Wrap up – The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead

Got better and better, masterful platting and pacing.

I was a little late to the show when it came the Vampire Academy Series, I purchased a box set and spread out the Rose and Dimitri goodness for about a year. I have to admit that it was the film adaptation that inspired me to pick up this collection of books. The tongue-in-cheek witty one liners and kick-ass heroine had me sold instantly.

The film didn’t get that much praise, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the silliness and mythology of the world, though it was easy to see where it failed. There is so much information in every book in this series, that the movie could not include it all in order to help drive the plot forward. I also did not get the chemistry from the couple on screen that I did in the novels.

Richelle Mead is a master of plot. The novels just kept getting better the further I got into the series. My favourite being ‘Blood Promise.’ What starts as a typical smart-mouthed teen, Rose really develops into a selfless warrior.

I did want a little more from the end of the series though; there were many questions I did not get answers to, but I’m wondering if it will get explored further in the Bloodlines series.

An attractive boxed set that gave me many, many hours of fun entertainment and solidified Rose as one of my favourite heroines. Glad to have it in my library collection.

© Casey Carlisle 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘Last Sacrifice’ (Vampire Academy Book 6) by Richelle Mead

A sad goodbye to a YA favorite.

Genre: Y/A, Paranormal, Romance, Mystery

No. of pages: 608

From Goodreads:

They come first.

My vision was growing dimmer, the blackness and ghosts closing in. I swore it was like I could hear Robert whispering in my ear: The world of the dead won’t give you up a second time. Just before the light completely vanished, I saw Dimitri’s face join Lissa’s. I wanted to smile. I decided then that if the two people I loved most were safe, I could leave this world.

The dead could finally have me.

Rose Hathaway has always played by her own rules. She broke the law when she ran away from St. Vladimir’s Academy with her best friend and last surviving Dragomir princess, Lissa. She broke the law when she fell in love with her gorgeous, off-limits instructor, Dimitri. And she dared to defy Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi world, risking her life and reputation to protect generations of dhampir guardians to come.

Now the law has finally caught up with Rose – for a crime she didn’t even commit. She’s in prison for the highest offense imaginable: the assassination of a monarch. She’ll need help from both Dimitri and Adrian to find the one living person who can stall her execution and force the Moroi elite to acknowledge a shocking new candidate for the royal throne: Vasilisa Dragomir.

But the clock on Rose’s life is running out. Rose knows in her heart the world of the dead wants her back…and this time she is truly out of second chances. The big question is, when your whole life is about saving others, who will save you?

I’m not sure how I feel about the conclusion to this epic series – on the one hand it was a lovely round-up and concluded in what, to be frank, is the most realistic way. But I wanted and ending that was legendary. After I had put the book down, I was struggling to remember how it all wrapped up… and that’s why I’m so on the fence with the culmination to the Vampire Academy books – I invested a lot of time in these big six books, so I wanted the conclusion to be the ultimate.

Lissa’s position I pretty much pegged in the first book of VA, and that was very satisfying. But Rose… well… she’s a warrior and I wanted a big bang – or promise of more to come. We kind of left her in a way that it trailed off.
But that is about the biggest aspect to ‘Last Sacrifice’ and the VA that bothered me. The rest was damphir goodness! I got the little plot twists that I’ve not come to expect, and that I rarely predict. The overall plot is pretty much easy to guess, but Richelle Mead always makes the journey there so interesting.

I also wanted some more questions answered a little better. More investigation into Spirit users. The fate of the remaining Strigoi. A solid direction for the reign of the new Queen. We get hints, but it felt too uncertain.

I know their journey is still not over, as the spin-off Bloodlines will delve into more of the VA world, and most likely give me some more answers. But I feel VA deserved an ending that resonated with me.

The writing is easy to read and a pleasure to while away an afternoon as always. And considering that ‘Last Sacrifice’ is 608 pages long, it was still a relatively fast read. It did drag a bit at some points, and the pacing isn’t as good as its predecessors – I think mainly because there was so much going on and Rose was in and out of her head as well as Lissa’s, it was difficult to get into one stream of consciousness where the action was ramping up, before you are yanked into another head space.

I think we also lost some of that mystery that we get throughout VA – it was pushed to the side with all the action in ‘Last Sacrifice.’ I wanted to there be a stronger presence of Spirit and it’s mythology/origins. And a bit more on the origin of the species of Moroi and Strigoi. With the introduction of the rebel group who were Traditionalists, it opened the door for this – but Richelle didn’t do anything with that. As too with the mythology/origins of the Alchemists.

So I’m going to have to read the Bloodlines series now to see if Mead will drop me some more breadcrumbs.

A wonderful book, slightly underwhelming ending, but a sad goodbye to our kick ass heroine Rose (by that I mean an end to the series – not that she dies).

Overall reaction: a sweet and sad goodbye

 

© Casey Carlisle 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

#bookquotes

Sadly I’ve completed this series 😦

But luckily there is always Bloodlines 🙂

Book Review – ‘Spirit Bound’ (Vampire Academy Book 5) by Richelle Mead

I didn’t expect this kind of aftertaste from another bite out of the Vampire Academy series.

Genre: Y/A, Paranormal, Romance, Mystery

No. of pages: 489

From Goodreads:

Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong…

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri’s birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s and to her best friend, Lissa. It is at long last graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives beyond the Academy’s iron gates to begin. But Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he’s out there, somewhere.

She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her. And this time he won’t rest until Rose joins him . . . forever.

I’ve really been enjoying my journey through the Vampire Academy series and was eager to complete the collection early this year, so I went into book five, ‘Spirit Bound’ with some high expectations.

For some reason I did not enjoy this as much as the others – maybe it was the lack of action? But there was still a lot going on in this novel… I was forced to put it down a number of times because of life commitments, but it is still has an easy flow and allowed me to pick up from where I left off with ease.

I think the biggest thing that stood out to me in this instalment was Roses indecisiveness, that and her continual flighty nature – it was getting old. We’ve seen so much development of her character throughout the series, ‘Spirit Bound’ felt like a big step backward.

I enjoyed the typical Rose/Lissa goodness in the first half, but it started to take a back seat by the end and had me asking what was going on – was everyone taking crazy pills? Richelle Mead what are you doing to me?

Besides that, I loved the intrigue and politics with the royals – you really have to keep an eye over your shoulder.

My affection for Adrian, Rose’s new boyfriend, really grew in Spirit Bound – previously I felt he was more of an annoyance, but by the end of this novel my heart went out to him. He is really a lost puppy in a barfly’s clothing.

In true Mead form, there was another plot twist at the end which floored me – I was not expecting that at all. As was the tension between Rose and Dimitri – I’ve invested a lot in the Vampire Academy books and wanted more of a win at the conclusion of this novel – but given it’s the second to last, I’m sure we needed to up the stakes for a fantastic end to the saga.

The romance with the world of dhampir, strigoi and moroi is still resounding strong in my blood, but this story was a little weaker, but I am expecting ‘Last Sacrifice’ to slay me. Looking forward to completing the series and then maybe start to tackle the Bloodlines series.

Overall reaction: Why you gotta do me like that?

 

© Casey Carlisle 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.