Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Title: Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy #1)

Author: Richelle Mead

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: August 16, 2007

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires--the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa’s best friend, makes her a Dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger...and the Strigoi are always close by.

Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard down, lest the evil undead make Lissa one of them forever...

For a while I had heard a lot about the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead but had never actually picked them up. Then a couple of weeks ago I found the first four books at a series for $1.99 each and decided to buy them so I could finally read them. As it turns out, all those good things I had heard were true and I really enjoyed reading Vampire Academy, the first book in the series.

Lissa and Rose have been on the run for the past two years. Rose has made it her duty to protect Lissa, her best friend. Only Lissa is a lot more than just Rose’s best friend. She is that last living member of the Dragomirs, a Moroi vampire royal family. But then the school finds them and forces them to come back to St. Vladimir’s, an academy for the Moroi and their guardians-to-be. There Rose tries to deal with life back at the Academy and protecting Lissa, their bond making it that much easier to know how Lissa feels at all time. And of course there are the extra training sessions with Dimitri to look forward to.

I’ll be honest, when I first picked up this book I was expecting more of the same as far as vampire series go. As it turns out, it’s different from all the other vampire books I’ve read and a good different. I liked how there are all the different types of vampires and how they differ from each other, it wasn’t something I’d never read about before. I really enjoyed reading Vampire Academy not just for that reason but the characters were pretty awesome too.

I don’t even know how to begin describing Rose. I just loved her, she’s so great. Her impulsiveness and sarcasm made me laugh so many times, especially considering she is always either impulsive or sarcastic. Though I think her best quality is how much she cares for Lissa. No matter what the situation, Rose always puts Lissa first, even if it means putting herself in harm’s way. She may just be a novice but she completely understands what it means to be a guardian. Lissa was also pretty cool, though sometimes I felt that she needed to stand up for herself more. I understand everything that’s happened with her family, but it sometimes felt like she was relying too much on Rose. But other than that I liked Lissa a lot too.

And then there was Dimitri. It’s pretty easy to understand why Rose falls so easily for him. By the descriptions she gives of him, he does sound pretty great. The way he’s all quiet and serious but sometimes opens up when you least expect it is what makes him such a likable character. As far as male characters go, Mason and Christian were interesting too. I felt sorry for Mason, as much as she likes Rose, she can’t help how she feels about Dimitri and doesn’t feel about him. Regardless, Mason was always great to lighten up the mood. I wasn’t sure about Christian at first, I guess I was kind of going with Rose’s feelings about him. But by the end of the book I could tell that he really was a good guy and really did care about Lissa.

Overall, I really liked Vampire Academy, I was pleasantly surprised by it. It was a great story but I found that it took a while to pick up, but that might just have to do with the fact that it’s part of a series. However, once it picked up, the book was really fast-paced and hard to put down. It was a really enjoyable read and I’m glad that I bought the first four books all in one go. I’m reading, Frosbite, the next one, as it is and I’m liking it so far.