Book Review! One Blogging Reader’s Review after Reading Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead.

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Book Review! One Blogging Reader’s Review after Reading Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead.

This is officially Books, Movies, Fandoms first book review.
Title: Vampire Academy
Author: Richelle Mead
Series: Vampire Academy (six books)
Publisher: Penguin Publishing

“Prepare to be Tested.”
The story that kicked off the international #1 bestselling Vampire Academy series is NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE.
Read it Before it Hits Theaters February 14th, 2014!

The Publisher’s stuff:
St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. . . .

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

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Our Blogging Review:
I first heard about Vampire Academy while I was having a conversation with a friend who mentioned to me how good this story was. I brushed it off at first and really didn’t think much of it after hearing the title’s name of ‘Vampire Academy’. The stereotyping based off of the title itself was easy since we had just gotten a big dose of YA vampires in the Twilight series. I have to say this, comparing Vampire Academy to Twilight is like comparing apples to oranges, they don’t compare. All they have in common is they have vampires but I have to add that hearing the extensive research Richelle Mead put into writing this story differs greatly. She actually researched the Romanian myth of Strigoi and Moroi which in turn, inspired Vampire Academy.

Now back to my review! 🙂 After a few months and being in between books, I decided to give this book a try after reading a few reviews and seeing how well it was rated on Amazon.com and Goodreads.com. I must admit, judging a book by it’s cover took on a whole new meaning for me. I truly think that many have judged this book by it’s cover or simply because of it’s name and honestly, they are missing out.

As an avid reader, someone who’s not in the ‘age’ bracket of what YA gears towards, I wasn’t expecting a YA novel pulling me into it’s story so quickly. Well played Richelle Mead by giving her readers hot male characters to swoon over, strong and imperfect female characters to root for and a story that takes you on a journey that you can’t help but want to follow.

You are quickly introduced to the main female characters, Rose Hathaway and Lissa Dragomir who are BFF’s(Best friends forever). These two are complete opposites but that seems to help balance the close relationship they share. Their characters are also bonded and ‘connected’ after a tragic event that changes both of their lives forever.

Rose is a dhampir, which means half human half vampire who is fierce, full of moxy, impulsive, has a big heart for those she cares about and she’s protective especially of Lissa but still has imperfections that make her character someone that readers want to follow and get to know. Rose dies and is magically brought back to life. The story in Vampire Academy is narrated by Rose so we get to see this world through her eyes but we also get to see it through her BFF Lissa’s eyes on occasions as well, thanks to a unique bond they share. I won’t tell too much about how Rose comes back to life, I’ll let you read about that interesting scenario.

Rose’s BFF Lissa, is a moroi vampire which is a kind of vampire group that leads an almost normal and civil life as humans except for the fact that they do drink blood from willing donors and exist in a hidden society. Lissa also happens to be a moroi princess, who comes from one of the royal families in a twelve family hierarchy. The interesting thing about her is the fact that she has a special magic ability that is rare among the moroi vampires. Many of the moroi have their own special elemental magic power that they specialize in and through this story, Lissa finds out what hers is which becomes a great factor to her character.

You also meet the main male character Dimitri Belikov in the first chapter, who happens to be a dhampir guardian who is trained to protect moroi and was chosen to hunt down and return Rose and Lissa to St. Vladamir Academy from which they ran away. Dimitri is lethal, mysterious, tall and handsome and is truly a character you get weak in the knees for because of the strength he exudes.

There are many more wonderful characters that you will either fall in love with or love to hate. Keep in mind there are three types of vampires in the story: The dhampirs, the moroi and the strigoi. The strigoi are the worst kind of vampires you’d never want to meet. They are immoral, evil and love to kill and especially love to drink the blood of the moroi. The dhampirs are raised to be the guardians and protectors of the moroi kind to keep them safe from strigoi who are always out to make a moroi their next meal.

This book has a nice dose of action from the start, there is some mystery in the story and I love how Richelle dives right in to the heart of the story in chapter one. This book is well written and throughout the storyline, the most pressing questions get answered. The journey that the characters take you on in their lives is truly entertaining. The characters themselves are what make this book hard to put down. You get to know them, relate to them and you never feel like skimming through the pages.

I’ve read the series so I know what follows in the next books of the series and all I have to say is that it get’s better and better, hotter and better! 🙂

I do recommend this book and the Vampire Academy series. Truly a book you say ‘Don’t judge it by it’s cover or it’s title’ because there is so much more to it.

MY BLOGGING READER’S STAR SCORE FOR ‘VAMPIRE ACADEMY’:

You can find the books at Amazon.com in book format or for your Kindle/e-reader/etc.

Read it Before it Hits Theaters February 14th, 2014!

Vampire Academy – A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE titled– Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters! Will you be there to see the VA movie on opening night? (Dates are different worldwide. We are fans of the book series so we have to make sure to add this: I hope all VA fans take their friends and family to see it. We would love to write future articles for the motion pictures for Frostbite, Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise, Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice. 🙂 Make it a hit VAfamily! Yes, we are a little biased.)