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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
The first thingy I want to say is that the synopsis for this book is incredibly misleading so dont pay any attention to it. If anything, it sounds more like a synopsis for the first book in the series.
So The Golden Lily is the 2nd book in the Bloodlines series, a spinoff of Richelle Mead’s hitVampireAcademyseries. I will be honest, I was never going to bother with this series. I read through all of theVampireAcademybooks and when I heard about Bloodlines, I honestly figured it would suck. Not because I felt that Richelle Mead was a bad writer. Not at all. My feelings were because theVampireAcademyhad run it’s course and it was time to wrap it up. I couldn’t understand where else the story of this world could have gone while not being wrapped around Rose and Dimitri (can you tell I love them???).
After much consideration, I decided to give it a shot. Bloodlines was a pleasant enough surprise that I spent the last few months chomping at the bit just waiting for The Golden Lily to come out. And I was NOT disappointed.
My biggest gripe with Bloodlines was that the book had a very slow start because the author decided to rehash and reintroduce every character involved. It took me a while to get into the book because of that and I found it a bit frustrating. The Golden Lily does not have that problem at all. Right from the start, this book takes off. The story is written in such a way that it’s an understood thing – if you’re reading The Golden Lily, you’ve already read Bloodlines. In that sense, it’s definitely not a stand alone novel. You’ll want to read book one before proceeding on to this title.
The Golden Lily surrounds the same cast as Bloodlines – Sydney Sage, Adrian Ivashkov, Jill Mastrano-Dragomir, Eddie Castile, etc etc. By “etc etc”, I’m talking Dimitri Belikov. However, as much as he stole the show in the Vampire Academy series, he is not the star of this series by any stretch of the imagination. He’s still a great character but the supporting cast member that steals the show in this series is most definitelyAdrian. The book is told from the point of view of Sydney Sage butAdrianis, by far, my absolute favorite character out of the cast.
We got to know him pretty well in the VA series and I don’t think a better male character could have been picked to cross over to the Bloodlines series. First and foremost, he’s hilarious. Straight up. He has a way of literally making me laugh out loud while reading his dialog. Sarcasm is his weapon of choice and I adore him for it. His brand of humor works so well withSydney’s character as well. The author has written some very well placed and well played out banter between the two of them that makes these friends a riot to read.
The story line of this installment in the series took an unexpected turn for me but one I am glad the author ventured off on. I don’t want to get into any detail about it because it will blow a major plot line but let’s just throw out a cliché: “all is not what it seems”. That fits perfectly. You’ll love it.
Here’s a little snippit from my review of Bloodlines that I want to touch on in regards to The Golden Lily:
Sydney is still Sydney too. She’s had to face the music with the alchemists following her actions in Last Sacrifice and she’s still not 100% trusted in this series. Sydney kind of reminds me of Clint Eastwood in Gran Turino. The Vampire Academy series and Bloodlines both have present parallels to racism. Sydney is like the racist who suddenly sees the object of their hate in a new light. When Sydney and Rose met up in the Vampire Academy series, the seed was planted. Sydney was given the opportunity to see that the beliefs she was raised with (both vampires and Dhampirs are creatures created in, by and of evil) are not 100% accurate. Mixed in with the mystery of day that makes up the majority of the Bloodlines plot, Sydney is going through inner turmoil – struggling between the result of years of brainwashing and budding friends ships with Adrian, Jill, Eddie and a few other Moroi and Dhampirs.
As with Bloodlines, The Golden Lily continues to touch on this parallel between their fictional world and racism in the real world. The inner turmoil thatSydneydealt with in book one over whether or not her hatred of their race is right is still present in book two. There are a lot of questions raised in her mind and the mystery of the day in The Golden Lily does nothing but drive that point home. Who is really The Big Bad? She was raised with a certain belief system and her friendships (among other things in The Golden Lily) are making her question whether or not those beliefs are flat-out wrong. Again, I found myself admiringSydneyfor the way she handles things and while reading the book, I had my fingers crossed the whole time that she’d continue to grow on that path. Obviously, I am not going to tell you how it turned out because that would be cheating.
My only issue with The Golden Lily was I found it a little predictable. In previous books in these two series, the author would present a mystery. Somewhere during the course of the story line, the answer would be staring you in the face but it would be written in such a way that you never realized it was the answer until the big reveal at the end. This time around, she dangles the answer in plain site, as always, but then touches on it again and again and by the third time of it being brought up, you know what the answer is. The problem with that? It’s only about half way through the book. I feel that kind of takes the fun out of the mystery. Even though I knew where the story was going, the book is still entertaining enough that I was still excited to finish it.
Overall, I am going to give The Golden Lily 4 stars! It was a wonderful read. And, as with Bloodlines, the last three sentences of this book have you DYING to know where the story goes after and leaves you sadly disappointed when you realize that you have to wait. This is not a bad thing at all! I, for one, will be stalking the author’s website waiting for the announcement of the next release.
So The Golden Lily is the 2nd book in the Bloodlines series, a spinoff of Richelle Mead’s hitVampireAcademyseries. I will be honest, I was never going to bother with this series. I read through all of theVampireAcademybooks and when I heard about Bloodlines, I honestly figured it would suck. Not because I felt that Richelle Mead was a bad writer. Not at all. My feelings were because theVampireAcademyhad run it’s course and it was time to wrap it up. I couldn’t understand where else the story of this world could have gone while not being wrapped around Rose and Dimitri (can you tell I love them???).
After much consideration, I decided to give it a shot. Bloodlines was a pleasant enough surprise that I spent the last few months chomping at the bit just waiting for The Golden Lily to come out. And I was NOT disappointed.
My biggest gripe with Bloodlines was that the book had a very slow start because the author decided to rehash and reintroduce every character involved. It took me a while to get into the book because of that and I found it a bit frustrating. The Golden Lily does not have that problem at all. Right from the start, this book takes off. The story is written in such a way that it’s an understood thing – if you’re reading The Golden Lily, you’ve already read Bloodlines. In that sense, it’s definitely not a stand alone novel. You’ll want to read book one before proceeding on to this title.
The Golden Lily surrounds the same cast as Bloodlines – Sydney Sage, Adrian Ivashkov, Jill Mastrano-Dragomir, Eddie Castile, etc etc. By “etc etc”, I’m talking Dimitri Belikov. However, as much as he stole the show in the Vampire Academy series, he is not the star of this series by any stretch of the imagination. He’s still a great character but the supporting cast member that steals the show in this series is most definitelyAdrian. The book is told from the point of view of Sydney Sage butAdrianis, by far, my absolute favorite character out of the cast.
We got to know him pretty well in the VA series and I don’t think a better male character could have been picked to cross over to the Bloodlines series. First and foremost, he’s hilarious. Straight up. He has a way of literally making me laugh out loud while reading his dialog. Sarcasm is his weapon of choice and I adore him for it. His brand of humor works so well withSydney’s character as well. The author has written some very well placed and well played out banter between the two of them that makes these friends a riot to read.
The story line of this installment in the series took an unexpected turn for me but one I am glad the author ventured off on. I don’t want to get into any detail about it because it will blow a major plot line but let’s just throw out a cliché: “all is not what it seems”. That fits perfectly. You’ll love it.
Here’s a little snippit from my review of Bloodlines that I want to touch on in regards to The Golden Lily:
Sydney is still Sydney too. She’s had to face the music with the alchemists following her actions in Last Sacrifice and she’s still not 100% trusted in this series. Sydney kind of reminds me of Clint Eastwood in Gran Turino. The Vampire Academy series and Bloodlines both have present parallels to racism. Sydney is like the racist who suddenly sees the object of their hate in a new light. When Sydney and Rose met up in the Vampire Academy series, the seed was planted. Sydney was given the opportunity to see that the beliefs she was raised with (both vampires and Dhampirs are creatures created in, by and of evil) are not 100% accurate. Mixed in with the mystery of day that makes up the majority of the Bloodlines plot, Sydney is going through inner turmoil – struggling between the result of years of brainwashing and budding friends ships with Adrian, Jill, Eddie and a few other Moroi and Dhampirs.
As with Bloodlines, The Golden Lily continues to touch on this parallel between their fictional world and racism in the real world. The inner turmoil thatSydneydealt with in book one over whether or not her hatred of their race is right is still present in book two. There are a lot of questions raised in her mind and the mystery of the day in The Golden Lily does nothing but drive that point home. Who is really The Big Bad? She was raised with a certain belief system and her friendships (among other things in The Golden Lily) are making her question whether or not those beliefs are flat-out wrong. Again, I found myself admiringSydneyfor the way she handles things and while reading the book, I had my fingers crossed the whole time that she’d continue to grow on that path. Obviously, I am not going to tell you how it turned out because that would be cheating.
My only issue with The Golden Lily was I found it a little predictable. In previous books in these two series, the author would present a mystery. Somewhere during the course of the story line, the answer would be staring you in the face but it would be written in such a way that you never realized it was the answer until the big reveal at the end. This time around, she dangles the answer in plain site, as always, but then touches on it again and again and by the third time of it being brought up, you know what the answer is. The problem with that? It’s only about half way through the book. I feel that kind of takes the fun out of the mystery. Even though I knew where the story was going, the book is still entertaining enough that I was still excited to finish it.
Overall, I am going to give The Golden Lily 4 stars! It was a wonderful read. And, as with Bloodlines, the last three sentences of this book have you DYING to know where the story goes after and leaves you sadly disappointed when you realize that you have to wait. This is not a bad thing at all! I, for one, will be stalking the author’s website waiting for the announcement of the next release.
It’s slower than I remembered but I still enjoyed the plot and complexity of the characters. I could honestly read Richelle Mead’s books everyday, I love her writing style
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was pretty psyched to see what has transpired between Adrian and Sydney in this book. I was not let down! This book was so much fun and had such a good plot setting and I was hooked from the first word! I flew through this book and it was all I could think about! Sydney really grew into an incredible, caring, and more put-together character, and she is just so lovable! I can't get enough! Adrian has also really evolved in this book to a more mature(I know, I can't believe it either) version of himself. This book had it all, flirtations, conflict, action, comedy. This book was just absolutely incredible. I am still really speechless! I cannot wait for the next book, especially after that cliff-hanger! I am so sad that it ended that way, because now all I can do is wait so very impatiently for the next! The ending was incredible, and had what I and probably everyone else wanted to happen the whole book and then Sydney ran away and it ended, leaving the story open to be continued in the next book. Overall this book was just absolutely incredible! I loved every minute and Mead didn't let me down!
Hmmm... I love Richelle Mead as an author but this YA series is a bit underwhelming. The whole book is just a bit irritating (even by the end of the book I am left feeling unresolved and unsatisfied. Nothing really entices me into this world in which she has created. I don't think I will carry on reading this series as I often found myself drifting off mid sentence. Its an easy read but I found myself skim reading a lot of it looking for the juicy parts but nothing really came.
:( Im not having a good run with books at the moment.:( maybe next time.
:( Im not having a good run with books at the moment.:( maybe next time.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Have you ever read a book and it's so good that you're holding the book RIGHT in front of your face? Like as the adrenaline increases the book just gets closer and closer to your nose with glee? I noticed while I was reading Golden Lily, but I've noticed I do this with other books too.
Don't read this review unless you've read the Vampire Academy books. Also there are some light romantic spoilers for the Bloodlines books. This is your warning.
Anyway, I loved this book. I love Sydney. I love Adrian. I love Adrian and the way he is with Sydney. I really liked Vampire Academy, but I wasn't in the group of super fans. Of the Mead books, the Georgina Kincaid books were probably my favorites. (So far they still are.) Well, I love reading about Sydney more than I did reading about Rose. Rose was awesome. I think it's just that I've read a lot of books with girls like Rose. I've rarely read a book about a girl like Sydney. Like I said in my review of Bloodlines, I wasn't really a Sydney fan in the VA books. But, I really like how she's developing. I like that she wears neutral colors and likes to look very put together all the time. I like that she's analytic and uses her brain. She's interesting to me.
I also think that she's a perfect partner for Adrian. The end, that last scene, just about killed me. I knew it was coming, and it still killed me. I have no idea how the hell I'm going to wait for the next book to come out, because I really want to know how this is going to play out.
I'm sorry, this isn't one of my best reviews. I feel like my thoughts are scattered. It's probably because this is one of those types of books where so much happens it's hard to compute.
Here's a couple moments I loved.
Don't read this review unless you've read the Vampire Academy books. Also there are some light romantic spoilers for the Bloodlines books. This is your warning.
Anyway, I loved this book. I love Sydney. I love Adrian. I love Adrian and the way he is with Sydney. I really liked Vampire Academy, but I wasn't in the group of super fans. Of the Mead books, the Georgina Kincaid books were probably my favorites. (So far they still are.) Well, I love reading about Sydney more than I did reading about Rose. Rose was awesome. I think it's just that I've read a lot of books with girls like Rose. I've rarely read a book about a girl like Sydney. Like I said in my review of Bloodlines, I wasn't really a Sydney fan in the VA books. But, I really like how she's developing. I like that she wears neutral colors and likes to look very put together all the time. I like that she's analytic and uses her brain. She's interesting to me.
I also think that she's a perfect partner for Adrian. The end, that last scene, just about killed me. I knew it was coming, and it still killed me. I have no idea how the hell I'm going to wait for the next book to come out, because I really want to know how this is going to play out.
I'm sorry, this isn't one of my best reviews. I feel like my thoughts are scattered. It's probably because this is one of those types of books where so much happens it's hard to compute.
Here's a couple moments I loved.
"Do you know why I don't like him? Brayden? Because of what he said."
"What part?" Seeing as Brayden had said many things, in great detail, it wasn't entirely clear which Adrian was referring to.
"Historically inaccurate." Adrian gestured to me with his other hand, the one not on my shoulder. "Who the hell looks at you and says 'historically inaccurate'?"
"Well," I said. "Technically it is."
"He shouldn't have said that."
I shifted, knowing I should move away... But I didn't. "Look, it's just his way."
"He shouldn't have said that," repeated Adrian, eerily serious. He leaned his face toward mine. "I don't care if he's not the emotional type or the complimentary type or what. No one can look at you in this dress, in all that fire and gold, and start talking about anachronisms. If I were him, I would have said, 'You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen walking this earth.'"
He reached out and pulled me to him, one hand on my waist and the other behind my neck. He tipped my head up and lowered his lips to mine. I closed my eyes and melted as my whole body was consumed in that kiss. I was nothing. I was everything.
But perhaps the best part of all was that I, Sydney Katherine Sage, guilty of constantly analyzing the world around me, well, I stopped thinking.
And it was glorious.
At least, it was until I started thinking again.
My mind and all it's worries and considerations suddenly took over. I pulled away from Adrian, despite my body's protests. I backed up from him, knowing my eyes were terrified and wide. "What... what were you doing?"
"I don't know," he said with a grin. He took a step toward me. "But I'm pretty sure you were doing it too."