Crusade by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié

Goodreads Synopsis
The authors of the "New York Times"-bestselling Wicked series deliver the first in a new trilogy--a darkly adventurous spin-off featuring vampires and those who hunt them.

By Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié

Hardcover, 470 pages

Published September 7th 2010 by Simon Pulse

3 out of 5 stars
Genre: YA Paranormal/ Fantasy

I had really hoped to like Crusade, but it ended up falling flat for me in the end.
In Crusade, vampires, or Cursed Ones, as they're called, have taken over the world. Small groups of hunters have come together in hopes of defeating them. Jen comes from Los Angeles where the vampires have practically infiltrated everyone her world, tricking the people she knows to be on their side. Even Jen's own father sides with the vampires, believing Jen's hostility towards them is wrong. So, Jen decides to go to Spain to train to become a hunter. There, she and five others form a group of hunters, called Team Salamanca. Each hunter comes from different parts of the world with different backgrounds, so they're not exactly a cooperative team. There's a Wiccan white witch, Sky; a witty but lonely Danish werewolf, Holgar; hot-tempered and hostile, Jamie; the Hunter and supposed leader from Japan, Eriko; a seriously religious vampire Antonio, and finally Jen. Together, they try to eradicate vampires, but really most of them don't even get along. They have trust issues. They argue a lot. They don't agree on many things, and so on. It was kind of hard to envision them as a team with all this going on. So, Crusade pretty much follows Team Salamanca when they decide to try and save Jen's sister, Heather, after she's been caught by a powerful vampire.

I really loved the premise of the storyline. Vampire taking over? I always love it when some kind of supernatural force tries to take over the world--those stories always capture my interest. But the characters in Crusade is what made me kind of disappointed in this book. Most of them infuriated me, and I couldn't relate or agree with their actions and thoughts. Crusade is told from practically all the characters' point of views. I stopped counting after seven.  I don't mind having multiple point of views; it's always interesting to see the story from another character's eyes, but here we were simply given background stories and I felt like they were added to make us feel sympathetic with each character, to give us a reason for their behavior and role in the book. I could have easily related with the characters from Jenn or Antonio's point of view if it were written that way.

Team Salamanca was a weird group. Jamie was a hothead. I didn't like his temper tantrums, his quick hatred toward Antonio and Holgar, his negative view on the world. I might have felt sorry for him if he wasn't so judgmental of everything. Eriko, the former Japanese schoolgirl, was assigned to be the Hunter. She was given an elixir to give her special strength, but she's so unsure of herself, and always questioning herself that it got annoying towards the end. Skye...well, I don't know. She hides a secret that puts everyone else in danger. She just seemed empty to me. Holgar, the werewolf was probably the only one I liked. He was almost charming, but not too cocky. He's easygoing, and I definitely was able to understand why he felt like he had to watch his back at all times with his hunters. Then there's Jen and Antonio, the star crossed couple of the book. Before Antonio became a vampire, he wanted to become a Priest. So, his relationship with Jen was bizarre. All the time, he's thinking of wanting to be with her, but then pushes it away by reminding himself of his calling. I understand that he's religious and devoted, and I liked that about him, but he mentions it everytime we're in his head. It became repetitive and unnecessary. Jen has self-esteem issues. She doesn't believe in herself, even though she's obviously good enough to have been chosen to be in Team Salamanca. I was hoping to see some bravery and kicking-ass from her, but she's helpless and weak whenever Antonio is with her, and denies any remark that she's "special", as Father Juan keeps telling her. The only time she showed any bravery and independence was when she had been in LA by herself with her father. I liked her at that moment, but she becomes blubbery when Antonio shows up again. I also found her and Antonio's romance to be seriously lacking passion or chemistry. They seemed to be so in love with each other, but they had doubts about their the other one and their relationship. Again, this was repetitive and could have been avoided if they trusted each other. We also have Heather, Jen's sister. Heather was a character with no spine. I tried to relate with her, but couldn't. There's also Father Juan, the one who chose the hunters for Team Salamanca. He's a nice man, supportive of his team. But he was very cryptic and I wasn't in the mood for those cryptic remarks.

I might try the next book. I might not. Crusade frustrated me. I liked the concept, but it just didn't engage me as I had expected it to.