Last Sacrifice is the sixth and final book in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. It was published on 7th December 2010 by Puffin and is 608 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy for review.
Plot
After being wrongfully accused of treason and awaiting execution, Rose Hathaway needs a plan. Luckily, her friends have come up with one to bust her out of jail. Rose and Dimitri face a life on the run if they cant solve the mystery of who really killed Queen Tatiana.
Back at the Academy, a new Queen or King is about to be crowned but with Lissa thrown into the running, all hell breaks loose. Tensions are running high all over the place but among running for Queen and facing tests, Lissa must help clear her best friend of a crime she didn’t commit.
Rose, Lissa and their friends must turn to their enemies to find out the truth but what if it means not trusting the people you love anymore?
What I thought
So after reading the first five books in this series is quite a short period of time, I was extremely eager to get my hands on the final book, Last Sacrifice. I couldn’t wait to see where Richelle Mead was going to take the story and how she would end a bestselling series.
In each book of this series, Rose grows a lot and Last Sacrifice is no exception. Being accused of murder is a big deal to Rose and she knows that getting out of the situation is near impossible. Although she doesn’t actually spend too much time in her cell, it does give her a lot of time to think about her life and what she has been through so far, as well as the people around her who she loves. Also, her time spent away from the Academy while she is on the run gives Rose a lot of time to deal with her feelings for both Dimitri and Adrian although I can’t say that I was completely happy with the outcome of this part of the story. I understand why Mead wrote it this way but I have to say that I was more on one team than the other and I didn’t really agree with how one character was portrayed in the end.
I was really glad to see that even though Rose and Dimitri were on the run, all of the other characters that I had grown to love were included in the story just as much. Rose’s bond with Lissa makes it possible for us to know what is happening back at Court and how Lissa’s tests to become queen are going. Rose’s friends are also trying to help clear her name for the murder of Queen Tatiana. There is a lot of mystery and action when it comes to this part of the story as no one is really sure who actually murdered the queen. One character I did find myself missing a little bit was Adrian. He has always been one of my favourites and even though he is there in the background, it just wasn’t enough for me. I wanted him to feature a lot more but unfortunately, this wasn’t to be.
There are some great new characters in Last Sacrifice although some of the more interesting ones weren’t around for too long. Rose, Dimitri and Sydney meet a group of Moroi, Dhampir’s and humans that all live together outside of society. I found it really interesting to see how differently they lived from other vampires, especially those at the Academy and those from the royal families. I guess you could compare this to Twilight and how the Cullen’s differ from all of the other non ‘vegetarian’ vampires out there. That was a part of Twilight that I loved so it was only right that it was a part of Vampire Academy that I loved as well.
One of the best things about this whole series, apart from the amazing love story, is the friendship between Rose and Lissa. No matter what happens, these two girls stick by each other. Vampire Academy is a fantastic tale of a friendship that will withstand anything and I think this is a really important aspect of it all. As much as I like my YA books filled with romance, it is also really nice to see that a girl wont instantly drop her friends once she falls in love. I think that with this, Mead shows a good message for all readers.
As with the other books in this series, Last Sacrifice is action packed and I always felt like something totally unexpected could happen next. The story is intense for both plot and romance and although I really liked most of it, it still wasn’t my favourite book in the series. I was glad that so many questions were answered and nothing was really left unfinished. There is going to be a spin off series that focuses on some of the secondary characters and I know I will be buying the first book as soon as it is released. Vampire Academy is a fantastic series and I am only sad that it took me so long to get around to reading it.
Spirit Bound is the fifth book in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. It was published on 26th May 2009 by Puffin and is 336 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy for review.
Plot
After Rose Hathaway’s adventure to Siberia, she has finally made it back to what should be the safety of St Vladimir’s Academy and best friend, Lissa Dragomir. Graduation time is fast approaching and even though Rose is unsure of whether or not she can actually finish school, she is looking forward to life in the real world. Before she can even begin to think of what she will do next, there is one massive thing that she must deal with. Dimitri.
After finally tracking down Dimitri and being given a choice, Rose now has to face the fact that he is far from dead and now stalking her, with the promise of finishing off what he started. What Rose learnt while being in Siberia could help her a lot but the choice she has to make first is whether or not true love is worth the risk? What is Rose willing to risk in order to be with Dimitri again?
What I thought
Rose grows more and more throughout each book in this series and in Spirit Bound, she did so even more. Not only does Rose have a lot to go through physically, she also has to deal with a lot emotionally. Probably more than she has ever has in the past and that is saying a lot, considering what she has been through already. She is still the kick ass girl that I loved to begin with but she also isn’t afraid to put herself out there for the people she loves. I really enjoyed watching Rose decide how she was going to approach her problems and what she thought were the right solutions. I didn’t always agree with her choices but I could certainly see why she did some of the things that she did.
My opinion of Lissa has completely changed after reading this book. I really thought that she was quite selfish before and being as she is a Princess, I guess some could say that she is entitled to act that way. I’ve always thought that she put herself before Rose all of the time and never really did anything to prove to me how much of a friend she really was. However, Lissa really proved herself as a best friend and showed just how much she was prepared to do in order to look after Rose and to help her be happy.
I really liked Adrian as soon as he made his first appearance in the series but I grew to love him so much more in this book. He has grown so much and maybe a big part of that was Rose leaving to go to Siberia, leaving him to think about what he really wants. I did kind of love his cockiness before but I was also glad to see that being tamed down a little bit and to now see a softer side to him.
Who could resist Dimitri? He was once a strong, powerful guardian and is now an even stronger, meaner Strigoi. Everyone who regularly reads my reviews will know just how much I love a bad boy so the moment I found out he had turned Strigoi, my heart kind of skipped a couple of beats. I instantly had ideas about how bad he was going to get and I wasn’t wrong. Maybe that is why I loved Blood Promise so much. Although he doesn’t feature too much in this book, a large amount of the story revolves around him. I’m still unsure if I liked the way that things turned out but I am looking forward to finding out what happens to him next.
I LOVED the cliff-hanger at the end. Although it probably wasn’t the best of the series, it was still shocking enough to make me want the next book immediately. Luckily, I didn’t have too long to wait before I got it, unlike a lot of people who would have read this book months ago. There were so many questions that I wanted the answers to and I wanted to know what was going to happen to all of the characters, not just Rose. Normally in a series, I don’t really care that much about everyone but as well as Rose and Dimitri; Lissa, Adrian and Christian have a lot going on and a lot that could happen to them and I wanted to know their stories just as much as Rose’s.
Spirit Bound was not my favourite book in the series but I did really like where the story was going, in the lead up to the final book in the series. Richelle Mead has set the scene perfectly for Last Sacrifice but in doing so, some of the fast paced scenes that I liked so much from the previous books were missing. I felt like some parts were rushed and towards the end of the book, the story slowed down massively. Even with this happening, I still enjoyed the story, just not as much as others in the series.
Blood Promise is the fourth book in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. It was published on 26th May 2009 by Puffin and is 336 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy for review.
Plot
The recent Strigoi attack on St Vladimir’s Academy was the largest and most dangerous that the school has ever seen. It forced everyone to take note of what is really happening after the deaths of students, teachers, Moroi and guardians. Facing a life worse than death is Dimitri, who was taken captive.
Rose and Dimitri promised each other a long time ago that they would both rather be dead than Strigoi so Rose knows what she must do. Forced to leave best friend Lissa, Rose takes off on a mission find Dimitri and save him from himself. Along the way, she must be the bearer of bad news when she meets Dimitri’s family and finds out that there is a lot more to life than St Vladimir’s. The biggest question of all on Rose’s mind is whether or not she will be able to do what is needed to keep her promise to Dimitri. Destroying the love of her life will be the hardest trial Rose has ever faced.
What I thought
I have to start by saying that Blood Promise is by far my favourite in the series so far. I have really, really liked each book that came before this one but if I had to give them a star rating, they would have all been 4 stars. This is a definite 5 star book.
I felt for Rose so, so much in this book. The love of her life was captured and awakened by the Strigoi and is now everything that she has been taught to hate. Even though Rose has been away from St Vladimir’s before, she had Lissa with her so this is her first time in the real world all by herself. If that wasn’t enough, she is travelling through places she has never been to and doesn’t speak the language, putting extra pressure on her mission. I really enjoyed visiting all of the different places that Rose went to and I thought that descriptions of a couple of places in particular, like Dimitri’s house, were fantastic. I could really imagine him growing up here and baking bread after his mother made him do it himself. This part of the story made it possible for me to connect with Dimitri a lot more.
Although Rose has gone off to Siberia, her friends back at the Academy haven’t been forgotten. Due to the bond that Rose and Lissa share, Rose is able to check in on everyone and find out what is going on. I would have missed finding out what Lissa was getting up to because she has been such a large part of the previous books. Another good thing about bringing in the other characters was Adrian being able to visit Rose during her dreams. I love the way that he acts, always so full of himself but he is slowly beginning to show his true colours and let the softer side of him come through.
I really enjoyed meeting Dimitri’s family and finding out where he came from. It was so nice to see that even though they had never met Rose, they instantly made her feel like one of the family, even before they realised just how much Dimitri meant to her. I think this gave Rose a lot of time to grieve and realise exactly what happened. If she had stayed at St Vladimir’s, she wouldn’t have had the chance to do this and it would have ended up doing her a lot of emotional harm. A lot of the characters that Rose met along the way were extremely interesting, especially Sydney, the Alchemist and Abe who I hope we find out more about later on. There was something about him that I just couldn’t put my finger on and I couldn’t quite decide whether he was going to turn out to be a good guy or a bad guy.
Dimitri was fantastic in Blood Promise. Obviously turning Strigoi means turning into a complete badass at the same time. As a guardian, Dimitri was hard but caring at the same time. It was clear that he cared a lot for Rose and wanted what was best for her and I really did like this side to him. On the other hand, I am a sucker for a bad boy and I don’t know if you can get much badder than a Strigoi. I was a little worried about how this was going to play out between Dimitri and Rose but I wasn’t disappointed at all. I could completely understand everything that Rose did while she was in the situation with Dimitri and I didn’t feel like it went beyond stupid at any point. The passion between the two was very believable and even though I knew what was happening was wrong, I couldn’t help but still want it to happen a little bit. During this part of the book, I felt my heart break multiple times and just when I thought everything was over, another turn would shock me.
Once again, Richelle Mead leaves us with a massive cliff-hanger. This time, the story was left quite open in terms of the possibilities for what could happen in the next book. I was pretty certain that one thing was going to happen but a lot of other things were quite vague, leaving me excited for the next instalment. I don’t think that there was anything that I disliked about this book and that is a massive reason why it is my favourite so far. There is loads of action, passion and mystery surrounded many of the characters. I hope this carries on for the last two books in the series.
Shadow Kiss is the third book in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. It was published on 26th May 2009 by Puffin and is 336 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy for review.
Plot
No matter how many times Rose Hathaway tells herself that it’s wrong, she can’t stop having feelings for her training instructor, Dimitri. As soon as Rose graduates from St Vladimir’s Academy and becomes a full guardian, both she and Dimitri will protect Lissa, Dragomir princess and Rose’s best friend. Lissa must always come first but if Rose and Dimitri fall in love, will that always be how it happens?
After killing her first Strigoi, Rose is quickly on her way to being an amazing guardian but she has bigger things to worry about than graduating. Lissa and Rose's sworn enemy, Victor Dashkov, is on trial for his freedom, Rose is having personal problems and is seeing ghosts. The ghosts are trying to warn her but no one else will listen. Everyone thinks that she is beginning to lose her mind. Even Dimitri doesn’t believe in ghosts. Will Rose be able to convince her friends that she isn’t crazy before it’s too late? Something bad is coming and Rose is going to have to choose between life, love and the two people who matter the most to her.
What I thought
After reading the first two books in this series, I couldn’t wait to read Shadow Kiss. After what happened in Frost Bite, I was extremely excited to see where Richelle Mead was going to take the story and what would happen to all of the characters I had quickly begun to love.
Ever since killing her first Strigoi, Rose has had some problems. She can feel a darkness surrounding her and she’s not acting like her usual self. Instead of being happy for Lissa and Christian, Rose begins to feel resentment towards them, knowing that she and Dimitri can never truly be together. She’s getting angry at the smallest things and has a hard time in controlling her temper. Also, she’s seeing ghosts. Everyone pretty much thinks that she’s insane but after seeing one particular ghost, Rose knows that they are there to help and warn her of immediate danger at St Vladimir’s. The addition of ghosts was one of the things that I liked the most about this book and a lot of thought was put into the reason why Rose was able to see them.
Rose and her other novice guardian friends go through their practical assignments, protecting a particular Moroi from surprise attacks from teachers and other guardians. I really enjoyed the twist that Mead put on this. Rose was so sure that she was going to be protecting Lissa that she was more than shocked to find out that she had to protect Christian. Everyone knows that her and Christian don’t get on very well at all so I was interested to find out how well both of them would cope. The assignment is far from easy though but not due to Rose and Christian’s feelings towards each other. I felt really sorry for Rose during this part of the book because no one would listen to her, people only added to the thoughts that she was losing her mind.
Rose has a lot going on in this book. Not only does she have to protect Christian, Adrian is still pursuing her, her mum is at the school and then there is her relationship with Dimitri. Although this could seem like too much in one book, it was done extremely well, giving enough time to each aspect. I never felt like one part overpowered another, except for maybe Rose’s relationship with Dimitri at times. Not that this was a bad thing of course. I love Dimitri so I was really happy to see their relationship finally develop and to see them happy for a while. Both Rose and Dimitri have a hard time dealing with their relationship, knowing that it is wrong and they shouldn’t be doing what they are but cant help themselves. What I like about their relationship is that even though there is so much going on, they still make time to talk and tell each other what’s been going on and how they’re feeling.
We get to see quite a lot from some of the secondary characters in Shadow Kiss. I really enjoyed seeing Christian and Rose put together for their field experience as well as getting to see a lot more of Adrian. I liked Adrian from the very beginning so it was good to see him getting a bigger part in this book. The bond that Rose and Lissa share makes it possible to see other parts of the story that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Too many books tell a story from the perspective of multiple characters now so I think this is a great but different way to get that same effect.
I’m beginning to think that Mead is the Queen of cliff-hangers. A MASSIVE battle breaks out at St Vladimir’s and there are many losses on both sides. I certainly didn’t see this one coming and as I reached the end of the book, I felt my heart break into a million pieces. I actually cried. It takes a lot for a book to make me cry and it very rarely happens. It wasn’t just a little cry either, it was full on blubbering and not being able to see anymore because of the amount of tears. Damn you Richelle Mead for making me cry that much.
So far, Shadow Kiss has been my favourite in the series but I think that each book will just keep on getting better as the series goes on.
Frost Bite is the second book in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. It was published on 1st October 2009 by Puffin and is 336 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy for review.
Plot
After a massive Strigoi attack on the Moroi royal families, St Vladimir’s Academy is put on high alert, taking in help from notorious guardians like Janine Hathaway, Rose’s mother. The Strigoi attacks force St Vladimir’s to rethink the safety of their students and decide to make this years ski trip mandatory.
The bond Rose shares with Moroi princess best friend, Lissa, causes her to be able to see Lissa and Christian making out. A lot. Also, Rose has a huge crush on her instructor, Dimitri but one of her other best friends, Mason, has a huge crush on her. While at the ski lodge, another guy takes a keen interest in Rose. Adrian is Moroi royalty and isn’t used to not getting what he wants but is determined to do what it takes to get Rose to notice him. With all of this going on, the Strigoi attacks are just one more thing for Rose to deal with.
When a trio of students decide to take things into their own hands, Rose must join forces with Christian to stop them making a massive mistake only the mistake might actually be going after them. Both Rose’s life and heart are at risk but she sees no way to save both.
What I thought
Even though I thought that Vampire Academy was a little slow going for a while, by the time I reached the end of the book, I couldn’t wait for the second one, Frost Bite. I was so happy when books 2-5 came through the door because it meant that I could have a bit of a VA marathon.
Although I wouldn’t recommend starting with the second book in this series, Richelle Mead recaps what has happened at the beginning and throughout this book. I quite liked this aspect to begin with, thinking it was especially good if it had been a while since you had read the previous book. However, l felt as though some of the recaps went on a little too far in the main story and there were too many of them sometimes. The time could probably have been used better.
One of the things that I loved most about this book was being able to see how much Rose changed due to everything that she had to go through. As her feelings for Dimitri grow, she realises that he may be the one thing that she wont be able to have and that causes her to rethink things a bit. As well as having to deal with her feelings for Dimitri, she has to come to terms with the fact that he may not be her instructor for much longer and what impact this could have on her becoming a guardian and what will happen as soon as she graduates. I really liked the way that Rose’s guardian training came in to play a lot in Frost Bite because it really made me realise how much she has gone through to get to where she is now, after leaving the Academy for a while.
Having Rose’s mother in this book made it possible to see a completely different side to Rose. It had been made known before that her mother had never really been around for her and was quite quick to get on with her own career once Rose was born. In Frost Bite, many of Rose’s feelings that she had previously kept hidden begin to surface and this leads the way for some quite heated conversations between the two. I enjoyed these parts of the book because it meant that I got to see a different side to Rose, one where she wasn’t the girl who didn’t let anything bother her.
I was kind of glad to see that Lissa wasn’t a main feature of this book. I don’t totally dislike her but I was glad to see Rose on her own for a while and interacting with other people. It really wouldn’t be healthy for her to only have Lissa as a friend so I liked seeing her friendship with Mason grow, even if there were ulterior motives on his part. Some other characters that we get to see more of this time around are Christian and Mia. Another new addition to this book was Adrian, another royal Moroi. From his very first moment on the page, I loved him. He is so full of himself and sure of what he wants/ what he’s going to get but he also had a certain charm about him that I couldn’t resist. Adrian took an instant shine to Rose and I cant help but kind of want them to end up together. Their personalities would definitely make for an interesting relationship and I really hope that because of this, Adrian sticks around throughout the series.
I haven’t read a book that made me cry for quite a long time now but Richelle Mead has broken that now. There were a couple of times in throughout that I could feel myself welling up but I didn’t think I was actually going to cry, until I broke down and had a really good sob at one part in particular. Along with a fantastic ending, Frost Bite is an emotional ride that made me question what I thought about certain characters. I couldn’t pick up the third book in this series fast enough after putting this one down.
Vampire Academy is the first book in the series of the same name by Richelle Mead. It was published on 26th May 2009 by Puffin and is 336 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy for review.
Plot
Hidden away, St Vladimir’s Academy is unlike other boarding schools. It’s a boarding school/ training school for vampires and half-human teens. Rose and Lissa, a Dhampir guardian and a Moroi Princess, managed to escape the Academy though and have been on the run for a while. That was until some big looking guy turned up and forced them to go back.
Back at the Academy, Rose and Lissa don’t feel like they fit in as well as they used to. Things have changed dramatically since they left and it seems like everyone is keeping secrets, including themselves. Caught up in romances, an ever changing social scene and a lot of intense training with a hot Russian guardian, Rose has he work cut out for her is she is going to keep Lissa safe from the most dangerous vampires around… the Strigoi.
What I thought
I do love a good Vampire series and a lot of people know that The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine is my favourite. I had put off reading anything in this series for a long time as I thought another quite long vampire series may be too much for me. I was also a bit worried that it wouldn’t be different enough to other books in the YA genre. I really had nothing to worry about though and now I wish I had picked it up a lot sooner.
I really liked Rose from the very beginning. As the story is told from her point of view, I got to find out so much about her and her personality. She’s a very feisty and fiery character even though she can be really fragile at times as well. I loved how she made herself seem invincible to everyone around her apart from Lissa. Due to the bond they share, it seemed to me like Lissa was the one person that she could truly be herself around and the one person who she would really let it. Although Rose did flit in-between different parts of her personality, I thought this was extremely well done. There were times when she acted very mature for her age but then other times when she realised that she was quite childish and petty around her peers. There were also times when she made it clear that she would do anything for Lissa, not only because that is her job as a guardian, but also because she is her best friend.
So onto the guys in this book. There were certainly plenty of talent to pick from and I found myself quite torn all of the time.
Dimitri - To be totally honest, I really didn’t like Dimitri at first. He was far too much of a soldier for my liking, being very stiff and boring for a large chunk of the book. Then I saw him soften up. Slowly, he begun to crack, little by little, and I started to see a different side to him. I completely understood why he acted the way he did towards Rose and that was one of the reasons that made me warm to him. Also, there are events towards the end of the book that completely changed my mind about him from slightly liking him, to loving him completely.
Mason - It was obvious from the start that Mason liked Rose. I felt quite sorry for him throughout the book though as it was made very clear that Rose just wasn’t into him in the same way. He was very sweet and obviously cared about Rose a lot as a friend as well as anything else. He’s the kind of guy that would probably do anything for her, no matter what the trouble. I’m not usually into the nice guys but I think I would have made an exception for Mason.
Christian - I love myself a bad boy and it seems as though they probably couldn’t get any more dangerous than Christian. He was a very interesting character because no one in the Academy really knew anything about him. Their was always an air of mystery surrounding him and I couldn’t figure out for a while whether I thought he was going to be good or bad for Lissa.
When it came to the different kinds of students at St Vladimir’s, I thought that I was going to get confused. Luckily, everything is explained extremely clearly and I found that I had quickly grasped who was who and what was going on. Rose is Dhampir which is half human and half Moroi. Lissa is Moroi which is a born, mortal vampire while Strigoi are immortal vampires who are extremely dangerous and violent. I also like knowing the history of a race when it comes to books like this so knowing who everyone was and why everyone didn’t/ couldn’t leave together peacefully was a big bonus for me. In many vampire books, drinking each others’ blood usually seems to be a big deal in a sexual way. In Vampire Academy, this is still a big deal but it is also used as a means to survival. I thought the distinction between the two was very clear and well explained.
For once, I wasn’t left with a massive cliff-hanger. Although some things have been left open for the second book in the series, a lot was wrapped up nicely and I didn’t feel frustrated like I usually do. The ending also wasn’t completely predictable. Sometimes, I feel like I can guess what is going to happen next but with this series, I feel like anything could happen and that Rose isn’t in for an easy time at all. I really wish that I had picked up this series as it is so much better than I first thought it would be. Vampire Academy has a darkness and tension that a lot of books in this genre don’t have, which sets it apart from everything else. This may be the first of Richelle Mead’s books that I have read but it certainly wont be the last.
