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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
To start, the Vampire Academy books are the best of their genre and I'm including teen vamp series' like Morganville, the Unmarked books and even the 'adult' Sookie Stackhouse books.
The backstory and history are much more robust and the characterisation is far superior, even if some points are quite laboured. For example, bizarrely even though she seems to have high emotional intelligence, has no idea Adrian is crushing on her. Even if she's immune to him in person then Jill's weird behaviour, given what she knows of spirit must be an anvil. Also it is clear from early on that Trey has another purpose than a match maker.
Anyway I digress. The book sets up a really interesting story arc to be explored - how far will Sydney go for example to be loyal to the alchemists or loyal to herself. But everyone know's she'll be powerless to Adrian in the end.
I enjoyed this book a lot more than Bloodlines. I liked the development of the relationships between Sydney and the Moroi/Dhampirs. The fact that she is more and more comfortable with them al now is nice - it's sad when she remembers everything she has been taught and tries to convince herself to keep her distance, but I hope that lessens in the next book.
The little budding love triangle Jill/Eddie/Angeline has potential to be a bit annoying.
The little budding love triangle Jill/Eddie/Angeline has potential to be a bit annoying.
This book was so good. I officially love Adrian. That is all.
Updated, 22/6/2012
Well damn, damn, damn...I just can't cope with endings like that one! The second book in the Bloodlines series did not disappoint. The characters I love are all back...Eddie, Jill, Sydney and Adrian (of course). There are some support roles from characters from VA including Dimitri and Sonya and everything just fits in nicely. When the story started I was asking myself why I had thought that I liked Sydney from the first book. She was prickly, super organised, not much fun...I couldn't work it out. But the same thing happened in this book as it did in the first, she just grew on me and I fell in love with her again. I always liked Rose from VA - her boldness and brashness, saying whatever she thought and also her kick ass fighting skills. In The Golden Lily, Sydney shows us what she is made of. She is super smart, loves research and information (that must be the librarian in me coming out!!) and she takes control of situations without even breaking a sweat. Plus she has a soft spot for Adrian.
I must admit, the first half of the book I was wishing it would hurry up and get a bit more of Adrian in the story but by halfway I was totally hooked on the story - there are lots of little bits and pieces going on and I was trying to pick up on clues about who might be part of the 'vampire hunters' and were the alchemists involved and just who is this Marcus character - hope he makes an appearance in book three!! The last 100 pages just flew by and I loved the action scenes, my eyes were tearing across the pages as I was holding my breath to see what would happen.
And if I haven't made myself clear, I am an Adrian fan. a BIG Adrian fan. Any scene that included Adrian and Sydney was just delicious to read and some of those scenes..well....they got my heart pounding.
Bring on Book Three!!
18/6/2012 Sorry to the other book I am reading.. But.... This one has Adrian. That says it all really!
Well damn, damn, damn...I just can't cope with endings like that one! The second book in the Bloodlines series did not disappoint. The characters I love are all back...Eddie, Jill, Sydney and Adrian (of course). There are some support roles from characters from VA including Dimitri and Sonya and everything just fits in nicely. When the story started I was asking myself why I had thought that I liked Sydney from the first book. She was prickly, super organised, not much fun...I couldn't work it out. But the same thing happened in this book as it did in the first, she just grew on me and I fell in love with her again. I always liked Rose from VA - her boldness and brashness, saying whatever she thought and also her kick ass fighting skills. In The Golden Lily, Sydney shows us what she is made of. She is super smart, loves research and information (that must be the librarian in me coming out!!) and she takes control of situations without even breaking a sweat. Plus she has a soft spot for Adrian.
I must admit, the first half of the book I was wishing it would hurry up and get a bit more of Adrian in the story but by halfway I was totally hooked on the story - there are lots of little bits and pieces going on and I was trying to pick up on clues about who might be part of the 'vampire hunters' and were the alchemists involved and just who is this Marcus character - hope he makes an appearance in book three!! The last 100 pages just flew by and I loved the action scenes, my eyes were tearing across the pages as I was holding my breath to see what would happen.
And if I haven't made myself clear, I am an Adrian fan. a BIG Adrian fan. Any scene that included Adrian and Sydney was just delicious to read and some of those scenes..well....they got my heart pounding.
Bring on Book Three!!
18/6/2012 Sorry to the other book I am reading.. But.... This one has Adrian. That says it all really!
I love this series. I like the original vampire academy series better, but I love the characters and different perspective form this series.
This was a really slow read, and nothing REALLY happened. It felt repetitive and the "big revealing plot twists" had been "revealed" early in the book, so I didn't feel as hooked as I was during book one. It was still a pleasant read tho, and I enjoyed the character developments! Feels like this book was somewhere in between an epilogue of book one and build-up to book three. I'm positive book three will be more interesting!
Reread 2024: I remember seeing this book in Walmart when this first came out (I was waiting for my copy). I made the insane decision to read the last page of the book and immediately regretted it... So many cute moments in this one. I can't always get behind Mead's writing, but she sure knows how to do a slow burn. I giggled and kicked my feet like I was 14 again.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No