Title: Balthazar
Author: Claudia Gray
Publisher: HarperTeen, 374 Pages (March 6th, 2012)
From: the Publisher
Format: ARC

Synopsis: Vampire heartthrob Balthazar More, first introduced to readers in the New York Times bestselling Evernight series, fights for true love in this electrifying stand-alone novel.

Haunted by memories from his first days as a vampire, Balthazar has spent hundreds of years alone—without allies, without love. When he emerges from his isolation to help Skye Tierney, a human girl who once attended Evernight Academy, Balthazar has no idea how dangerous it will be. Skye’s psychic powers have caught the attention of Redgrave, the cruel master vampire responsible for murdering Balthazar and his family four centuries ago. Having learned of Skye’s powers and the remarkable effect her blood has on vampires, he plans to use her for his own evil purposes. As they stand together to fight the evil vampire, Balthazar realizes his lonely world could finally be changed by Skye...just as Redgrave realizes that he can destroy Balthazar once and for all by taking her for his own.

Review: 4 Stars - Balthazar, is a fantastic companion novel to the Evernight series by Claudia Gray. Many fans, including myself were excited and eager to have a book devoted to a beloved character and we weren’t let down in this thrilling, action packed whirlwind of a story.

Balthazar has always been a huge fan favorite, even being the mystery that he is to readers; you just couldn’t help have this character capture a piece of your heart. He’s quiet, reserved and with a heart of gold and I seriously couldn’t read this title fast enough. Balthazar’s story had a bit of everything – strong characters, amazing background story, action from beginning to end and so much more.

When Skye runs into some trouble, Balthazar comes to her aid in trying to work out why she’s being hunted. Skye is a pretty strong character and can give as good as she gets but at the end of the day she is  just a normal teen girl, who finds out that there was so much more out there than originally thought.  I mean it would be hard to not end up knowing there are Vampires, when you used to attend a private boarding school full of them!

The two together were extremely entertaining, they danced around their emotions and feelings for each other but at the same time they had some pretty heavy issues to deal with from their pasts, not to mention the present danger looming over them. One of the main parts to the story that I loved was how amazingly well Gray incorporated Balthazar’s past with the present day. Unique and clever are two words that come to mind.

I’m one who loves, loves, loves alternating points of view for the simple reason that I get a more rounded telling of the story. When I get a chance to see things from more than one characters point of view it always adds tons of depth. So Gray did an amazing job in telling this story from both Balthazar and Skye’s views. The flash backs of Balthazars life when he was first turned into a vampire were fascinating, emotional and even heart breaking. These moments in the story really gave me such a better idea into who he was and why he felt the way he does.

All in all, Gray has taken so many of the things I love in a great story and whisked them together to bring history and more life to such a beloved character. While this book is different from the Evernight series, set in a different place and focuses on different characters, fans will be sure to gobble this one up and be ready for more! For me, as I turned that last page, I had to wonder if this will be the last we’ll see of Balthazar and Skye. I hope Gray has more up her sleeve and we’ll get a chance to read their continuing story in the future soon.

FTC Disclaimer: I did NOT pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this HONEST review.