Drink Deep by Chloe Neill

Title: Drink Deep
Author: Chloe Neill

Publisher: Gollancz
ISBN: 978-0-575-11340-4
Pages: 321
Series: Chicagoland Vampires #5
Type: Adult Urban Fantasy
Source: Purchased
Goodreads


A storm is brewing over Chicago and with the city in turmoil and threatening to pass a paranormal registration act, Cadogan House is in a precarious position. All Merit wants to do is lay low for a while and lick her wounds but it seems fate has other plans for her when the waters of Lake Michigan suddenly turn pitch black. It's clear the darkest magic is at work and Merit must act as Sentinel and turn to friends, and enemies, new and old to find out who is behind this and stop them before it is too late...

This is the fifth book in the Chicagoland Vampires series (after Some Girls Bite, Friday Night Bites, Twice Bitten and Hard Bitten) and I jumped straight into this after the OMG ending to Hard Bitten. I am so glad I had this on hand and I'd recommend anyone new to the series start at the beginning, but make sure you have this on hand when you start Hard Bitten because the ending is a killer.

There is a ton of world building in this installment as the weird events in Chicago force Merit to contact all sorts of supernatural races, both those we've met before and those we haven't. Every race gets more development from the nymphs to the fey and river trolls to sirens. It all works well and develops naturally within the storyline without any info dumping.

The book also features a heavy political aspect as the Greenwich Presidium have sent a representative to Cadogan House and he quickly pulls a Dolores Umbridge and starts taking over and insisting on bizarre unnecessary rules. The Cadogan vampires are somewhat struggling under the new management and this leads to a fair amount of friction. The Red Guard are also still courting Merit in hopes that she will join their numbers against the GP.

The book did feature a huge dent to my enjoyment in that I figured out what the cause of the bizarre events was within the first few chapters. This meant I spent most of the book knowing Merit was looking in all the wrong places and by the time she figured it out I was becoming frustrated with how she could keep missing all the clues. Other than that the storyline is well written on the whole and I enjoyed exploring more of Merit's world with her.

Merit is dealing with a lot in this installment after her loss at the end of the previous book. Mallory has tried to help her through but she is caught up with her magic training. Merit's way of dealing is to throw herself into her role as Sentinel and to support her friends Lindsey and Luc who have finally gotten together. Given Merit's state of mind a lot of the humour and snark of the earlier books is missing and I'm really hoping they return in the next installment.

All in all this was a fun read and I'm looking forward to Biting Cold.

Plot: 8/10
Characters: 10/10
Ending: 9/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Cover: 7/10

Overall: 42/50