2.5 stars

Review: Bloodlines

08:00

Bloodlines
By Richelle Mead

 Source: Library, paperback
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Vampires

When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Bloodlines explores all the friendship, romance, battles, and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive--this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone's out for blood.


After reading really enjoying the Vampire Academy series last summer, I was really excited to carry on with the world, and dive into Bloodlines. VA became one of my favourite series, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I expected this to be great. Though sadly, I was so disappointed. It really wasn’t as good as I hoped it to be, and to be honest, I wish I didn’t expect so much, so I wouldn’t feel as let down as I do now.

My main problem was Sydney. We were introduced to her in Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4), and I didn’t really mind her then (she didn’t have a massive storyline) - in Bloodlines though, I could barely stand her. She really let the book down for me, because the thing about her ‘not having any social skills’ just became boring, really quickly. It was cringe-worthy, and I just didn’t want to read about a bland character embarrassing herself!

Another thing I disliked about this book was that it seemed very similar to VA. It was set in a high school, though this time it was a normal, human high school. I felt like this could have been avoided (the reason for this setting was questionable anyway), and it just set the book up to be something that’s not a series in its own. I liked the vampire highschool, but a human highschool got a bit boring for me, because that's not what I came to read!

Though as the book progressed, I began to realise that I was enjoying it a lot more. After my original skepticism on the direction of the book (and this series), I was really happy to find that it was very different to what I expected. I didn’t like the continual focus on Sydney’s life at school, but I liked the mystery plot lines, and I enjoyed the way Sydney took things into her own hands. She showed her strengths in these bits, and although she is no Rose, I liked how she was independent and actually got stuff done!

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series, because I’m excited to see the direction it will go in. I don’t think I will enjoy it as much as VA, but I’d like to get into this world even more. I think it would be really interesting to find out more about the alchemists, so I look forward to reading more of it!

4 stars

Review: Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy #6)

09:30

Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy #6)
By Richelle Mead

 Source: Library, paperback
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Vampires, Romance

Goodreads Synopsis:
Rose Hathaway has always played by her own rules. She broke the law when she ran away from St. Vladimir's Academy with her best friend and last surviving Dragomir princess, Lissa. She broke the law when she fell in love with her gorgeous, off-limits instructor, Dimitri. And she dared to defy Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi world, risking her life and reputation to protect generations of dhampir guardians to come.
Now the law has finally caught up with Rose - for a crime she didn't even commit. She's in prison for the highest offense imaginable: the assassination of a monarch. She'll need help from both Dimitri and Adrian to find the one living person who can stall her execution and force the Moroi elite to acknowledge a shocking new candidate for the royal throne: Vasilisa Dragomir.
But the clock on Rose's life is running out. Rose knows in her heart the world of the dead wants her back...and this time she is truly out of second chances. The big question is, when your whole life is about saving others, who will save you?
Join Rose, Dimitri, Adrian, and Lissa in Last Sacrifice, the epic, unforgettable finale to Richelle Mead's international #1 bestselling Vampire Academy series.


I was so nervous to start this. The series is so long, and I was kind of disappointed that it was ending, but after this, I’m really satisfied. In hindsight, it was definitely time for the series to be ending though; I’ve felt like this in most of the books, as nothing was really happening. This is a series that I have really enjoyed, though I’m not too upset that it’s over now!

Although lots was happening in the beginning, I felt it was a bit pointless. Rose was searching for something that didn’t yet affect the story. I didn’t see the point in being so invested for her to find it, because it didn’t seem like it would make that much of a difference. I expected this to be a really epic conclusion (like in the ending of Shadow Kiss), but it really wasn’t like that, because of how slow paced it was at the start.

I liked Rose again in this. She wasn’t as good as in Shadow Kiss, but she completely sorted everyone out. She didn’t just help herself, but helped Lissa, and everyone else get out of the mess, that they had somehow got themselves in. Although, in this book she was still painstakingly choosing if she wanted Dimitri or Adrian, which got tiresome very quickly.

Overall, this was a really great end to the series. Everything fell into place perfectly, and it ended just as I had hoped it would. I know I will miss the series, but I’ve been given full closure. I’d definitely recommend Vampire Academy - it’s a really fun series, and although some books were a bit ‘iffy’ for me, I’ve really enjoyed it overall.

3.5 stars

Review: Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy #5)

10:00

Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy #5)
By Richelle Mead

 Source: Library, paperback
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Vampires, Romance

 Goodreads Synopsis:
Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong...
After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri's birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir's-and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can't wait for their real lives beyond the Academy's iron gates to begin. But Rose's heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he's out there, somewhere.
She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her. And this time he won't rest until Rose joins him... forever.


Going into this book, I didn’t have very high expectations. I adored Shadow Kiss (my review here), but Blood Promise (my review here) fell really short. I just expected the series to just decline now, but thankfully, this book was a lot better than Blood Promise! Even though it didn’t really progress from Blood Promise, and nothing really happened, I ended up enjoying the way it went.
I liked the way this book was more focused in court, and in the guardian duties - I enjoyed the new direction the series seemed to be taking. I was disappointed with how overlooked Blood Promise had become though: all of the new characters seemed to be have forgotten, and it didn’t seem like they were going to add anything more to the story. At some points, Blood Promise was slow and I really didn’t see the point in it - I felt cheated on that it was all for nothing!
In my opinion, Rose’s character got so much worse. In the previous books, I loved her so much, but in this one, she just made so many stupid decisions. It was fun to read about her gutsy decisions in court, but after a while they became irritating and tiresome. I really didn’t like the way she couldn’t decide between Adrian or Dimitri too - her constant switching quickly became old and boring.

Thankfully, the second half of the book was so much better. Lots more was happening, so it became a lot more interesting. The book ended on a massive cliff-hanger, so I was really eager to move straight on to the next one! (luckily I had it to hand, so didn’t have to wait). The series picked up, so I was hoping it will be rounded off well, and will redeem itself from previous books!

3.5 stars

Review: Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4)

08:00

Blood Promise
By Richelle Mead

 Page count: 504
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Vampires, Romance, 

 Goodreads Synopsis:

 Rose Hathaway's life will never be the same. 

The recent attack on St. Vladimir's Academy devastated the entire Moroi world. Many are dead. And, for the few victims carried off by Strigoi, their fates are even worse. A rare tattoo now adorns Rose's neck, a mark that says she's killed far too many Strigoi to count. But only one victim matters ... Dimitri Belikov. Rose must now choose one of two very different paths: honoring her life's vow to protect Lissa—her best friend and the last surviving Dragomir princess—or, dropping out of the Academy to strike out on her own and hunt down the man she loves. She'll have to go to the ends of the earth to find Dimitri and keep the promise he begged her to make. But the question is, when the time comes, will he want to be saved? 

Now, with everything at stake—and worlds away from St. Vladimir's and her unguarded, vulnerable, and newly rebellious best friend—can Rose find the strength to destroy Dimitri? Or, will she sacrifice herself for a chance at eternal love?

 My review:
After the way Shadow Kiss ended, I was desperate for Blood Promise. I expected it to have the same excitement and pace that Shadow Kiss did, but instead I ended up highly disappointed. It had a slow start (for the majority of the book, not much was happening), and I was disappointed with the direction that it took.


I found Rose to be a lot weaker in this book. In some parts, she was pretty pathetic and had no self control, and I found it was as if all of her training practically went out the window (she hesitated and could barely throw a punch). I didn’t like how she took a while to think of a plan (it just made the story drag) and do something for herself.


Though I enjoyed the new characters, I didn’t like Lissa. She was really selfish and unpleasant to everyone around her, especially to Rose through the bond. I didn’t like her in Shadow Kiss, but I hated her in Blood Promise. Everything she did was pretty pathetic, and she made really irritating decisions.
The book got a lot better towards the end. Like all of the books in the series, the ending was really exciting. There was much more action, and although Rose still made a few stupid decisions, she was much tougher. I liked how she was able to (somewhat) save the day, as at the start of the book she was a bit rubbish.

Because the book took a different direction compared to the rest of the series, it was obviously setting up for next books in the series. I’m hoping everything will come together, and everyone will be really important, and play their part. Everything will have mattered, and there will be a truly epic conclusion. Most of this book didn’t go anywhere and was repetitive, so I’m hoping the rest of the series is going to continue with the fast pace of Shadow Kiss, and go back to being a truly awesome series.

Rating:

5 Stars

Review: Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy #3)

22:34


Shadow Kiss
By Richelle Mead

 Source: Library
Page count: 443
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Vampires, Romance,

 Goodreads Synopsis:

 Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires - the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a Dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

Rose knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, Lissa - the last Dragomir princess - must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to gorgeous Dimitri Belikov, some rules are meant to be broken...

Then a strange darkness begins to grow in Rose's mind, and ghostly shadows warn of a terrible evil drawing nearer to the Academy's iron gates. The immortal undead are closing in, and they want vengeance for the lives Rose has stolen. In a heart-stopping battle to rival her worst nightmares, Rose will have to choose between life, love, and the two people who matter most... but will her choice mean that only one can survive?

 My review:
I loved this book so much. From giving the previous book only 3 stars, I was really surprised to find myself liking it this much. I knew I was going to really enjoy it, but not as much as I ended up doing. The pacing was perfect, so I constantly wanted to read on. It’s definitely my favourite book of the series so far!
The romance in this book was perfectly done. It had already been slow-burning throughout the other previous books in the series, so it didn’t feel at all like insta-love. This meant that we also had time to want them to be together. It didn’t take away focus from the main plot too, so we had some of romance focused scenes, but a lot of action too.
I really liked all the action scenes. They were perfectly done so we weren’t confused, yet the choreography was done really well do we could clearly picture the scenes. Towards the end, there were lots of action scenes with I really loved. The plot was unpredictable and had lots of twists.
Rose developed so much again throughout this book. She was still very mature, yet badass throughout the whole thing. It was amazing to see how well she could fight (it made the action scenes much more exciting!) and how far she had come as a character. Her opinions towards political ideas had changed, so the overall themes of the books changed too, and they were really interesting to read about.
I really enjoyed this book. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series now, and I just know that I won’t be able to read another book until I get Blood Promise (the next in the series)! I loved literally everything about this book, so it’s really worth reading the series, even if the first two books aren’t amazing.

Rating:

3 Stars

Review: Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2)

17:17

Frostbite
By Richelle Mead

 Page count: 327 
Source: E-book
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Vampires, Romance, Fantasy, 

 Goodreads Synopsis:

 Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires - the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

Rose has serious guy trouble. Her gorgeous tutor, Dimitri, has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason has a huge crush on her, and she keeps getting stuck in her best friend Lissa's head while she's making out with her boyfriend, Christian.

Then a nearby Strigoi attack puts St. Vladimir's on high alert, and the Academy whisks its students away on a mandatory holiday ski trip. But the glittering winter landscape and posh Idaho resort only provide the illusion of safety. When three students run away to strike back against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. Only this time, Rose - and her heart - are in more danger than she ever could have imagined... 

 My review:
I was hoping to really enjoy this book, judging by how great Vampire Academy was. Sadly, it was a bit of a disappointment. Everything VA had, Frostbite didn’t. Although it had different themes which I liked, I was left feeling a bit meh.

Rose was still my favourite aspect of the book. She was equally as witty and sarcastic, but in this book she had grown-up. Before, she was very reckless, but in this book she took more responsibility for her actions. She was less selfish, so I enjoyed reading about her much more (mainly because she wasn’t as annoying!).

The whole book was quite predictable, so it felt a lot like it had second book syndrome (did I invent that?). It definitely felt like a filler for the rest of the series because nothing much happened. Because of this, I know I will continue with the rest of the series (even if it is just so I can see what all the hype is about), but I wouldn’t really recommend this book.

Rating:

4 stars

Review: Vampire Academy

16:00

Vampire Academy
By Richelle Mead

 Source: Library
Page count: 332
Genres: Young Adult, Vampires, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, 

 Goodreads Synopsis:

 Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires - the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger... and the Strigoi are always close by.

Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard down, lest the evil undead make Lissa one of them forever...

 My review:
Firstly, don’t judge this book by it’s title or cover. I hate the title (vampires have such a bad image now), and the covers... just no (they’re really disgusting). The actual book was really amazing though - it had themes of friendship, and all of the characters were very interesting to read about. I really enjoyed this book!
My favourite aspect was Rose. I think I’m in the minority here (lots of reviews are disliking her), but I thought she was a great lead. It’s nice to finally see a YA protagonist who’s witty, sarcastic, and open about her sexuality - she’s not afraid to flaunt her attitude and just slay, which is why I like her so much.

Rose and Lissa’s friendship was another thing that was very original (and that we should definitely see more of) in YA. Their loyalty to each other was something that definitely beats Bella Swan, and dedication truly admirable. Rose’s comebacks when she was defending Lissa, really made me laugh too!
I really liked the idea of the school. Although it’s not the most original, I’m a real sucker for a boarding school with paranormal aspects, so this book was perfect for me. The romance in this book didn’t distract from the storyline, and didn’t compromise the character’s personalities, so it made a change from most books!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I had been putting it off for a long time because of the horrible covers and title, but I’m really glad I finally read it. I will definitely be picking up the next book sometime soon, and hope it’s as good as the first!

 My rating: