Book Review: Blood Promise

Title: Blood Promise
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Series: Vampire Academy #4
Release Date: 25/08/2009
Pages: 512
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository
Author Twitter: @RichelleMead

'The recent Strigoi attack at St. Vladimir's was the deadliest ever in the school's history, claiming the lives of Moroi students, teachers, and guardians alike. Even worse, the Strigoi took some of their victims with them... including Dimitri. He'd rather die than be one of them, and now Rose must abandon her, Lissa - the one she has sworn to protect no matter what - and keep the promise Dimitri begged to make her long ago. But with everything else at stake, how can she possibly destroy the person she loves the most?

I have loved the Vampire Academy series so much. If I were going to be honest with you though, this wasn't exactly my favourite book in the series and I didn't enjoy it so much. 

I have loved the way Mead has developed Rose's character throughout the series but I think this is the one book where I didn't feel like I could connect with Rose's character. I understood a lot of the actions Rose did throughout the book but I just didn't feel interested in her character. She just felt extremely flat in this book. I mean, I understand she couldn't be as happy and perky as she was in the other books but I just didn't really get anything from her character in this book. 

What I really did like about this book was the fact that we were taken to Dimitri's home town of Siberia. I absolutely loved the way it was all described and I could picture everything in my head and almost feel as though I was there. I was nice to be taken quite far from St. Vladimir's and see how Rose is out of the school and just be able to see the way Moroi, guardians and Strigoi work in the normal world. 

There were some really interesting characters that you meet along the way in the book which make the book quite interesting. You want to know so much more about people like Avery and Abe. Abe especially, who seems very mysterious. I made quite a few guesses about what was going on about him and who he was, guesses where I ended up right but that still did surprise me because I didn't think I was going to be. 

The ending was something that I hadn't really be expecting and was a huge cliff hanger. I wanted to start the next book so badly! 

Overall, probably not my favourite VA book. It did feel like it dragged quite a bit but definitely worth the read for any fans of the series: 

Rating: ★★★

Book Review: Shadow Kiss

Title: Shadow Kiss
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Series: Vampire Academy #3
Release Date: 13/11/2008
Pages: 480
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository
Author Twitter: @RichelleMead

'It's springtime at St. Vladimir's Academy, and Rose Hathaway is close to graduation. Since making her first Strigoi kills, Rose hasn't been feeling quite right. She's been having dark thoughts, behaving erratically, and worst of all... might be seeing ghosts. 

As Rose questions her sanity, new complications arise. Lissa has been experimenting with her magic once more, their enemy, Victor Dashkov, might be set free, and Rose's forbidden relationship with Dimitri is starting to heat up again. But when a deadly threat no one saw coming changes their entire world, Rose must put her own life on the line - and choose between the two people she loves most.'

So many feelings about this book and they are all positive! I loved this book so much more than I expected to. I love the Vampire Academy series anyway but this book made me love the series so much more, I didn't even think that was possible. 

Shadow Kiss, for me, had so much more going on in the plot, and not in the confusing sort of way where you can't follow what's going on. It was so much more action packed and I felt that the plot gave the reader so much more in the book than the others. You could see the plot taking the front seat as a lot of the explanation had been done in the past two books. I was constantly guessing what was going to happen next and there were so many surprises in the book that made me have to reread just to double check what I had read. 

Character development in this book was, once again, done extremely well. Once thing that I was really happy with by the end of this book was the fact that we saw Rose actually go through raw emotions after killing Strigoi and having everything that happened in the last book catch up with her. It wasn't one of these things, where she was acting like she was invincible and nothing was affecting her. You could see the knock on events from Frostbite and it was nice to see that they weren't being brushed under the carpet and instead they ended up playing a big part in the plot. 

One thing that I really enjoyed reading in the book was the way Christian and Rose were interacting. It was so much of a strain for them to get along with each other and they had the odd compliment. It was just nice to see their relationship growing in terms of friendship. I loved seeing more of Christian and Lissa's relationship and how it's still very prominent that Christian really cares for her and is very protective of her regardless of what other people were saying. 

I was so happy to see that Adrian Ivashkov was back in this book. I think I ended up falling even more in love with his character in this book. You could see a more serious side come out of him in this book but I still loved the way that he joked around. This was a character that I thought Mead wrote really well. Victor Dashkov is still a character that makes my skin crawl and I have a feeling he is going to be turning up later on in the series. 

I don't want to end up spoiling too much of the book, but this time around you could really see how some relationships blossomed and how you could see the crack in some relationships. It was an action packed book that kept me wanting to turn the page. For me, it was Mead's best work in the series so far. 

Rating: ★★★★★

Book Review: Frostbite

Title: Frostbite 
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Series: Vampire Academy #2
Release Date: 10/03/2008
Pages: 327
Format: Paperback 
Buy: Book Depository
Author Twitter: @RichelleMead

‘Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose…

It’s winter break at St. Vladimir’s, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy is crawling with Guardians – including Rose’s hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. Ad if hand-to-hand combat with her mother wasn’t bad enough, Rose’s tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason has a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa’s head while she’s making out with her boyfriend Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy’s not taking any risks… This year, St. Vlad’s annual holiday ski trip is mandatory. 

But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price…’

This is the second instalment in the Vampire Academy series and I can say that I certainly was not disappointed in it. 

After reading the first book and being hooked on it I couldn’t wait to get my hand on the second one and when I did, I finished it in about the same about of time I did the first one. Richelle Mead really started to bulk out the plot in this one. She gave us a few answers to questions that were niggling in my mind and has given us a lot more to wonder about. 

There were a few things that bothered me in the first book as to why some of the characters were acting as they did but it was all cleared up in Frostbite and it also made me understand the plot a lot more. I found in this book that Mead went to make us think that we understood everything that piece the whole puzzle together before she makes us realise there’s actually a lot more for us to figure us. Personally, I loved because it made me want to keep reading the book to see if I would find out any more or if there was going to be a lot more mysteries. There were a lot of things that were cleared up in the book with just a few things that were lingering in the back of my mind. There are a load of surprises in this book that I really wasn’t expecting and really shocked me.

Christian is still one of my favourite characters in this book and I love the way his character develops and his relationship with Rose. You can see that they’re trying not to argue because of Lissa but it’s stills trained and hilariously awkward. I wasn’t as fond of Mason in this book though, I just ahd a weird feeling about him all the way through the book but that didn’t hinder anything at all. 

Another Royal was added in this book in the form of Adrian Ivashkov and he quickly become one of those characters that I love to hate. Extremely cocky and arrogant, I hates the way he acts around Rose but you can’t help but want to get to know more about him and I hopes that he’ll make a few more appearances in the books. 

The only reason I couldn’t give this a five star was because I just felt that there was something lacking there that was in the first book. 

Rating: ★★★★1/2

Book Review: Vampire Academy

Title: Vampire Academy

Author: Richelle Mead

Publisher: Razorbill

Series: Vampire Academy #1

Release Date: 16/08/2007

Pages: 332

Format: Paperback

Buy: Book Depository

Author Twitter: @RichelleMead

‘St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school – it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy – the very place they’re most in danger.

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable night time rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi – the world’s fiercest and dangerous vampires – make Lissa one of them forever.’

It’s been an extremely long time since I’ve been so hooked to a book that I’ve read it within a few hours over the space of two days. But that’s exactly what has happened here. Vampire Academy has been a book that I’ve wanted to read for a while and even more so when I knew that there was a movie coming out.

The book had me hooked from beginning to end. There wasn’t a moment where a page wasn’t filled with action, adventure or extremely interesting histories. The plot didn’t feel like it dragged at all and there was always something there that kept me reading.

Throughout the book I didn’t really know what was going to happen next which made me want to read on. There was only something that threw you off track every time you took a guess about something and it kept you on your toes. The twists in the plot weren’t pointless either and weren’t there just as a filler. All the twists seem to interlock with each other and added up to the big picture.

Rose has to be one of my favourite characters. I love the fact that she’s so defensive and Lissa and won’t back down from a fight when she knows that she’s in the right. I loved the way that her character slowly started to change for the better when she started to realise her responsibility but you could still see the fiery side in her that still came out during the book.

I got slightly worried before I had read the book that it was all going to be based around the forbidden romance that it mentioned in the blurb but I was quite happily surprised that that was far from the case. You could see there elements of romance in the book but Richelle Mead did a really good job making sure that It was a small sub plot that didn’t take away from the main point of the book. You could see Ana’s feelings develop midway through the book but there weren’t chapters of the book dedicated to it which was a really nice change. It made the book a lot more enjoyable for me since I really wasn’t looking for a supernatural romance book.

I found the history that was put into the book extremely interesting. I loved reading the background of the Academy and about the Moroi. Even the characters’ histories were really intriguing. It gave you an insight into all the characters and what brought them to place that they are in.

I cannot wait to read the rest of the books in this series and Richelle Mead has done an amazing job of captivating her readers into this world.

Rating: ★★★★1/2