever will) returned to what it was, but it something new and equally great.

An unexpected treat for me was Lindsey, one of the Cadogan Vampire guards and Merit's friend. I've always liked her, but in Blood Games during the testing specifically we get to see a piece of her and her ability that I really enjoyed. It made me appreciate what life must be like for her a bit more and I felt it was a really nice touch.

The Story...
There's two big story lines to Blood Games as usual. One involves people turning up dead and the method of murders looks like it might be members of the supernatural community, or singling them out at least. For me, this very procedural element of the books is always just okay, but I'm just not that into procedurals. I didn't see the result coming, though, and there were some neat clues and elements that I really enjoyed.

For me, the real treat is the politics. I know for a lot of people it's the reverse, but I just love the drama with the GP. And seeing as Ethan challenged Darius for his position as head of the GP at the end of the last book we have GP drama in spades. I think Chloe Neill excels in this and I loved every twist. I did think that one element with Darius was fairly anticlimactic and a bit too easily solved, but besides that, nothing was easy. Which means it was great to read!

Concluding Sentiments...
I thoroughly enjoyed Blood Games and cannot wait for the next one. Especially because things ended with a bit of twist! Thankfully it's not a cliffhanger in the sense that things feel unresolved, but I'm definitely counting down to the next book!

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Just Keeps Getting Better!!

When you combine the creative mind of Chloe Neill AND the perceptive spirited narration by Sohpie Eastlake, you definitely have a winner. After 10 books, you'd think that the capability to sustain the Ethan/Merit romance, to keep the Cadogan House members and staff alive with character development and to create stories and plots that are interesting and intricate would wane. NOPE, NADA. NO WAY. This series just keeps getting better; the writing crisper and the dialogue just spectacular. Blood Games is no exception...and now I can't wait for the next one. I never go into the storyline detail...far more experienced reviewers do a much better job. But I will tell you that the level of maturity in Chloe Neill's writing is certainly on display in this work. AND you absolutely cannot go wrong with Sophie Eastlake. I am not only amazed at how Ms Neill THINKS of things to include in a conversation but also the ability of Ms Eastlake to bring that conversation to life. Do NOT miss this CV book 10...it's outstanding.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator

Any additional comments?

Although narrator did not change recently some of the voices sound different such as Ethan and Jonah it was hard to differentiate between the two characters. The story was good enough for me to recommend it and fit in well with the series and I have already downloaded the next story.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good

Good story but nothing special. The storyline was not as gripping as others in this series.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Oooh!

The plot just keeps getting great and the characters keep growing and the romance keeps getting better. Great addition to the series!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Blood Games

“My Power wasn’t his to take”
This was a great line Merit said and I couldn’t agree more. In the middle of trying to solve a serial murder case Ethan decided to run for GP.
It kinda put a kink into everyone’s world but it worked itself out.
Merit and Ethan had thing that needed to be said and old hurts and past truths needed to come out. I do like that it took Ethan a lot to come to terms and open up to Merit. Not the fact that it took him so long but that she let him work it out on his own. And that in turn gave him the trust he needed to be open.

That ending is ominous that is for sure.
I love the narration and I am off to start the next book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

best in the series so far

best story yet! listened to the last couple chaptersseversl times and I hate reruns :-)

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Rinse and repeat

It seems like it was right P repeat repeat you’re able to skip lots of parts because she repeats all the time and don’t forget she is sentinel fake ass for people that don’t read previous books they decided to replay everything in play Vitas books

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

I can't believe how Merit acts like a doormat

• 1st issue: quick thing, but becoming more prevalent:
Merit's inconsistent fighting and physical abilities, and definitely her ability to take damage compared to previous books.
Back in "Twice Bitten", Merit jumps in front of a spray of bullets to act as a shield for someone. Within minutes, with gunfire still going on, her body pushes two bullets out of her and she's pretty much good to go.

Yet here, she takes one shot in/near the shoulder and she is rendered unconscious for over a day?

(Note: Not exactly a spoiler. Merit and Ethan have run half-marathons in super amazing record times. Yet in the next book, she loses a foot race with a human. She has TEN MINUTES to catch up with a human who was within eyesight before the chase, but she can't catch him?).

Bottom line, the injuries and physical abilities she has are now close to being human. Maybe there's a reason for this, somehow... but the fact is that neither Ethan, Merit, nor any Vampire in the house is questioning the fact that it's getting close to the time that a human could beat the crud out of her.


• Okay, 2nd issue .. (Merit, the Doormat):
There's a threat to Ethan and the house, and Ethan learns something about that threat, but he won't let the house protector know what it is, and gets angry when asked about it. He just tells Merit that it's nothing security needs to know and that "he's handling it." (And by handling it, he actually means that he isn't doing a single thing except sulking).
His refusal to communicate is clearly distracting his Sentinel (both personally and professionally). His actions lower the security for the house and endanger Merit.
And Merit's demanding response to all this is to basically just tell Ethan that she needs the information.


And here's the worst part [teensy spoiler]: Ethan apparently thinks it would make Merit feel better about their relationship to be treated coldly, given no trust, and have her job be made significantly harder and more dangerous than for him to simply tell her that, get this... 400 years ago he had a lot of sex and drank blood.

Seriously?
Ethan thinks Merit is going to shatter from learning that he had lots of sex, more decades ago than years Merit has been alive?

Her best friend has quite recently tried to kill just about everyone in Chicago and turn Ethan into a Witch's Familiar, yet she and her bff are working it out. But Ethan thinks a lot of sex a couple hundred years ago is gonna hurt her more than not trusting her?

Really?

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