Any affection I had, however misguided, for the first book entitled Half-Blood, is now gone. Pure was the type of book where I ended up rooting for the bad guy (whoever s/he may be), how warped is that? 
 I read that the blatant similarities stolen from Vampire Academy were supposed to be practically non-existent, however, a few reviews and then a read through of the book itself proved that statement to be very, very wrong. Here's just a few: 
 -Caleb dies in a similar fashion to Mason and Alex reacts pretty much the exact same way Rose did. At least Mason died trying to save Rose from Strigoi after they'd been kidnapped. Caleb died because they wanted to steal drinks from the cafeteria. Seriously? Why didn't he go get some earlier in the day? 
 -Alex and Seth's connection is basically Rose and Lissa's spirit bond, except it's not one way and both parties can feel each other's emotions. 
 -Alex is given an aphrodisiac and gets all up on Seth, much like how Rose was given a necklace with compulsion that made her get all up on Dimitri. 
 -Alex goes to the Council and everyone seems to hate her, just like Rose went to Court and everyone seemed to be against her. 
 -Alex is basically using Seth as a distraction since Aiden rejected her, much like Rose used Adrian when Dimitri became Strigoi and then snubbed her. 
 There's many more but those are the ones that stick out most in my mind. Unfortunately, I think it was all the stolen content from Vampire Academy that endeared me to Half-Blood and now that most of it is gone, I just do not like it. 
 What makes this book bad isn't the obvious ripoffs, it's Alex herself. She's insufferable. Everyone seems to prop her up and sing her praises about how awesome she is, yet all I see is a whiny git who doesn't think before she acts and constantly gets into trouble, to which her stepfather and uncle have to bail her out. The training with Aiden designed to catch her up obviously didn't help, because she's constantly getting her ass whooped in class. Daimons and furies? Sure, no problem for Alex, even though they're faster, stronger, and better than her. Some guy who is still in training like her? That's way too difficult! Her vocabulary is also juvenile, with fantastic phrases like "suck butt" (which she uses A LOT) and calling a girl who is ogling Seth "Boobs" (she takes the time to learn the guys' names, but who cares about competition for her playmate?). Ms. Armentrout doesn't seem to be against swearing, since Seth does it, but with Alex, it plays out like this: "I said a really rude word that made Aiden raise an eyebrow." Ooo, how tough is she? I bet she giggles when she reads smutty books and they reference breasts. She's more like a ten year old than a seventeen year old. She never matures, she never grows, she never learns. 
 Now, Aiden. I found him bland in Half-Blood, but now I straight up dislike him. Every time he is around Alex I just hear Katy Perry's Hot 'N Cold playing in my head, because that's how he acts. He tells Alex they will never be together, but gets incredibly possessive whenever she's with Seth and openly threatens Seth all the time. She doesn't belong to you, you ass, knock it off! And that whole "Oh, if I wanted to, I could just take you, but I don't want you to become a servant" bullshit. High on yourself much there, Aiden? It reminds me of when guys are like "I could be an asshole, but I'm such a nice guy because I don't act like that." Well, good for you, give yourself a pat on the back. I'm not feeding your ego about what a nice guy you think you are. So instead of taking Alex like you oh so want to do, you're just going to be possessive and lead her on before shutting her down over and over. You're such a nice guy, Aiden, you prick. Also, go see a doctor about your eyes. Apparently they keep changing colour and I think that's a sign of some kind of disease. Alex is also the only one that can read Aiden's expressions and eyes. Not, y'know, his brother Deacon (I missed you in this book, Deacon), only Alex, because she's super special and in love with Aiden. I hate this trope so much, when only the heroine truly understands the hero, even if she's only known him for a week and he has family who have known him his entire life. 
 Seth, ah, Seth. Although I'm not a fan of how he's portrayed as a hardcore skirt chaser, I like him more in Pure. I still don't understand his love for Alex since she's so... ugh and it's obvious she's going to end up with Aiden. Seth is witty and amusing, which is always a plus for me. I've seen people say they don't like how he acts like he 'owns' Alex and how jealous he gets over Aiden, but did they not see how possessive Aiden gets when it comes to Alex, hello? Seth doesn't want her to be given the Elixir and is pretty blunt about how she and Aiden will never happen, I don't see that as being a possessive ass, but maybe that's just me. 
 Other annoyances: 
 So, why is Aiden still training Alex if she's supposedly caught up? Even if she wasn't, Seth is supposed to be training her because they're both Apollyons, so what is Aiden even doing there? Oh right, because Aiden still needs to be shoved in there somewhere, even if it doesn't make sense. There was no reason to take Alex to the zoo or take her to the Council or pretty much be in 90% of this book except he's the 'twu wuv', which basically equates to him skulking around and being possessive while shoving her away. Bleh. I absolutely loathe couples who are shoved in contrived scenes where in reality they wouldn't be anywhere near each other to show their 'attraction and love'. (I'm looking at you, Sydney and Ruined-Adrian from Bloodlines.) 
 Someone is trying to kill Alex, her best friend dies, daimons are infiltrating the Covenant, yet all Alex cares about is her love for Aiden and her playtime with Seth. Way to prioritize, you selfish, vapid girl. 
 Am I allowed to half agree with Telly that Alex should be pulled from the Covenant and her Sentinel training? I know every threat against Alex is supposed to make us sneer in disgust at them, because they're picking on poor, poor Alex, but no. She's been a troublemaker since even before she left with her mom (another similarity to Rose, except Rose actually grows through her series), she breaks rules, gets people killed, puts people in danger, sasses anyone and everyone... yeah, I'd like to see her expelled from the Covenant. Not necessarily given the Elixir or killed, but she needs to be put somewhere where she's not going to be such a problem. 
 All right, here's the biggest annoyance of all, which is also a major issue from Vampire Academy, except here it's more extreme. So, tell me, do all half-bloods have to become Sentinels or become servants? When Alex is in Council, it's implied that only half-bloods who break the Breed Order become servants. This leads me to believe that there must be some half-bloods who lead normal lives, after all, not all of them will ever be good enough to become full fledged Sentinels, right? Yet we never see any of these half-bloods, ever. If their only options are mindless servant, death, or Sentinel, why the hell aren't the half-bloods rebelling yet? Half-bloods can reproduce with humans, so it's not like they have to cling to the pure bloods and their ridiculous social structure, yet no one does. WHY? WHY IS THAT? 
 I try not to nitpick about grammar/spelling and such, but dammit, it's fury, not furie. How did nobody catch that? 
 Saying "someone used a compulsion" sounds really awkward, like compulsion is an item and not an act. "Someone used compulsion" or "Someone compelled her" sound much better. Why do pure-bloods have compulsion anyway? Oh right, because Moroi do in Vampire Academy, so the knock-offs need to as well. Seriously, giving pure-bloods compulsion is just lazy and a way to deus ex machina Alex's crap at the end. 
 At one point Alex says "I could care less", and now I shall quote Weird Al: 
 I hate these word crimes, like 'I could care less.' (That means you do care, at least a little.) 
 I know, grammar and phrases are being ruined by the internet and this generation and blah blah blah excuses, whatever, but once again, how did no one catch this? 
 Finally, and I covered this in my last review, but why the heck didn't Ms. Armentrout come up with better species names for Pure-bloods and Half-bloods? (I know the Pures are technically called Hematoi, but no one ever uses it!) Using "the pure glared at me" or "the half got pissed" sounds so lazy. Not to mention when Alex starts talking about servants and daimons, saying "half servant" or "daimon half". So... they're only half a servant? Only the daimon half of someone attacked her? It's just so sloppy sounding. 
 I promised myself I'd stop writing long, ranty reviews, but this book was terrible and I have a feeling it's all downhill from here. Such a shame that two of my favourite names, Alexandria and Alexander, are in this tripe. Siiiiiiiiigh.