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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
Just as awesome as the first book. Can't wait to dive into the next one !
really enjoyed the story line, can't wait for the next book.
What can I say? Richelle Mead has done it again. In the Vampire Academy books I loved Adrian more and more with each book. That love continued in Bloodlines. But with The Golden Lily I LOVE Adrian. So. So. Much. He is absolutely amazing in this second book of the Bloodlines series. His character is what carries this entire story. Sydney is still the narrator for this story, and she grows on me more and more as the story progresses and she pushes out of the strict confines of her Alchemy upbringing. But it is Adrian who has the greatest amount of depth as a character. He is the most fascinating person to read about. This book was amazing!
What I loved:
Sydney. Sydney is an interesting character to me because she is the product of a lifetime of being told exactly how to act and how to think, with a father who was never satisfied with anything that she did. She is borderline anorexic, socially inept in many ways, and unable to relax enough to truly enjoy her life. As Adrian so adeptly points out, she has been raised to be a piece of a machine without her own free will. But in this book Sydney begins to question the organization that she has devoted her life to. She begins to realize that the world is not quite so black and white. How would it be to have grown up with such firm ideas of right and wrong, and good and evil, and then to one day come to question all of it. It would certainly put your world atilt at least. Seeing Sydney go through this transformation was so interesting to me. She fights it all along the way. She doesn't want to give up her earlier belief system, but her experiences are proving that system to be more flawed than she imagined. I loved her attempts to navigate the new world of boy/girl relationships as she had her first kiss and first "boyfriend." She floundered a lot, and she was always wanting to head to a book to try and research how relationships were supposed to work. Classic Sydney! And her interaction with Adrian and the evolution of her feelings were so wonderful to read. It wasn't a quick evolution. She still has awhile to go before she is ready to give into her feelings. But I am so excited to be along for this ride.
Dimitri. I admit it. When he popped up at the end of Bloodlines I was not so happy. I LOVE Dimitri so much. He is my favorite hero in all of PNR, and I thought his story with Rose ended perfectly in the VA series. I was super worried how he would play out in this new series where he and Rose are not the focus, but instead it is Adrian who is not Dimitri's biggest fan. Well, I was very happy with how he took part in this story. He was still Mr. Awesome, and I was able to re-experience just how kick tail he is in a crisis situation. But he didn't take center stage in this story. His presence really helped to flesh out Adrian's issues with his breakup with Rose, and I appreciated that.
Eddie. Eddie got to play a bigger part in this book, and I really loved getting to know him better. He is strong and steady and willing to do anything to protect Jill. I am excited to read more and more about him as this series progresses -- especially his feelings for Jill.
The love story. At the end of Bloodlines it was clear that Adrian and Sydney were at the beginning of a great friendship. Adrian had just noticed her as a beauty and not just the Alchemist. In this book those feelings change and grow into something much stronger, especially for Adrian. Well, they are growing for Sydney too, but Adrian is the only one in the story who is acknowledging those feelings. I liked both of their growth in this area though. It was interesting to see Sydney's feelings growing even though she wasn't really noticing them as romantic feelings at first. Even if she did, she would run away from that label because of her upbringing. But I also really loved reading about Adrian and his different ways of getting Sydney to spend time with him. I could see what was going on, but Sydney had no clue. And the last chapter? Perfect! Loved it! It perfectly matched both of their characters. Now I am just super impatient to get the next book in the series and see what happens next with these two.
There were a few things that didn't work as well for me. I was not a huge fan of the Angeline angle in this story. She was a pretty annoying character for me, and I still can't figure out why everyone decided that she would be the best person to protect Jill. But as the story progressed she grew on me a bit more, so I am willing to ride this part of the story out and see where it takes me. It could be that with more story I will come to appreciate her character more and more. I also thought that some of the story involving the vampire hunter group didn't really make logical sense. It seems like if you were a Strigoi hunting group you wouldn't be hanging out in the California desert. There are better places to find Strigoi. And what are the chances that they would bounce into Sonya in this desert town? It all seemed a bit too convenient. But you know what? I didn't care too much. I was still excited about the storyline and just went with the flow. And, to be honest, I think that the revelations that come about with the discovery of the existence of this group will end up being super important to the story later on, specifically as it involves Sydney and Adrian. We shall see.
I was a bit underwhelmed with Bloodlines when I read it last year, but I think my expectations were unreasonably high. Now I realize that that book was a perfect setup book for the rest of the series. Knowing the events of that book help to make this book so much more satisfying a read for me. This book once again reminds me why Richelle Mead is one of my super duper favorite authors of paranormal romances. Five stars!
What I loved:
Sydney. Sydney is an interesting character to me because she is the product of a lifetime of being told exactly how to act and how to think, with a father who was never satisfied with anything that she did. She is borderline anorexic, socially inept in many ways, and unable to relax enough to truly enjoy her life. As Adrian so adeptly points out, she has been raised to be a piece of a machine without her own free will. But in this book Sydney begins to question the organization that she has devoted her life to. She begins to realize that the world is not quite so black and white. How would it be to have grown up with such firm ideas of right and wrong, and good and evil, and then to one day come to question all of it. It would certainly put your world atilt at least. Seeing Sydney go through this transformation was so interesting to me. She fights it all along the way. She doesn't want to give up her earlier belief system, but her experiences are proving that system to be more flawed than she imagined. I loved her attempts to navigate the new world of boy/girl relationships as she had her first kiss and first "boyfriend." She floundered a lot, and she was always wanting to head to a book to try and research how relationships were supposed to work. Classic Sydney! And her interaction with Adrian and the evolution of her feelings were so wonderful to read. It wasn't a quick evolution. She still has awhile to go before she is ready to give into her feelings. But I am so excited to be along for this ride.
Dimitri. I admit it. When he popped up at the end of Bloodlines I was not so happy. I LOVE Dimitri so much. He is my favorite hero in all of PNR, and I thought his story with Rose ended perfectly in the VA series. I was super worried how he would play out in this new series where he and Rose are not the focus, but instead it is Adrian who is not Dimitri's biggest fan. Well, I was very happy with how he took part in this story. He was still Mr. Awesome, and I was able to re-experience just how kick tail he is in a crisis situation. But he didn't take center stage in this story. His presence really helped to flesh out Adrian's issues with his breakup with Rose, and I appreciated that.
Eddie. Eddie got to play a bigger part in this book, and I really loved getting to know him better. He is strong and steady and willing to do anything to protect Jill. I am excited to read more and more about him as this series progresses -- especially his feelings for Jill.
The love story. At the end of Bloodlines it was clear that Adrian and Sydney were at the beginning of a great friendship. Adrian had just noticed her as a beauty and not just the Alchemist. In this book those feelings change and grow into something much stronger, especially for Adrian. Well, they are growing for Sydney too, but Adrian is the only one in the story who is acknowledging those feelings. I liked both of their growth in this area though. It was interesting to see Sydney's feelings growing even though she wasn't really noticing them as romantic feelings at first. Even if she did, she would run away from that label because of her upbringing. But I also really loved reading about Adrian and his different ways of getting Sydney to spend time with him. I could see what was going on, but Sydney had no clue. And the last chapter? Perfect! Loved it! It perfectly matched both of their characters. Now I am just super impatient to get the next book in the series and see what happens next with these two.
There were a few things that didn't work as well for me. I was not a huge fan of the Angeline angle in this story. She was a pretty annoying character for me, and I still can't figure out why everyone decided that she would be the best person to protect Jill. But as the story progressed she grew on me a bit more, so I am willing to ride this part of the story out and see where it takes me. It could be that with more story I will come to appreciate her character more and more. I also thought that some of the story involving the vampire hunter group didn't really make logical sense. It seems like if you were a Strigoi hunting group you wouldn't be hanging out in the California desert. There are better places to find Strigoi. And what are the chances that they would bounce into Sonya in this desert town? It all seemed a bit too convenient. But you know what? I didn't care too much. I was still excited about the storyline and just went with the flow. And, to be honest, I think that the revelations that come about with the discovery of the existence of this group will end up being super important to the story later on, specifically as it involves Sydney and Adrian. We shall see.
I was a bit underwhelmed with Bloodlines when I read it last year, but I think my expectations were unreasonably high. Now I realize that that book was a perfect setup book for the rest of the series. Knowing the events of that book help to make this book so much more satisfying a read for me. This book once again reminds me why Richelle Mead is one of my super duper favorite authors of paranormal romances. Five stars!
I had to give myself a day before reviewing this one. I like this series, but do not LOVE it like I do the Vampire Academy series. I'm having a hard time sympathizing with Sydney and her background as opposed to Rose in VA. While both were basically indoctrinated into a society to believe that THIS is the way it is, Rose was always extremely strong-willed & stubborn and decided what SHE thought was right and that's (so far) not what's going on with Sydney so I'm just not that thrilled with her. Also, I'm still hoping for more Rose & Dimitri, because I love them!
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Re-read review:
I'm going to stand by my original review on this one, although, since I have read all of these previously, I don't think I feel as harshly about Sydney on this go around. I still don't like how she thinks, but it didn't bother me as much this time.
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Re-read review:
I'm going to stand by my original review on this one, although, since I have read all of these previously, I don't think I feel as harshly about Sydney on this go around. I still don't like how she thinks, but it didn't bother me as much this time.
this book has had more impact in people’s lives than the bible
i really missed this series. rereading this book made me realise just how much i love sydney and adrian as a couple. and just how much they’re perfect for each other. *chefs kiss*
adrian! adrian is the best and i adore him. i thought this one picked up a bit from the first one in the series and, unlike alice, i'm happy to do without complicate vampire politics court time. there was a bit less signaling in this one - i couldn't tell if sydney's boyfriend was boring or secretly evil, for example - and i thought things moved along nicely. still not as good as vampire academy, but passable.
This is one of the best books i have ever read!! I mean I preferred Vampire Academy! Richelle please hurry up and write the next Bloodlines book!
Officially: I loved this book. Hands down, no doubts. Sydney and Adrian were amazing and about what I had expected and hoped for and I am already re-reading bis and pieces. I want the next one now. Like right now. And the next five after that. (Or however many).