Book Review: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Title: Vampire Academy

Author: Richelle Mead

Publisher: Razorbill

Publication Date: August, 2007

Softback: 336 pages

Stand Alone or Series: Series

How I got this book: Bought

Why I chose this book:  When the first book came out, I put off reading it, because I honestly didn’t think I’d like it.  After a while, starting to get annoyed because the book would pop up everywhere, I decided to give it a go.

Synopsis:

             Two years after a horrible incident made them run away, vampire princess Lissa and her guardian-in-training Rose are found and returned to St. Vladimir’s Academy, where one focuses on mastering magic, the other on physical training, while both try to avoid the perils of gossip, cliques, gruesome pranks, and sinister plots.

Review:

The Cover: I’m not sure how I feel about the cover, exactly.  I’m always put off by covers that show a characters face, because it takes away from the character you imagine yourself.  Other than that, I think the cover’s fine.  I like the colors, and especially how they show the gates in the front.

The Characters: Rose is one of my favorite characters of all time.  She’s very badass, very rebellious, and can get things done herself.  She’s also not afraid to say what she means.  She has a certain  je ne sais quoi. 

Dimitri.  Who does not fall in love with Dimitri when you read Vampire Academy?  He’s quiet, deadly, and not to mention god-like.  He keeps himself in control, always doing the right thing, but every once in a while you can read about his slip-ups.

Mason has a smaller role in this book, but he’s the perfect guy friend.  He’s cute, funny, and would do anything for rose.  This may be because he has a monster crush on her, but oh well.  Any scene with Mason guarantees a laugh. 

The Plot: The basics are: this is a book about vampires.  But it goes much farther.  We have your Djampires, the half-moroi-half-human.  We have the Moroi, the full blood vampires.  And we have your Strigoi, the evil vampires that hunt Moroi.

Rose and Lissa are best friends.  But when they get caught after running away from the Academy, they have to face the consequences.  Rose is on “house arrest”, made to do extra training every day before and after classes with the new badass guardian, Dimitri.   Lissa tries to fly under the radar on the social scene, which isn’t so easy seeing as she’s royalty, and the last of the Dragomirs.  

To add to the mix, we’ve got an arch nemesis, Mia; love that cannot be; mysterious occurrences involving dead animals; and a hell of a good time.

Overall: I love this book.  It’s fast paced, bad-assed, and is just plain fun to read.  It’s one of those books you can read, then re-read, then re-read again, and so on.  Even if you’re sick of the vampire scene, this is one series you don’t want to miss out on.

Spare Thoughts: It’s a little shocking at first when you learn about Lissa’s problem.  (I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t mention it.)  But for such a vastly different world, the problem she faces is just so…human.  I’m not sure if I like this or not.  The jury’s out at the moment.

Final: Vampire Academy is Epic.

Other books by this author: Georgina Kincaid Series, Dark Swan Series, Vampire Academy Series