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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
3.5 Stars
I wasn't so sure about this book; 55 pages in and I was irritated. Bratty, ignorant little girls do not impress me. It was like being back in high school; YA or not, it was irritating. Then something magical happened; the book started to get good. I love a good vampire story, but had never really read anything having to do with damphir, but good nonetheless. I liked the bits of 'history' given by the author for the Moroi, Strigoi and Damphir; and what their individual roles are. It was an interesting take from a 17 year old girls POV. I ended up liking Rose; and that was no easy task, but I did. I want to see where this story goes and also to find out if this is a new author I can appreciate. I don't mind a fun-fluff book; but this one actually had a little somethin' somethin'.... we shall see.
I wasn't so sure about this book; 55 pages in and I was irritated. Bratty, ignorant little girls do not impress me. It was like being back in high school; YA or not, it was irritating. Then something magical happened; the book started to get good. I love a good vampire story, but had never really read anything having to do with damphir, but good nonetheless. I liked the bits of 'history' given by the author for the Moroi, Strigoi and Damphir; and what their individual roles are. It was an interesting take from a 17 year old girls POV. I ended up liking Rose; and that was no easy task, but I did. I want to see where this story goes and also to find out if this is a new author I can appreciate. I don't mind a fun-fluff book; but this one actually had a little somethin' somethin'.... we shall see.
First read (2018 or 2019): ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Re-read #1 (2021/08/28): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Re-read #1 (2021/08/28): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
I absolutely loved this book. It took me 40ish pages to get into it but after that, ooh boy, ooh boy, I could not put it down.
When I was an emo teenager, this book was a bop, but now? I can't get myself to get through it. More directed for younger teens, going through the odd vampire phase that every water sign seems to go through. I'm keeping five stars because 13 year old me would haunt me if I didn't.
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
medium-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:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you’re gonna give this one a chance, then you better be prepared for teenagers at their absolute worst.
Vampire Academy is a story set at a boarding school for vampiric teenagers (Moroi) and their slightly-more-than-human bodyguards (Dhampirs). Don’t let the supernatural elements fool you, though. These aren’t the terrifying immortal creatures that inhabit Stoker’s Dracula. No, the Moroi are strikingly human in the physiology. They age like us and are born through natural means, not supernatural blood-draws. The only thing that really sets them apart is an aptitude for elemental magic which sounds neat, but is largely unaddressed in this book.
That’s my whole problem, actually. This book is brimming to the gills with neat ideas, but they’re all largely unaddressed outside of the occasional semi-awkward info-dump. Instead of explaining how the vampire world works, we’re thrown into teenage drama after teenage drama that wouldn’t feel out of place in movies like Mean Girls or Easy A. You know, the type of drama that makes you roll your eyes for how silly it is, but that’s interesting enough to keep you reading as long as you like – or hate – the characters.
Personally, I enjoyed Rose, our leading lady. She’s quick to anger and often thinks with her heart instead of her head, but she’s a true friend with impressive loyalty to her Moroi bff, Lissa. A loyalty that sometime leads her to make horrific choices, but their ones that you can understand given that she’s 17. The only thing that I could have done without was her crushing on a man seven years her senior. I know, I know, it’s fiction and it’s not exactly uncommon for teenagers to get crushes on their teachers, but I just can’t ship a 17-year-old with a 24-year-old.
Character drama aside, it’s worth mentioning that there’s also a mystery of sorts going on and that it is, technically, the main plot. However, it’s treated as more of a sub-plot when it comes to what the story focus on and nothing major happen with it until you’re well into the book which is another issue for me. I like my plots well-developed and this one sort-of comes out of nowhere. That’s not to say that I didn’t buy it, I do to a large extent, but a better set-up would have done wonders to remove the questions I still have.
To wrap us, Vampire Academy was an okay introduction to the world and I’m interested enough to keep going, but I wouldn’t recommend it just yet. Book one was a little too plot-light and didn’t do enough world building for me to fall in love and the characters where fine, but nothing extra-special, so we’ll see how I feel after book two. If it manages to make a fan of me, I’ll be sure to update this review and let you know.
Vampire Academy is a story set at a boarding school for vampiric teenagers (Moroi) and their slightly-more-than-human bodyguards (Dhampirs). Don’t let the supernatural elements fool you, though. These aren’t the terrifying immortal creatures that inhabit Stoker’s Dracula. No, the Moroi are strikingly human in the physiology. They age like us and are born through natural means, not supernatural blood-draws. The only thing that really sets them apart is an aptitude for elemental magic which sounds neat, but is largely unaddressed in this book.
That’s my whole problem, actually. This book is brimming to the gills with neat ideas, but they’re all largely unaddressed outside of the occasional semi-awkward info-dump. Instead of explaining how the vampire world works, we’re thrown into teenage drama after teenage drama that wouldn’t feel out of place in movies like Mean Girls or Easy A. You know, the type of drama that makes you roll your eyes for how silly it is, but that’s interesting enough to keep you reading as long as you like – or hate – the characters.
Personally, I enjoyed Rose, our leading lady. She’s quick to anger and often thinks with her heart instead of her head, but she’s a true friend with impressive loyalty to her Moroi bff, Lissa. A loyalty that sometime leads her to make horrific choices, but their ones that you can understand given that she’s 17. The only thing that I could have done without was her crushing on a man seven years her senior. I know, I know, it’s fiction and it’s not exactly uncommon for teenagers to get crushes on their teachers, but I just can’t ship a 17-year-old with a 24-year-old.
Character drama aside, it’s worth mentioning that there’s also a mystery of sorts going on and that it is, technically, the main plot. However, it’s treated as more of a sub-plot when it comes to what the story focus on and nothing major happen with it until you’re well into the book which is another issue for me. I like my plots well-developed and this one sort-of comes out of nowhere. That’s not to say that I didn’t buy it, I do to a large extent, but a better set-up would have done wonders to remove the questions I still have.
To wrap us, Vampire Academy was an okay introduction to the world and I’m interested enough to keep going, but I wouldn’t recommend it just yet. Book one was a little too plot-light and didn’t do enough world building for me to fall in love and the characters where fine, but nothing extra-special, so we’ll see how I feel after book two. If it manages to make a fan of me, I’ll be sure to update this review and let you know.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So I can understand the absolute hate for this book, but I can also understand the love for it, but if you go into this series thinking of it for what it is, a literal story about vampires who want to fuck, you will be pleasantly surprised! As I was, thought there are definitely some things I cannot let go, such as slut shaming and sexism but I’ll get to that.
- actually has characters with a personality (though I wish there was a bit more to her, though I’m sure she will develop well later on)
- The plot is interesting and I am quite excited to see where it goes
- The use of mental illness was used interestingly but I’m not sure how I feel about that yet
- The writing isn’t awful, I did see a few typos but it was written from the perspective of a 17 year old so it works
- The romance wasn’t really love triangle like, and I didn’t mind it (once again keeping in mind that I read this book knowing that the target audience was for those who like romance as a base storyline)
- I really hope that there is limited slut shaming and sexism in the next books because it made it really hard to read
Here we go, the ⚠️spoiler⚠️ part of this review
I’m gonna sat that if I put myself in the mind of my highschool self then there are parts of the story that strung true with me, this being one of those parts
“I wished I could have a normal life and a normal best friend. Immediately, I cast that thought out. No one was normal, not really. And I’d never have a better friend than Lissa... but man, it was so hard sometimes”
This felt real, there are times in my life where I’m struggling and I just wish I didn’t had to deal with anyone’s struggles and I immediately felt so fucking horrific for thinking that way, so this part really hit me.
As well as this
“...and rested his hands on my lower back, I thought I was going to die”
Me even thinking about my crush
- actually has characters with a personality (though I wish there was a bit more to her, though I’m sure she will develop well later on)
- The plot is interesting and I am quite excited to see where it goes
- The use of mental illness was used interestingly but I’m not sure how I feel about that yet
- The writing isn’t awful, I did see a few typos but it was written from the perspective of a 17 year old so it works
- The romance wasn’t really love triangle like, and I didn’t mind it (once again keeping in mind that I read this book knowing that the target audience was for those who like romance as a base storyline)
- I really hope that there is limited slut shaming and sexism in the next books because it made it really hard to read
Here we go, the ⚠️spoiler⚠️ part of this review
I’m gonna sat that if I put myself in the mind of my highschool self then there are parts of the story that strung true with me, this being one of those parts
“I wished I could have a normal life and a normal best friend. Immediately, I cast that thought out. No one was normal, not really. And I’d never have a better friend than Lissa... but man, it was so hard sometimes”
This felt real, there are times in my life where I’m struggling and I just wish I didn’t had to deal with anyone’s struggles and I immediately felt so fucking horrific for thinking that way, so this part really hit me.
As well as this
“...and rested his hands on my lower back, I thought I was going to die”
Me even thinking about my crush
For most YA vampire books you read, a girl would hope, for some exciting interplay, where said vampire is dangerous and brooding, so deadly, but so exciting. And this book, kind of takes the fizz out of that story line.
These are teenagers, in school. Which is like, well, school. Even though it's a special school, and there is royalty and popular kids, there's also the Dhamphir (half vampire and half human/Dhamphir) who act as guardians to the Moroi (living vampires, as opposed to Strigoi who are the standard evil vampires, killers with no conscience).
This story is told from the point of view of Rose, a Dhamphir, who is a self-appointed Guardian to Lissa, not so much by skill, as by the fact that she has a bond with Lissa that's unusual, she can tell what Lissa is feeling, and sometimes can get inside her head. Lissa is the Princess in her family line, and so an instant head-to-head wi-fi connection is quite useful.
Rose is an interesting character, I think a lot of us have known someone sort of like Rose, the party girl, with the bad reputation, who is not afraid to pick fights with anyone, but has a softer side if you catch them at the right time? I've known a few of those. Rose is not all talk, she's tough, you knock her down, she will get up and seek a violent solution. She's also sort of bawdy and seductive, she very much likes men (as much as 17 year old virgin with a bad reputation can), and enjoys flirtation so wholeheartedly that you kind of have a little ra-ra-male-sexual-objectification cheer going on in your head during some of those scenes.
Lissa on the other hand, so frail, fragile and needy....I found myself wishing, often, that they didn't have a special bond, and that Rose could go off and leave her and be Rose. I know part of being Rose is that she's a guardian, and that's what she's trained her whole life to do....But Rose is so dedicated, and so obsessed with Lissa, taking care of her, of making sure she's ok, that it weighs the story down quite a bit.
The plot worked, there were so many parts where you could guess way ahead of the heroine what was happening, that I felt a bit silly when I didn't figure out the end, till it happened.
She also sets up a nice little unsatisfying love story, that makes you wish that the lead wasn't 17, because there are a few parts that are a wee bit uncomfortable with good old Rose-jail-bait-Mary.
It's not a bad read, and the writing isn't as simplified as it can be with some YA books, but I survived the reading of it, without feeling like I just HAD to read the next in the series, RIGHT NOW, so it gets three stars for having a plot, different characters then I'm used to reading, and I was entertained.
These are teenagers, in school. Which is like, well, school. Even though it's a special school, and there is royalty and popular kids, there's also the Dhamphir (half vampire and half human/Dhamphir) who act as guardians to the Moroi (living vampires, as opposed to Strigoi who are the standard evil vampires, killers with no conscience).
This story is told from the point of view of Rose, a Dhamphir, who is a self-appointed Guardian to Lissa, not so much by skill, as by the fact that she has a bond with Lissa that's unusual, she can tell what Lissa is feeling, and sometimes can get inside her head. Lissa is the Princess in her family line, and so an instant head-to-head wi-fi connection is quite useful.
Rose is an interesting character, I think a lot of us have known someone sort of like Rose, the party girl, with the bad reputation, who is not afraid to pick fights with anyone, but has a softer side if you catch them at the right time? I've known a few of those. Rose is not all talk, she's tough, you knock her down, she will get up and seek a violent solution. She's also sort of bawdy and seductive, she very much likes men (as much as 17 year old virgin with a bad reputation can), and enjoys flirtation so wholeheartedly that you kind of have a little ra-ra-male-sexual-objectification cheer going on in your head during some of those scenes.
Lissa on the other hand, so frail, fragile and needy....I found myself wishing, often, that they didn't have a special bond, and that Rose could go off and leave her and be Rose. I know part of being Rose is that she's a guardian, and that's what she's trained her whole life to do....But Rose is so dedicated, and so obsessed with Lissa, taking care of her, of making sure she's ok, that it weighs the story down quite a bit.
The plot worked, there were so many parts where you could guess way ahead of the heroine what was happening, that I felt a bit silly when I didn't figure out the end, till it happened.
She also sets up a nice little unsatisfying love story, that makes you wish that the lead wasn't 17, because there are a few parts that are a wee bit uncomfortable with good old Rose-jail-bait-Mary.
It's not a bad read, and the writing isn't as simplified as it can be with some YA books, but I survived the reading of it, without feeling like I just HAD to read the next in the series, RIGHT NOW, so it gets three stars for having a plot, different characters then I'm used to reading, and I was entertained.