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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
I think I’d rate this about 3.5 stars. I rounded it down to three instead of up to four because it just didn’t quite make it there for me.
The setting of this story is St. Vladimir’s Academy, which as you can tell from the title of the book, is a school exclusively for vampires. The school is in Montana, which isn’t the most glamorous location in the world, but I suppose I can see the reasoning for that. The main character, Rose, is a dhampir - a half-human/half-vampire mix. Dhampir exist in this world to protect the Moroi, the mortal vampires who can control elemental magic, from the Strigoi, the undead, immortal vampires. There aren’t many dhampir and even less Moroi from what I can tell, and it’s usually the males who train to become guardians. Guardians are essentially just bodyguards assigned to (or chosen by) certain Moroi. Rose is one of the rare female guardians-in-training. Two years ago she and her best friend, Lissa, ran away from the academy, but the novel starts with them being caught and taken back. Now, even though they’re in the place where they should be safest, danger seems to be lurking around every corner. Rose divides her time between trying to protect Lissa, training with her ultra-hot mentor, Dimitri, and gossiping/being gossiped about. It really was just like high school…with vampires. Magical vampires.
As with Richelle Mead’s other work (I’ve read all of the books in the Georgina Kincaid series so far), the mystery element was really weak. I suspected the villains early on, so the end wasn’t much of a surprise. Maybe it was because this series is geared toward a younger audience, but I think even if I’d read this when I was a teenager, it still wouldn’t have been difficult to guess who the baddies were because Mead’s clues are subtle like a slap in the face. They might as well just write “CLUE” in the margin whenever she decides to drop a hint.
I don’t necessarily mind predictability to a certain extent - sometimes it’s gratifying to reach the end and find out you were right, or to come across an author who throws in a twist and manages to surprise you - but my biggest issue with the lack of subtly is that sometimes it makes the characters seem kind of stupid when they don’t pick up things that the reader sees as blatantly obvious. So later on when they finally start to put things together you’re like, “Well, duh, I figured that out 70 pages ago.” Still, the book was entertaining so I enjoyed it overall.
Oddly enough, though I did like Rose and Lissa, my favorite characters wound up being Dimitri and Christian. I’ve read reviews questioning Dimitri’s attraction to Rose, but I can see it. She’s beautiful, she’s brave - brashly so, but nevertheless - and she’s incredibly loyal. Yeah, sometimes she’s a hothead, but I’m willing to cut her some slack because she’s only seventeen. When I was her age, I was nearly as dramatic and boy crazy…and I’ve always had a bit of a temper. Besides, I’ve read plenty of books featuring adult protagonists who seemed much more immature than Rose. As for Rose’s attraction to Dimitri, who could really blame the girl? Then again, I do seem to have a penchant for hot, tall men with Russian accents. ;)
I’m definitely going to read the next book in the series and see how things go from there. Despite the fact that the mystery/suspense element isn’t Mead’s strongest suit, I like her style and she has interesting ideas. I do hope that the quality of the books stays more consistent in this series than in the Georgina Kincaid series, though, because those have been all over the place for me. I guess in a way this series will be a deciding factor in whether or not I choose to read anything else by this author in the future. One thing that I really can’t stand is when a series starts out strong and then none of the subsequent books live up to the standard set by the first. I’ve seen this happen in a few series and it’s just really disappointing. Not that I expect every book to be perfect - there are bound to be books that I like more than others in any given series - but there are times when the quality from one book to another is so disparate that it seems like they could have been written by different authors. In those cases, to save both my time and money, I think it’s better to just give up. Hopefully that doesn’t happen this time around.
On a completely random note, it annoys me that the girl on the front cover, who I assume is supposed to be Rose, doesn’t at all match the description of Rose in the book. I hate it when publishers do that.
The setting of this story is St. Vladimir’s Academy, which as you can tell from the title of the book, is a school exclusively for vampires. The school is in Montana, which isn’t the most glamorous location in the world, but I suppose I can see the reasoning for that. The main character, Rose, is a dhampir - a half-human/half-vampire mix. Dhampir exist in this world to protect the Moroi, the mortal vampires who can control elemental magic, from the Strigoi, the undead, immortal vampires. There aren’t many dhampir and even less Moroi from what I can tell, and it’s usually the males who train to become guardians. Guardians are essentially just bodyguards assigned to (or chosen by) certain Moroi. Rose is one of the rare female guardians-in-training. Two years ago she and her best friend, Lissa, ran away from the academy, but the novel starts with them being caught and taken back. Now, even though they’re in the place where they should be safest, danger seems to be lurking around every corner. Rose divides her time between trying to protect Lissa, training with her ultra-hot mentor, Dimitri, and gossiping/being gossiped about. It really was just like high school…with vampires. Magical vampires.
As with Richelle Mead’s other work (I’ve read all of the books in the Georgina Kincaid series so far), the mystery element was really weak. I suspected the villains early on, so the end wasn’t much of a surprise. Maybe it was because this series is geared toward a younger audience, but I think even if I’d read this when I was a teenager, it still wouldn’t have been difficult to guess who the baddies were because Mead’s clues are subtle like a slap in the face. They might as well just write “CLUE” in the margin whenever she decides to drop a hint.
I don’t necessarily mind predictability to a certain extent - sometimes it’s gratifying to reach the end and find out you were right, or to come across an author who throws in a twist and manages to surprise you - but my biggest issue with the lack of subtly is that sometimes it makes the characters seem kind of stupid when they don’t pick up things that the reader sees as blatantly obvious. So later on when they finally start to put things together you’re like, “Well, duh, I figured that out 70 pages ago.” Still, the book was entertaining so I enjoyed it overall.
Oddly enough, though I did like Rose and Lissa, my favorite characters wound up being Dimitri and Christian. I’ve read reviews questioning Dimitri’s attraction to Rose, but I can see it. She’s beautiful, she’s brave - brashly so, but nevertheless - and she’s incredibly loyal. Yeah, sometimes she’s a hothead, but I’m willing to cut her some slack because she’s only seventeen. When I was her age, I was nearly as dramatic and boy crazy…and I’ve always had a bit of a temper. Besides, I’ve read plenty of books featuring adult protagonists who seemed much more immature than Rose. As for Rose’s attraction to Dimitri, who could really blame the girl? Then again, I do seem to have a penchant for hot, tall men with Russian accents. ;)
I’m definitely going to read the next book in the series and see how things go from there. Despite the fact that the mystery/suspense element isn’t Mead’s strongest suit, I like her style and she has interesting ideas. I do hope that the quality of the books stays more consistent in this series than in the Georgina Kincaid series, though, because those have been all over the place for me. I guess in a way this series will be a deciding factor in whether or not I choose to read anything else by this author in the future. One thing that I really can’t stand is when a series starts out strong and then none of the subsequent books live up to the standard set by the first. I’ve seen this happen in a few series and it’s just really disappointing. Not that I expect every book to be perfect - there are bound to be books that I like more than others in any given series - but there are times when the quality from one book to another is so disparate that it seems like they could have been written by different authors. In those cases, to save both my time and money, I think it’s better to just give up. Hopefully that doesn’t happen this time around.
On a completely random note, it annoys me that the girl on the front cover, who I assume is supposed to be Rose, doesn’t at all match the description of Rose in the book. I hate it when publishers do that.
This was really good! I read it in, like, a day. Dimitri was perfection, and the bond between Rose and Lissa was really nice. A story of friendship, love and bravery, a must read! Ugh, I loved it!!
A fluffy but entertaining vampire novel. I probably wouldn't reread it, but it was a fun read between more intense books.
An interesting story with a likable supporting cast. Unfortunately, I just couldn't seem to like Rose...
Sometimes I wanted Rose and her oh-so-flirty-and-funny to slap really hard, but overall the book was kind of fun. Don't know if I want to read the next one, taking under account that I liked only Dimitri, him being the only intresting character. we shall see.
Can’t really tell if I enjoyed myself but still put a hold on book 2 from the library so....
I mean it sounds kinda crazy in my ears but I actually really liked a novel about vampires??
This book review, like all my other reviews, can also be found on my Wordpress blog: Bookshelves & Paperbacks.
Actual rating: 3.5
I posted a question on my Tumblr blog, asking what book I should read, because despite having 36071 unread books on my bookshelf, I still can never figure out what to read next. Every single person told me to read Vampire Academy; someone even sent me a message saying that it will change my life. I’ve heard nothing but fantastic things about this series. I haven’t seen the movie. I didn’t know anything about the plot going into it except that it involved vampires and, uh, an academy. As well as two people named Rose and Dmitri who everybody seems to ship.
I wouldn’t say I was disappointed by the book. I didn’t have very high expectations because I’m not too big on vampire books, or paranormal books in general. It was a light, fun, enjoyable read. If it hadn’t been for my finals that forced me to put down this book for a little over five days in between reading it, I might have even given it a high rating. When I finally did get a chance to read it, I ate it up within a few hours. It was high-paced and action-packed. I even found myself chuckling at some points. I liked it enough to want to continue on with the series (and I have heard that the books get better), but I don’t expect much more than just a fun time.
Plot:
I thought the world Richelle Mead crafted was very creative. The entire premise with the Moroi (good vampires) and the Strigoi (bad vampires) was super interesting. The relationship between the dhampirs (guardians to the Moroi) and the Moroi themselves was also something I’ve never encountered before in vampire lore, so it was refreshing. Put that into a contemporary academy setting and you get a nice, fun story.
Richelle Mead did a great job with her plot twists. I didn’t see them coming, and there were several different ones scattered throughout the book. They kept me on the edge of my seat and never once was the book dull.
While I wasn’t a huge fan of the teen angst and drama within the book, I did think it was a nicely balanced. The overarching fantasy plot would’ve been a little too much, and to avoid that, Mead diffused it with some drama. I wasn’t a big fan of the subtle slut-shaming that was going on, but what can you do? Also, there were a little too many tears for me to handle. For some reason, I don’t like weepiness in books?
The direction the novel took at the end caught my attention, and I’m looking forward to where the series goes in later books.
Characters:
While all the characters had very distinct personalities and very distinct voices, I didn’t feel connected to them at all; thus, I wasn’t invested in them. I thought Rose was great; she was feisty and sarcastic. She was confident, carried herself with grace and didn’t take any crap from anyone. But I didn’t relate to her at all. Lissa was a weaker character in comparison- of course, that may be because we got to see her from Rose’s eyes. She was a little too mild for my taste.
I did like the antagonists. I didn’t see them coming, and it was an interesting plot twist, although I’m a little miffed about how Mead dealt with this antagonist. It felt a little anticlimactic.
I think, at the moment, the character that has me most interested is Christian. I found his backstory the most intriguing out of all the other characters, and I hope I’ll get to see more of him in coming books.
Writing Style:
I’m not sure what I can say about Mead’s writing style. I definitely think that it has the addictive quality, because it flows fast and very freely. Part of the reason this book was entertaining was because of how simple Mead’s writing style was (not that simplicity is ever a bad thing.) But it didn’t stand out; I wouldn’t be able to distinguish her writing from a bunch of others’ if I had to. She has the tendency to blatantly state things, which sometimes makes me frustrated because I feel like the author is undermining his/her reader’s intelligence. But that might just be me!
Overall, I thought this book should be taken for what it is - entertainment. I enjoyed it, and I’ll be continuing on to the next book, but I’m not totally invested in it.
Actual rating: 3.5
I posted a question on my Tumblr blog, asking what book I should read, because despite having 36071 unread books on my bookshelf, I still can never figure out what to read next. Every single person told me to read Vampire Academy; someone even sent me a message saying that it will change my life. I’ve heard nothing but fantastic things about this series. I haven’t seen the movie. I didn’t know anything about the plot going into it except that it involved vampires and, uh, an academy. As well as two people named Rose and Dmitri who everybody seems to ship.
I wouldn’t say I was disappointed by the book. I didn’t have very high expectations because I’m not too big on vampire books, or paranormal books in general. It was a light, fun, enjoyable read. If it hadn’t been for my finals that forced me to put down this book for a little over five days in between reading it, I might have even given it a high rating. When I finally did get a chance to read it, I ate it up within a few hours. It was high-paced and action-packed. I even found myself chuckling at some points. I liked it enough to want to continue on with the series (and I have heard that the books get better), but I don’t expect much more than just a fun time.
Plot:
I thought the world Richelle Mead crafted was very creative. The entire premise with the Moroi (good vampires) and the Strigoi (bad vampires) was super interesting. The relationship between the dhampirs (guardians to the Moroi) and the Moroi themselves was also something I’ve never encountered before in vampire lore, so it was refreshing. Put that into a contemporary academy setting and you get a nice, fun story.
Richelle Mead did a great job with her plot twists. I didn’t see them coming, and there were several different ones scattered throughout the book. They kept me on the edge of my seat and never once was the book dull.
While I wasn’t a huge fan of the teen angst and drama within the book, I did think it was a nicely balanced. The overarching fantasy plot would’ve been a little too much, and to avoid that, Mead diffused it with some drama. I wasn’t a big fan of the subtle slut-shaming that was going on, but what can you do? Also, there were a little too many tears for me to handle. For some reason, I don’t like weepiness in books?
The direction the novel took at the end caught my attention, and I’m looking forward to where the series goes in later books.
Characters:
While all the characters had very distinct personalities and very distinct voices, I didn’t feel connected to them at all; thus, I wasn’t invested in them. I thought Rose was great; she was feisty and sarcastic. She was confident, carried herself with grace and didn’t take any crap from anyone. But I didn’t relate to her at all. Lissa was a weaker character in comparison- of course, that may be because we got to see her from Rose’s eyes. She was a little too mild for my taste.
I did like the antagonists. I didn’t see them coming, and it was an interesting plot twist, although I’m a little miffed about how Mead dealt with this antagonist. It felt a little anticlimactic.
I think, at the moment, the character that has me most interested is Christian. I found his backstory the most intriguing out of all the other characters, and I hope I’ll get to see more of him in coming books.
Writing Style:
I’m not sure what I can say about Mead’s writing style. I definitely think that it has the addictive quality, because it flows fast and very freely. Part of the reason this book was entertaining was because of how simple Mead’s writing style was (not that simplicity is ever a bad thing.) But it didn’t stand out; I wouldn’t be able to distinguish her writing from a bunch of others’ if I had to. She has the tendency to blatantly state things, which sometimes makes me frustrated because I feel like the author is undermining his/her reader’s intelligence. But that might just be me!
Overall, I thought this book should be taken for what it is - entertainment. I enjoyed it, and I’ll be continuing on to the next book, but I’m not totally invested in it.
4,5 stars
I hesitated to read Vampire Academy for the longest time. I didn't really know what it was about except that it's something about Vampires (surprise!) and that automatically made me think that it was basically Twilight in a boarding school. The covers didn't help much either. Still, I had high expectations because everyone seems to really love this series. And I have to say, those expectations were met. Vampire Academy is far from just being "like Twilight".
The first thing that pleasantly suprised me was how complex the story and the world is. It's not just your good old vampires you know and either love or hate, there are different types of them who have different attributes. The Moroi are basically the "good" vampires and are able to control one of the four elements fire, water, earth and air. The Strigoi are the "bad" ones who are incredibly strong and fast. The last group, the Dhampirs, are basically half-vampires with heightened senses who are trained to guard the Moroi. There is so much more complexity to this world which I really really liked and made it something unique. I have read a couple of vampire books but no one could make them as interesting as Richelle Mead.
Our main character, Rose, is just kick-ass and I really liked reading about her. She is a Dhampir and soon to become the guardian of Lissa, her best friend and a Moroi. The relationship and character dynamic between these two where so real and interesting not just because of their telephatic bond. They are not just friend but although a kind of family for each other that always wants to protect their members. Although they're so close to each other, they are still very different from each other.
Rose is reckless and adventurous and I liked that she was so confident about herself and her looks. Lissa is the more restrained, reasonable and insecure and tries to please everyone. But still their friendship worked really well for me. One thing that I also really liked about the characters in this book was that they seemed so "real", just like you and me. They just weren't perfect, they all had their good and bad sides and made decisions I wouldn't agree with. The author also included some more adult themes like sex and drug abuse which made everything more realistic to me. The characters in the book are young adults and I feel like those are things that a lot of them experiment with.
In the romance department there was a tiny bit of insta-love going on but I still enjoyed it overall. As I said before, the relationships felt real and were just fun to read. Also, there is no love triangle which is always a plus for me.
I thought the writing was so so good and definitely fitting to the story and easy to follow. All the world building and story details were just perfectly woven into the story. There were no big chunks of text on description or explanation all at once and sometimes terms were mentioned and explained later when their explanation was really needed which I really enjoyed.
One of the problems I had was due to all the school drama that happened. Sometimes they were just fighting about really unimportant stuff which had me annoyed here and there. Still, it also made it feel like you were in a real high school.
To summarize it all, I had an amazing time reading Vampire Academy. It was far from what I had expected it to be and so much more interesting. The characters and the world had me hooked from the beginning and if you haven't picked this series up after all those years, you should definitely do so. I can't wait to get my hands on Frostbite.
I hesitated to read Vampire Academy for the longest time. I didn't really know what it was about except that it's something about Vampires (surprise!) and that automatically made me think that it was basically Twilight in a boarding school. The covers didn't help much either. Still, I had high expectations because everyone seems to really love this series. And I have to say, those expectations were met. Vampire Academy is far from just being "like Twilight".
The first thing that pleasantly suprised me was how complex the story and the world is. It's not just your good old vampires you know and either love or hate, there are different types of them who have different attributes. The Moroi are basically the "good" vampires and are able to control one of the four elements fire, water, earth and air. The Strigoi are the "bad" ones who are incredibly strong and fast. The last group, the Dhampirs, are basically half-vampires with heightened senses who are trained to guard the Moroi. There is so much more complexity to this world which I really really liked and made it something unique. I have read a couple of vampire books but no one could make them as interesting as Richelle Mead.
Our main character, Rose, is just kick-ass and I really liked reading about her. She is a Dhampir and soon to become the guardian of Lissa, her best friend and a Moroi. The relationship and character dynamic between these two where so real and interesting not just because of their telephatic bond. They are not just friend but although a kind of family for each other that always wants to protect their members. Although they're so close to each other, they are still very different from each other.
Rose is reckless and adventurous and I liked that she was so confident about herself and her looks. Lissa is the more restrained, reasonable and insecure and tries to please everyone. But still their friendship worked really well for me. One thing that I also really liked about the characters in this book was that they seemed so "real", just like you and me. They just weren't perfect, they all had their good and bad sides and made decisions I wouldn't agree with. The author also included some more adult themes like sex and drug abuse which made everything more realistic to me. The characters in the book are young adults and I feel like those are things that a lot of them experiment with.
In the romance department there was a tiny bit of insta-love going on but I still enjoyed it overall. As I said before, the relationships felt real and were just fun to read. Also, there is no love triangle which is always a plus for me.
I thought the writing was so so good and definitely fitting to the story and easy to follow. All the world building and story details were just perfectly woven into the story. There were no big chunks of text on description or explanation all at once and sometimes terms were mentioned and explained later when their explanation was really needed which I really enjoyed.
One of the problems I had was due to all the school drama that happened. Sometimes they were just fighting about really unimportant stuff which had me annoyed here and there. Still, it also made it feel like you were in a real high school.
To summarize it all, I had an amazing time reading Vampire Academy. It was far from what I had expected it to be and so much more interesting. The characters and the world had me hooked from the beginning and if you haven't picked this series up after all those years, you should definitely do so. I can't wait to get my hands on Frostbite.