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presenttensekrissy's review against another edition
5.0
First read: 2011(ish)
LOVE this series. I love how badass Rose is and the tension between her and Dimitri is the best. I love the friendship between her and Lissa as well. This is one of my top favorite series'.
Re-read: January 2017
Still so good. I think it was even better the second time. Dimitri is way too swoon worthy.
LOVE this series. I love how badass Rose is and the tension between her and Dimitri is the best. I love the friendship between her and Lissa as well. This is one of my top favorite series'.
Re-read: January 2017
Still so good. I think it was even better the second time. Dimitri is way too swoon worthy.
grcolby's review against another edition
3.0
I can't say that I loved this one. The characters did not entice me, the setting seemed pretty flat and cookie cutter in today's YA genre. The basic premise seemed to be cookie cutter as well-secluded school for those of "supernatural" origin. Power struggles within this supernatural world, a young girl with unknown/unusual powers and the one to protect her.
The whole book just felt flat, two-dimensional, and predictable. I will most likely pick up the following books from the library over time, but not ones I am rushing out to get.
The whole book just felt flat, two-dimensional, and predictable. I will most likely pick up the following books from the library over time, but not ones I am rushing out to get.
courtwhelan's review against another edition
4.0
I have to admit that this book turned out better than I had hoped. People are super fans of this series and the movie is coming out so I some what begrudgingly read this book. I figured it was just another in a long list of books about vampires that had come out since the Twilight craze. But on that note it was nothing like what I had thought. It is a story all of its own with some really original ideas on vampires. It took me a little while to really get into it but now I can't wait to read the next book. Best part? Everyone says that each book in the series gets better and better.
bwalk13's review against another edition
5.0
Richelle Mead you slay me!! I was hooked from the start and I'm beginning to wonder why I waited so long to crack tho puppy open! Rose and Lissa are fabulous!
More of a review to come...
More of a review to come...
thequeentania's review against another edition
5.0
Just finished rereading VA in time for the movie. I first read Vampire Academy in 2008 and it's still as amazing as reading it the first time!
bookishfantasia's review against another edition
3.0
Re-rated from 4 to 3 stars. It's not a bad book, I don't (for the most part) dislike Rose or Lissa and I plan on carrying on with the rest. However, I sometimes wonder if this series would have benefited from a book before this one instead of all of the flashbacks.
brokenrecord's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars, although I actually liked this a lot more than I expected to! I mean, YA vampire stories definitely make me hesitant, because even though I love YA and tend to prefer fantasy/paranormal stuff to other genres, I tend not to be as into vampires as other paranormal creatures, and there was just a flood of terrible teen/vamp romance books after Twilight that made me avoid most books focusing on vampires altogether. But this was really enjoyable! I mean, it helped that neither of the romances were teen/vamp, they were vamp/vamp and guardian/guardian. I enjoyed Christian and Lissa a lot together. I liked Dimitri and Rose, but I'm not totally sold on them yet. The age difference and teacher/student thing is a little too much for me, and the power dynamics also don't help (although at least he was more of a training partner to her than an actual teacher. Like, he wasn't giving her a grade in a class or anything. It was more like a tutor/student relationship). It helped that there wasn't this instant attraction where Rose was constantly thinking about how into him she was; I liked the more gradual development of their romance, and that there was no instalove. But Rose did seem pretty immature at times, which made it hard for me to get on board with her developing a relationship with a 24 year old.
This book did have some issues with slut shaming that really bothered me. I really didn't like Dimitri when he was yelling at Rose after he found her making out with Jesse about how she was making herself look cheap and how she didn't have any respect for herself or whatever (although the later reveal that he was mostly upset about the idea of another royal taking advantage of a dhampir girl helped slightly? But he still shouldn't have said what he said). And like, if it was only Dimitri, I would just hate his character and move on, but Rose also seemed to slut shame other girls, and the whole attitude towards blood whores really bothered me. I also didn't like that I couldn't tell if the book was endorsing Rose's view, or if we were supposed to think she was wrong. And I have really mixed feelings about Mia's character. She does some pretty terrible things, but I had some sympathy for her after some stuff is revealed about her, and it bothered me that Rose's attitude towards her basically stays completely the same even after she finds out that stuff. And there was just a lot of slut shaming on both sides of the Mia/Rose feud, which frustrated me.
But despite all the negatives, I did like this a lot! Rose and Lissa's friendship was SO amazing, and I appreciated that their friendship was a greater focus of the book than either of the romances. The pacing of the end felt kind of weird and rushed? But otherwise I liked how information was slowly revealed throughout the story, and I found myself more invested in what was going on than I expected. I also thought the examination of mental illness through what was going on with Lissa from a paranormal perspective was really interesting and not something I have seen that often in these kinds of books, and it was handled really well, so I appreciated that a lot. So yeah, this was pretty good! I will definitely be reading the next book in this series!
This book did have some issues with slut shaming that really bothered me. I really didn't like Dimitri when he was yelling at Rose after he found her making out with Jesse about how she was making herself look cheap and how she didn't have any respect for herself or whatever (although the later reveal that he was mostly upset about the idea of another royal taking advantage of a dhampir girl helped slightly? But he still shouldn't have said what he said). And like, if it was only Dimitri, I would just hate his character and move on, but Rose also seemed to slut shame other girls, and the whole attitude towards blood whores really bothered me. I also didn't like that I couldn't tell if the book was endorsing Rose's view, or if we were supposed to think she was wrong. And I have really mixed feelings about Mia's character. She does some pretty terrible things, but I had some sympathy for her after some stuff is revealed about her, and it bothered me that Rose's attitude towards her basically stays completely the same even after she finds out that stuff. And there was just a lot of slut shaming on both sides of the Mia/Rose feud, which frustrated me.
But despite all the negatives, I did like this a lot! Rose and Lissa's friendship was SO amazing, and I appreciated that their friendship was a greater focus of the book than either of the romances. The pacing of the end felt kind of weird and rushed? But otherwise I liked how information was slowly revealed throughout the story, and I found myself more invested in what was going on than I expected. I also thought the examination of mental illness through what was going on with Lissa from a paranormal perspective was really interesting and not something I have seen that often in these kinds of books, and it was handled really well, so I appreciated that a lot. So yeah, this was pretty good! I will definitely be reading the next book in this series!
sasherr's review against another edition
3.75
It was a good book acc intriguing wanted to just keep reading rlly enjoyed it I would give it 4 stars but it wasn’t super amazing and life changing for me like I feel like the other books are gonna be more interesting good read to get me out of a book slump.
noabeth's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0