Book Review – Vampire Academy Series

Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead
Published by Razorbill on 2007 - 2010
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Young Adult
Pages: 2,688
Format: eBook
Goodreads

Enter the complete saga of the international #1 bestselling Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead.

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with an unbreakable bond to the earth’s magic. 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. 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.

Lynn’s Review:

I completely blame Julie for my new obsession with the Vampire Academy books. Well, Julie, Richelle Mead, and Dimitri.

In less than 3 months, I’ve read all six books. I thought I’d review the whole series. Spoilers, obvs.

   Book 1: Vampire Academy:

I skipped the first book in this series and watched the movie. The movie was pretty cheesy. I’m not sure how close the movie is to the book, but it did what I imagine was originally intended. It intrigued me enough to start reading the series. As for my movie review, the actor who played Dimitri was way too old. Sure, Dimitri is older than Rose. But not THAT old. His hair was good, though. And why did most of the royals have British accents? That was off-putting. I did recently realize the actor who played Christian (Dominic Sherwood) is the same actor who plays Jace in the new Shadowhunters series. 

Hopefully, he doesn’t become type-cast as the sarcastic, cocky, type, even though he does it well!

Overall, ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 stars to the movie.

  Book 2: Frost Bite

I really like this book, to whit, I read it in a couple of days. I like the interaction between Rose and Dimitri. And the introduction of the new vampire, Adrian. There is more development of the over-arching plot of the bad vampires killing off the royal families. I’m not so sure I like Lissa. She seems a bit whiney. I do seen her developing into a leader, helping the Moroi figure out how to survive. I like how Ms. Mead uses the connection between Rose and Lissa to tell another aspect of the story. It allows us to view what is happening while Rose isn’t physically in the scene, without switching POV back and forth between the two characters. Fast-paced. Well-written. With an actual ending in the book with a foreshadowing of the next book in the series.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

   Book 4: Shadow Kiss

At the end of Shadow Kiss, I was cursing Richelle Mead for all the emotional heartbreak of that cliff hanger. Throughout most of the book. I kept wondering why Rose never talked to anyone about what was going on with herself. But that’s not her nature, I suppose. I enjoyed the growth of the characters. And I was glad to see that there was not a lot of the whole “school” and classes. That’s kind of boring to me. Excellent book, once again. Even more so considering it’s the third in the series.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 stars, with a 1/2 deduction for not enough Adrian and his flirting with Rose.

 

 

 

Book 4: Blood Promise: 

 

I completely agree with Rose – I do not get Russian nicknames.

It’s a sign of a good author/book that I’m completely empathizing with the characters. And tearing up at only 20% in.

When I finished, I was emotionally exhausted. First, there is the hope of Rose and Dimitri getting back together by some miracle. Then that hope is painfully dashed. And then at the end, it is raised back up again.

I’m glad that Lissa got her act back together. And that Lissa and Rose are finally talking to each other and working out the whole “shadow kissed” situation.
I learned way more about the Stragoi. I kind of thought they were mindless vampires just fighting and killing. Turns out, there is remnants of the original character traits. And that makes it difficult to hate them.
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  out of 5 stars for all of the feels. It takes some serious writing chops for that to happen. My favorite of the whole series.

 

   Book 5: Spirit Bound:

Much like Rose, I was beginning to feel some major withdrawal after taking a break between book 4 and 5. I’d been missing my Dimitri fix. And boy, did I ever get it with Spirit Bound. We started out with Dimitri threatening to find and turn Rose. And ended with Dimitri back to being dhamphir, and Rose being on trial for murdering the Queen. We had some adventure, with breaking Victor out of jail, then running off to meet his brother Robert in Las Vegas. We had some romance, Christian and Lissa back together. We had more heartbreak with Dimitri telling Rose his love had faded. Which made my heart break more than a little. And we had a mega cliff hanger. Which means I need to download the next book, post haste.
I tried to explain the plot of the books to someone who would never read it. And there are clearly some weak points in the plot. And some confusion. I’m starting to feel bogged down with the whole Rose connecting to Lissa situation to move the plot forward. Yes, it makes sense. But I’d rather know what’s going on with Rose. I am loving these books. No matter what other people say.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

   Book 6: Last Sacrifice:

And they all lived happily ever after. Well, not the queen’s murderer. And all the people who died in this and the other books. But Rose and Dimitri and Lissa and Christian. This last book is difficult to discuss without spoilers all over the place.  I leave it as I was thoroughly satisfied with the conclusion of the series.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am kind of bummed to have finished the series. Sure, I loved ever minute of reading it. But I’m going to miss Rose and Dimitri, Lissa and Christian, and the whole cast of characters. Now, every time I put my hair in a ponytail, I think of Dimitri telling Rose not to cut her hair short, she could wear her hair up. Is that weird? That’s weird. Forget I said that. I’ll have to move onto the Bloodlines series next! Though, as I saw some tumblr posts which suggest Sydney and Adrian may get together. I’m hoping not, as I’m shipping Adrian and Jailbait!

Overall series rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Read it now if you haven’t already.

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