You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot : Rose is accused of regicide and has to go on the run (again).
Impressions : The ending is seriously underwhelming.The idea that anyone would vote for Lissa as queen after her own allies murdered her predecessor is absurd. When Rose is confronted about her selfishness and the damage she leaves in her wake, she brushes it aside. Because apparently other people's lives don't matter. So she won't try to make up for the consequences of her actions.
Impressions : The ending is seriously underwhelming.
2 stars.
I….these last two books…I’m so disappointed. I’ll leave it at that for now, but I’m sure I’ll elaborate when I make a video review for this in my next wrap up.
I….these last two books…I’m so disappointed. I’ll leave it at that for now, but I’m sure I’ll elaborate when I make a video review for this in my next wrap up.
FIRST REVIEW / APR 8, 2014
P e r f e c t i o n. Brilliant continuity tying everything together from the previous five books, delivers payoff for long-waiting storylines, wraps everything up exactly the way I wanted, hits all the right notes. So, so, so good.
Now I’m just fucking bummed I’ve reached the last of the series and can’t read more about Rose & Dimitri & Lissa. :(
… TIME TO START THE SPINOFF SERIES
---------------------------------
SECOND REVIEW / NOV 2, 2022
Still an immensely satisfying conclusion to this fun silly frothy YA series — I’ve kept jokingly saying things about my reread like “this is my trashy vampire melodrama”, but honestly that’s selling Vampire Academy short. Mead is a competent plotter juggling a large cast of characters, while still giving minor characters their due and highlighting the importance of friendship right alongside the big swoony tropey romance. And Rose learns and grows so much over the course of the series, and it’s great to see.
I just docked a star this time around because the denouement is very fast and tidy, hitting like every single possible cathartic narrative beat in the last 4% of the book. (And yet, even then, Adrian points out that very thing and makes Rose self-conscious about it, which I thought was a neat touch re: the happy ending.) Still, all-in-all, I highly recommend this series if you ever want to dip into the realm of YA vampires. And the Peacock TV series is fun too!
I never actually got around to reading the spinoff series, but I like Sydney and Adrian enough that I’m hoping I’ll get to it eventually.
P e r f e c t i o n. Brilliant continuity tying everything together from the previous five books, delivers payoff for long-waiting storylines, wraps everything up exactly the way I wanted, hits all the right notes. So, so, so good.
Now I’m just fucking bummed I’ve reached the last of the series and can’t read more about Rose & Dimitri & Lissa. :(
… TIME TO START THE SPINOFF SERIES
---------------------------------
SECOND REVIEW / NOV 2, 2022
Still an immensely satisfying conclusion to this fun silly frothy YA series — I’ve kept jokingly saying things about my reread like “this is my trashy vampire melodrama”, but honestly that’s selling Vampire Academy short. Mead is a competent plotter juggling a large cast of characters, while still giving minor characters their due and highlighting the importance of friendship right alongside the big swoony tropey romance. And Rose learns and grows so much over the course of the series, and it’s great to see.
I just docked a star this time around because the denouement is very fast and tidy, hitting like every single possible cathartic narrative beat in the last 4% of the book. (And yet, even then, Adrian points out that very thing and makes Rose self-conscious about it, which I thought was a neat touch re: the happy ending.) Still, all-in-all, I highly recommend this series if you ever want to dip into the realm of YA vampires. And the Peacock TV series is fun too!
I never actually got around to reading the spinoff series, but I like Sydney and Adrian enough that I’m hoping I’ll get to it eventually.
adventurous
challenging
funny
tense
slow-paced
4.5 Stars
This was an excellent finale.
Positives:
-Mystery- Like most of VA books, there is a mystery going around about who killed the queen. It was very intriguing, and I only guessed who it was five pages before the reveal.
-The interesting interactions- different groups of people interact, and often interactions between people you wouldn't expect. I appreciated that we got to see the different ways different people talked.
-Lissa's journey- Lissa definitely takes a journey in this book of self-discovery. She is nervous about most things, but her dedication to her friend and boyfriend is relentless.
-Big reveal: I'm not spoiling it if you don't know, but there is a mystery surrounding a bloodline revealed at the end of Spirit Bound. It is finally revealed who it is, but it definitely felt real, and the scene was realistic and well put together.
Negatives
-These are all minor things, but Rose still irked me, only because she couldn't be chill for five minutes. And she was also cheating, and while that is an excusable action, as love triangles, tend to have that situation, and it wasn't the main focus of the story, however, she knew whom her heart truly belonged to. And me not being the biggest Dimitri and Rose shipper, I just wasn't invested in their relationship as much as other people. But I did enjoy their conversation about having to forgive yourself.
-Another somewhat big thing: I'm going to try not to spoil, but there was a reveal about strigoi in SpiritBound. And in this book, a whole bunch of Strigoi are getting killed by Dimitri. And what bugged me is that he felt they were all evil and immoral, even though Strigoi have lost moral sense, and some are unwilling strigoi, from what we learned in SpiritBound, it just seemed wrong to kill them all. And yet most of those Strigoi who are unwilling were probably innocent guardians or dhampirs who have lost their sense and killed people, and yet it doesn't apply or doesn't seem to, to another character (you know who I'm talking about if you've read the book). And I know, we are supposed to know this character, and obviously his/her situation is "different" to us, even though, compared to unwilling Strigoi, it isn't, and I just don't think those Strigoi deserved to die.
This was an excellent finale.
Positives:
-Mystery- Like most of VA books, there is a mystery going around about who killed the queen. It was very intriguing, and I only guessed who it was five pages before the reveal.
-The interesting interactions- different groups of people interact, and often interactions between people you wouldn't expect. I appreciated that we got to see the different ways different people talked.
-Lissa's journey- Lissa definitely takes a journey in this book of self-discovery. She is nervous about most things, but her dedication to her friend and boyfriend is relentless.
-Big reveal: I'm not spoiling it if you don't know, but there is a mystery surrounding a bloodline revealed at the end of Spirit Bound. It is finally revealed who it is, but it definitely felt real, and the scene was realistic and well put together.
Negatives
-These are all minor things, but Rose still irked me, only because she couldn't be chill for five minutes. And she was also cheating, and while that is an excusable action, as love triangles, tend to have that situation, and it wasn't the main focus of the story, however, she knew whom her heart truly belonged to. And me not being the biggest Dimitri and Rose shipper, I just wasn't invested in their relationship as much as other people. But I did enjoy their conversation about having to forgive yourself.
-Another somewhat big thing: I'm going to try not to spoil, but there was a reveal about strigoi in SpiritBound. And in this book, a whole bunch of Strigoi are getting killed by Dimitri. And what bugged me is that he felt they were all evil and immoral, even though Strigoi have lost moral sense, and some are unwilling strigoi, from what we learned in SpiritBound, it just seemed wrong to kill them all. And yet most of those Strigoi who are unwilling were probably innocent guardians or dhampirs who have lost their sense and killed people, and yet it doesn't apply or doesn't seem to, to another character (you know who I'm talking about if you've read the book). And I know, we are supposed to know this character, and obviously his/her situation is "different" to us, even though, compared to unwilling Strigoi, it isn't, and I just don't think those Strigoi deserved to die.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
While it was good, I don’t think it was the ending the series should have. A lot of loose strings that seemed tied up too fast
"ʺEighteen, and already youʹve been accused of murder, aided felons, and acquired a death count higher than most guardians will ever see.ʺ He paused. ʺI couldnʹt be prouder.""
Based on my memories, Last Sacrifice should have been a five star read. I remember having such a blast the first time I read it. I expected to love Last Sacrifice and I hoped that it would erase the 'meh' feelings towards Spirit Bound. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
I hate saying this, but I don't love Rose as much as I used to. I have such a soft spot for impulsive, snarky, sassy, vulnerable and badass heroines and I loved Rose as a character. However, after reading Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice, I like Rose, but I don't love her. There are two main reasons for this:
♥ In the last two books of the Vampire Academy series, Rose's character development and growth become non-existent. Rose is a frustrating character, but she still acted in character and I could understand the reasoning behind her actions. In Last Sacrifice, I couldn't understand Rose's reasoning and actions as much and felt that she kept on changing to suit the plot direction.
♥ Rose has a tendency to lead people on mainly because she's in denial about her feelings, but after realising and accepting her true feelings in Last Sacrifice, she does something that could have been avoided.
Spoiler
I understand that Rose and Dimitri are meant to be together, but that does not give Rose free reign to cheat. There are so many ways that Rose could have ended her relationship with Adrian before having sex with Dimitri. I get angry when I read about cheating, because someone always gets hurt and I've not yet read a book that makes cheating justifiable or understandable to some extent.I also don't care about Rose's romantic relationships. Rose and Dimitri have a connection and plenty in common, but the drama and angst in their relationship is boring. Adrian has grown on me, but I don't think Rose and Adrian are meant for each other. However, I do not appreciate that Adrian was kicked to the curb and made to seem like a jerk for the sake of the plot. Adrian deserves so much better and I hope that the Bloodlines series delivers.
The Vampire Academy series has always been about the strong bond and friendship between Rose and Lissa. Rose's ability to see the world through Lissa's eyes means that we get to see what's been going on at court from Lissa's perspective. My favourite part of Last Sacrifice is Lissa's rise to queendom and the tests and trials that she has to go through
Spoiler
and my favourite scene is Lissa's coronation ceremony. Yes queen!While the romance in Rose's life leaves much to be desired, I love the relationship between Lissa and Christian and wish that I could have seen more of them being ridiculously in love instead of witnessing the Rose-Adrian-Dimitri train wreck.
I love most of the secondary characters: Christian, Sydney, Eddie, Jill,
Spoiler
Sonya,Since this is a reread, I can't comment about whether or not I was surprised by the mystery aspect, but the mystery aspect is lacking and the 'great reveal' is gimmicky.
I don't love the Vampire Academy series as much after a reread, but it still has some of my favourite characters, friendships, romances and scenes. It's a series that I will always have fond memories of, no matter how much the last two books disappointed me.
A solid finale!
"Sometimes the greatest tests of our strength are situations that don't seem so obviously dangerous. Sometimes surviving is the hardest thing of all."
**4.5 stars**
***March 6, 2019***
It ended. Now I can finally read Bloodlines. I can't wait to see more of Adrian.
***December 19, 2016***
Amazing ending to the series. Loved it!
***March 6, 2019***
It ended. Now I can finally read Bloodlines. I can't wait to see more of Adrian.
***December 19, 2016***
Amazing ending to the series. Loved it!