Alex has been on the run from daimons since she saw them murder her mother. After another attack, and nowhere to go, Alex is taken to the Covenant - a boarding school for Hermatoi, offspring of the gods - and the very place where she and her mother fled from three years earlier. Alex was not the best student and her past behaviour record threatens to have her expelled before she is even a student again. She has a choice - to train with the gorgeous pureblood, Aiden St Delphi, or become a servant in her stepfather's mansion. 
 I've wanted to read this series for a while. I have a weakness for books with strong heroines and magical boarding schools. I'd heard that this series has a lot in common with Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy books and there is a lot that feels familiar (the forbidden romance, the class system, even the boarding school itself). However there is enough different about these stories that I wasn't constantly comparing the two. 
 Alex is the kind of girl who acts first and deals with the repercussions later. But she isn't blindly rebellious. She knows when to pull her head in and when to break the rules. Her loyalty to her mother and her friends is fierce and there is logic behind her decisions. The forbidden romance between Alex and Aiden is fun to read but it did feel a touch like deja vu. 
 The plot is interesting. There's an Apollyon, some mythical half-blood with the power of the elements and super daimon fighting skills. Mix with that some great fight scenes, some mean girls, evil stepfather, ominous and mysterious uncle and a heartbreaking decision. Armentrout is not kind to her characters and I admire Alex all the more for what she goes though in this novel. 
 I'm curious as to what happens next for Alex now she knows a little more about herself and I intend to read the next books in the series but it's not a priority. I like the characters and the plot yet there are other series I want to catch up on first.