Author: Richelle Mead
No. Of Pages: 332
Release Date: 16 August 2007
ONLY A TRUE BEST FRIEND CAN PROTECT YOU FROM YOUR IMMORTAL ENEMIES...
Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with an unbreakable bond to the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest and most dangerous 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 her one of them.
After two years of illicit freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. Rose will continue her Dhampir education. Lissa will go back to being Queen of the elite Moroi social scene. And both girls will resume breaking Academy hearts.
Fear made Lissa and Rose run away from St. Vladimir’s – inside the Academy’s iron gates, their world is even more fraught with danger. Here, the cutthroat ranks of the Moroi perform unspeakable rituals, and their secretive nature and love of the night creates an enigmatic world full of social complexities. Rose and Lissa must navigate through this dangerous world, confront the temptation of forbidden romance, and never once let their guard down, lest the Strigoi make Lissa one of them forever...
My Thoughts:
The perfect beginning to a perfect series.
Mead introduces us to a whole new world. Seamlessly incorporating intricate world building into the telling of the story, without even realising it I had a picture forming in my mind of the academy and by the end of the story, every little detail was effortlessly coloured in.
Vampire Academy uses the Romanian vampire structure of Moroi (good vampires who are mortal) and Strigoi (evil vampires who are immortal). It was an interesting take on the genre. All moroi have the ability to connect with the earth, which basically means that they wield elemental magic.
Protecting the moroi are the dhampirs, half vampire half human guardians. Dhampirs aren’t really like vampires as they can eat real food and aren’t affected by sunlight. They are more or less super-human ninjas.
Vampire Academy is told through the eyes of Rose Hathaway, a dhampir girl who is a rebel with a cause, that cause being the protection of her best friend Lissa.
Rose has become one of my favourite female heroines. She is strong, smart, witty, vulgar, rebellious and for being a super-human ninja, quite normal.
She likes boys, wants them to notice her, is fiercely defensive of her friends, doesn’t know when to shut her mouth and although she hates school, and hates what it does to Lissa, knuckles down and learns her skills because she knows that is what is going to keep Lissa safe.
What I love about Vampire Academy is the fact that Rose and Lissa aren’t just social outcasts; they are popular, party girls who get ok grades and have good friends. And with being so popular, they are still extremely likable. Rose threatens a person a minute it seems and yet is still respected by the others as a good person. She can also hold her own with the guys, a fully trained female guardian is not common anymore and she is looked up to for that.
Even when it comes to Dimitri – oh, Lordy! – She keeps her cool, almost. Dimitri is her trainer, there to help her catch-up after running away from the school. They do extra lessons together every day, and the awesome romantic element of falling for you not that much older instructor, which is so completely dangerous and cool at the same time.
Vampire Academy has a little bit of mystery – with the case of the dead animals – a little bit of romance, a little bit of YA, and a whole lot of awesome. Vampire Academy was an absolutely stunning introduction into the world at St. Vladimir’s Academy.
Frostbite
Shadow Kiss
Blood Promise
Spirit Bound
Last Sacrifice
Available at:
Amazon
Book Depository
4 comments:
Enjoyed reading your review! I haven't read this series yet but only heard great things, it's on my TBR list!
Great review, sounds like one my daughter would love to read.
I just finished this the other day and have finished Frostbite as well. I'm hooked. I'm glad you liked it, too :D
I love this series! Richelle Mead is one of my favorite authors :o) I've added a link to your review
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