Half-Blood

Half-Blood - Jennifer L. Armentrout UPDATED
phake

I cannot begin to tell you just how much I detest authors who plagiarize. From the pages of Half Blood you can actually see the regret Armentrout had by not coming up with Vampire Academy herself.

Although I told myself never to read this POS, I finally gave in to one of my oldest friends. She said that the book is fast paced and catchy. It is. Because somebody has done it all before. Somebody has done it so much better too.

I have no respect for Armentrout, and the fact that she has taken another person's intellectual property and used it as a cash cow shows me that she doesn't respect herself or her career either. But by now I have seen so many examples where authors will sell their firstborn for a handful of cash and a bit of recognition. Enjoy the fame all the while knowing that it is NOT YOURS! People who let other people do all the work then take their earnings are pathetic freeloaders. In my mind from this point on, it's the only thing this author will be.

It's not right. Just like Mimi Jean Pampiloffs [b:King's (The King Trilogy #1)|22043009|King's (The King Trilogy, #1)|Mimi Jean Pamfiloff|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1399335103s/22043009.jpg|41366487] ripped off KMM's Fever, Armentrout stole from Richelle Mead. No author worth their salt would ever so obviously, brazenly and stupidly steal from another. Greed, all I saw was pathetic greed and envy.

I truly love Vampire Academy series, so once I first got in contact with Half Blood I was so pissed off I could hardly see straight. It's not even the fact that she plagiarized that annoyed me as much as the fact that she got away with it so smoothly. There have only been a couple of instances where Armentrout herself talked about the accusations. She called it the Twilight Phenomenon. Long story short she said people were imagining things, and any connection between the two is a complete fabrication, and of course couldn't be further from the truth. I came back to her novel and originally wanted to just sit down and go trough the entire thing and put down in writing everything Half Blood had in common with Richelle Mead's brilliant series. I only got as far as six chapters before it got the best of me. But here are just a few of those completely random, and wholly unconnected similarities between the two.

Hematoi – Arementrout has daimons in her novel instead of vampires. DAIMONS?? I mean WTF?
VA - Moroi and the Strigoi – vampire species

Aiden was ordered to take Alex back to school.
VA - Dmitri was ordered to take Rose back to school.

Alex doesn't want to go back so Aiden chases her and knocks her on her arse.
VA - Rose doesn't want to go so Dmitri knocks her on her arse.

The elemental magic is possessed by the Hematoi.
VA – The elemental magic is possessed by the Moroi.

The Hematoi are elitist and mostly marry other Hematoi, but they fool around a lot.
VA – The Moroi are elitist and mostly marry other Moroi, but they fool around a lot.

In the conversation with the Dean, Aiden offers to train Alex so she can stay in school.
VA - In the conversation with the Headmistress, Dmitri offers to train Rose so she can stay in school.

Aiden gives Alex shit for being written up so many times and hanging in the male dormitory.
VA – Dmitri gives Rose shit for being written up so many times and hanging in the male dormitory.

Aiden is older that Alex, works for the Covenant and completely off limits.
VA – Dmitri is older that Rose, works for the Academy and completely off limits.

Alex is a hardass that resolves most of her problems with her fists and gets in rouble the very first day she's back at the Covenant.
VA – Rose is a hardass that resolves most of her problems with her fists and gets in rouble the very first day she's back at the Academy.

Aiden has a reputation of being the best and the toughest Sentinel on campus.
VA- Dmitri has the reputation of being the best and the toughest fighter in the Academy.

Alex butts heads with the it chick in school called Lea.
VA – Rose butts heads with the it chick in school called Mia.

Alex has an old friend in school who was her go to guy for mischief called Caleb.
VA – Rose has an old friend in school who was her partner in crime called Mason.

Alex gets permanently grounded until she gets cleared by the Dean, no school functions, no hanging out with friends, but she goes anyway.
VA – Rose gets permanently grounded until she gets cleared by the Dean, no school functions, no hanging out with friends, but she goes anyway.

Alex goes for a dagger in training and Aiden tells her she didn't earn the right to touch it.
VA – Rose constantly tried to practice with the stake but Dmitri kept taking it away from her. He said that she didn't earn the right.

All of this in less than six chapters. I don't know about Twilight, but this is a phenomenon indeed. See, no matter how she tries to explain it, no matter how hard she tries to forget it, the fact will still remain that she based an entire series, five novels in total on someone else's work.
hel to tha no

Apparently she as an author is more than happy to let such things define her in life. There are many people out there like me, and I am glad. People who appreciate effort and originality and will simply not turn a blind eye to selfish individuals like her, or sit quietly because she managed to get published. She wrote a few books, so what? That fact alone doesn't guarantee that she is a nice person with high moral standards.

Stuff like this gets me extremely angry. Thieving assholes like this get me extremely angry. But at least i have one consolation. Label of a Copy Cat will stick with her for the rest of her career, no matter how hard she tries to avoid it.