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jelizabeth3's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
breezy610's review against another edition
5.0
excellent read! Rose is prefect for Dimitiv even thought they can't be together since they are both guardians to Lissa.
dani_15's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
blurrypetals's review against another edition
4.0
November 7, 2017
[re-read for my Greatest Hits Bookshelf Tour 2017]
It's more than just a little bit surreal to go back to the beginning of this series and see where it all began. I've was reading these books as they came out for seven years straight, waiting impatiently to see what came next for each of my beloved characters.
This first outing is far from being Richelle Mead's finest work (especially since Adrian Fucking Ivashkov isn't in it) and it isn't nearly as great as I remember it being, but it's a landmark book for me, it's still really fun and funny, and all the characters are a delight...except for Dimitri Belikov, my literary kryptonite. I hate him so much and it's only going to get worse, because he's at his most tolerable here.
There isn't a whole lot else for me to say other than this is a fun beginning to one of my absolute favorite series (mostly because I count the Bloodlines series as part of this series). It's fun, it's campy, and there's vampires in it; what's not to love? Other than the main love interest?
April 15, 2008
I've been finding myself stepping further and further away from series of books and preferring the stand-alone novels lately, but the synopsis of this one--at least a year ago--caught my attention, since I was missing Cirque du Freak and awaiting Breaking Dawn. I needed a vampire fix, yah? Little did I know that I would find such a gem as this. I liked it much better than I liked Twilight--which isn't much now, but it was a year ago--and almost as much as my beloved Cirque du Freak. There are many vampire books that I've read that merely blend into the background of the several books that I've read, but there are two that stand strong and different from the rest. This is one of them.
[re-read for my Greatest Hits Bookshelf Tour 2017]
It's more than just a little bit surreal to go back to the beginning of this series and see where it all began. I've was reading these books as they came out for seven years straight, waiting impatiently to see what came next for each of my beloved characters.
This first outing is far from being Richelle Mead's finest work (especially since Adrian Fucking Ivashkov isn't in it) and it isn't nearly as great as I remember it being, but it's a landmark book for me, it's still really fun and funny, and all the characters are a delight...except for Dimitri Belikov, my literary kryptonite. I hate him so much and it's only going to get worse, because he's at his most tolerable here.
There isn't a whole lot else for me to say other than this is a fun beginning to one of my absolute favorite series (mostly because I count the Bloodlines series as part of this series). It's fun, it's campy, and there's vampires in it; what's not to love? Other than the main love interest?
April 15, 2008
I've been finding myself stepping further and further away from series of books and preferring the stand-alone novels lately, but the synopsis of this one--at least a year ago--caught my attention, since I was missing Cirque du Freak and awaiting Breaking Dawn. I needed a vampire fix, yah? Little did I know that I would find such a gem as this. I liked it much better than I liked Twilight--which isn't much now, but it was a year ago--and almost as much as my beloved Cirque du Freak. There are many vampire books that I've read that merely blend into the background of the several books that I've read, but there are two that stand strong and different from the rest. This is one of them.
carringtonshaw's review against another edition
NOPE.
This just was not doing it for me. I couldn't get past the weird relationship between Rose and Lissa to take anything else seriously. Rose's obsession with being Lissa's doormat was just so icky to me that I couldn't bring myself to care about anything else. The way their whole world functions, with certain races being the servants to other races and going to school to learn classes to make them better servants while the royals learn magic, made it even worse.
The one thing I really thought was interesting was that it wanted to explore various types of vampires that appear in mythology and most mainstream vampire stories don't seem to do that, but the way it did it was just too weird.
(This is an aside, not part of my review, because I don't judge books by their movies. I finally put the book down and turned on the movie--knowing it was supposed to be really bad, mind you--in the hopes that it would at least provide an alternate viewpoint that would help move me into the story better without seeing things the way I saw them, and that I could proceed with the book and the rest of the series from there. Like maybe it would help me visualize things differently than my brain was insisting upon? But no such luck. It only made it worse, because my goodness, not only was Rose a doormat, now she was a sPeCiAl doormat with an inflated sense of self and terrible sense of humor. I had to really push myself to get even 10 minutes into that terrible film so I was at least level with where I was in the book before calling it quits.)
DNF at page 51.
This just was not doing it for me. I couldn't get past the weird relationship between Rose and Lissa to take anything else seriously. Rose's obsession with being Lissa's doormat was just so icky to me that I couldn't bring myself to care about anything else. The way their whole world functions, with certain races being the servants to other races and going to school to learn classes to make them better servants while the royals learn magic, made it even worse.
The one thing I really thought was interesting was that it wanted to explore various types of vampires that appear in mythology and most mainstream vampire stories don't seem to do that, but the way it did it was just too weird.
(This is an aside, not part of my review, because I don't judge books by their movies. I finally put the book down and turned on the movie--knowing it was supposed to be really bad, mind you--in the hopes that it would at least provide an alternate viewpoint that would help move me into the story better without seeing things the way I saw them, and that I could proceed with the book and the rest of the series from there. Like maybe it would help me visualize things differently than my brain was insisting upon? But no such luck. It only made it worse, because my goodness, not only was Rose a doormat, now she was a sPeCiAl doormat with an inflated sense of self and terrible sense of humor. I had to really push myself to get even 10 minutes into that terrible film so I was at least level with where I was in the book before calling it quits.)
DNF at page 51.
kirbycloud10's review against another edition
adventurous
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
5.0
bayfleming's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
kmr16831's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book so much and as always so much better than the movie!!
wendythegeekgoddess's review against another edition
3.0
REVIEW:
The night before I finally picked up "Vampire Academy" after it had been sitting in my bookshelf I watched the movie. The movie was amazing and stayed true to the book for the most part but it might have been a mistake to have watched it first. The book was good don't get me wrong, but I know I would have enjoyed a lot more if I didn't already know what was going to happen.
On top of that (I know some of you guys are gonna give me hell for this) it reminded me so much of the House Of Night series that came out just a few months before this series. The Vampire school, The power of Elements, the beautiful and powerful main character that would do anything for their friends, it was all so alike. I definitely have to say that I prefer the House Of Night series over this though, to be honest I'm not sure if I even want to continue reading this series....
IF YOU LOVED "VAMPIRE ACADEMY" YOU'LL LIKE:
1. [bc:Frostbite|2282133|Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2)|Richelle Mead|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361098960s/2282133.jpg|6651004] [b:Frostbite|2282133|Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2)|Richelle Mead|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361098960s/2282133.jpg|6651004] By: [a:Richelle Mead|137902|Richelle Mead|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1270374609p2/137902.jpg]
2. [bc:Marked|30183|Marked (House of Night, #1)|P.C. Cast|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1368453848s/30183.jpg|30573] [b:Marked|30183|Marked (House of Night, #1)|P.C. Cast|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1368453848s/30183.jpg|30573] By: [a:P.C. Cast|17015|P.C. Cast|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1347676514p2/17015.jpg]
The night before I finally picked up "Vampire Academy" after it had been sitting in my bookshelf I watched the movie. The movie was amazing and stayed true to the book for the most part but it might have been a mistake to have watched it first. The book was good don't get me wrong, but I know I would have enjoyed a lot more if I didn't already know what was going to happen.
On top of that (I know some of you guys are gonna give me hell for this) it reminded me so much of the House Of Night series that came out just a few months before this series. The Vampire school, The power of Elements, the beautiful and powerful main character that would do anything for their friends, it was all so alike. I definitely have to say that I prefer the House Of Night series over this though, to be honest I'm not sure if I even want to continue reading this series....
IF YOU LOVED "VAMPIRE ACADEMY" YOU'LL LIKE:
1. [bc:Frostbite|2282133|Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2)|Richelle Mead|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361098960s/2282133.jpg|6651004] [b:Frostbite|2282133|Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2)|Richelle Mead|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361098960s/2282133.jpg|6651004] By: [a:Richelle Mead|137902|Richelle Mead|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1270374609p2/137902.jpg]
2. [bc:Marked|30183|Marked (House of Night, #1)|P.C. Cast|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1368453848s/30183.jpg|30573] [b:Marked|30183|Marked (House of Night, #1)|P.C. Cast|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1368453848s/30183.jpg|30573] By: [a:P.C. Cast|17015|P.C. Cast|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1347676514p2/17015.jpg]