Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
So, I can honestly say that I came into this book not expecting it to be very good. I’d watched the movie (I know, you never judge a book by its movie), and I’d read the first few chapters a few odd years ago when I first purchased the series collection. I hadn’t really gotten into it then, and I’d assumed that I wasn’t going to get into it now.
However, I friend recently requested (see: begged in a good way) that I give the series another shot. I’ve been meaning on starting weekly book reviews up again, and the Vampire Academy books are fairly short and quick reads… so, I figured… why not? The worst that could happen would be that I put the book down again, and my friend is disappointed.
Low and behold, after I got past those first chapters that had given me pause before… this book was amazing. I spent the first few days dragging myself to page 116. Last night, I decided I’d get about 50 more pages of reading in before going to bed – somehow, that translated into me marathoning the rest of the book. I got hooked, and I got hooked hard… and I wasn’t even sad about it.
That beings said, let’s begin on the actual review:
“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 . . .”
(Taken from the Goodreads site)
I’ll touch first on the writing – that was never my issue. Richelle Mead is a very fantastic author, and she’s capable of making her writing both realistic and witty, charming, fun to read all at once. She does a lovely job of making sure that each character that she portrays in the books, from Snarky Rose to proper Lissa, has a distinct tone of their own. When an author can manage to make each character stand out so wonderfully, I’m certainly hooked and appreciative of the series.
Aside from that, I actually really enjoyed the story. Once you get past the two girls getting caught out in the world and they’re returned to the Academy, once Rose starts trying to figure out the mystery of what’s going on with Lissa (and getting her training sessions with Demitri – guilty as charged, folks), the pace of the novel really starts to pick up, and therein lies the trap of staying up for hours past when you intended in order to finish the book.
Overall, I would give this a 5/5 stars, simply because it shocked me with how good it was, and I am already starting on the second novel in the series. I’m suddenly glad that I own them all, and my compulsion to have an entire series on my shelf, even when I haven’t read it, holds true!
So, that’s all for this review, and I will see you guys again next Friday!
Until then, keep reading and writing!
Author Amanda McCormick
Author Amanda McCormick 
These books are the best books to marathon. They’re quick and easy but also so good! Then you’ll also have the Bloodlines series you’ll have to read after VA. Definitely keep posting your reviews of the books as you go through them. I’d love to compare your thoughts/feelings to the ones I had when reading them.
– Jenn