Sunday, March 18, 2012

[BOOK REVIEW] Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead



Title:  Vampire Academy

Author: Richelle Mead


Genre: Paranormal Romance

Year Published: 2007

Number of Pages: 332 pages

Date Read: 6/14/2011

Series: Vampire Academy #1

Publisher:  Razorbill

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating: Ages 16+ (Strong Language and Gory Violence)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository




When my friends told me about Richelle Mead’s popular “Vampire Academy” series, I just had to check this series out!  Wow and double wow, this book was a brilliant introduction to the “Vampire Academy” series and after I had read this book, I really wanted to read more about these awesome characters! Full of drama, mystery, action and hot romance, “Vampire Academy” is definitely one novel that will take the paranormal world by storm!

For two years, Rose Hathaway and Vasilisa “Lissa” Dragomir, escaped from St. Vladimir’s Academy to go into hiding, but they were soon discovered by the school’s guardians and were brought back to the academy.  Little does anyone know Rose took her best friend Lissa out of the academy because there was a great danger being posed against Lissa and only Rose can protect her from the forces of evil.

Now, should I give this book a six star rating?  Yes, definitely yes!  This novel is clearly the one that defines what a true paranormal romance is all about and I am so glad that all my friends had recommended me this book!  Richelle Mead’s writing is extremely and unbelievably amazing as it is full of action and adventure and I loved the sort of mature “Harry Potter” spin on this story as both stories involve the main characters going to a magical school. I also loved the way that the plot never once slows down and the story keeps getting more exciting as the story went on and that was what I loved about the writing.  The way that Richelle Mead made this story being told from Rose’s point of view on the events that unfold at the academy was truly remarkable and hilarious at the same time as we know how Rose really feels about the situations around her and I loved hearing her inner thoughts on various people at school as some of them are really hilarious, such as thinking of many ways to beat up the school bully Mia.  I really loved the world that Rose and her friends live in as they all go to a school for vampires or more specifically, a school for Dhampir and Moroi students and that really brings out the creativity in this novel.  Now, my favorite part of the book were the characters as they were all interesting, but the two characters in this book that were my favorites were Rose Hathaway and Russian guardian, Dimitri Belikov.  Rose Hathaway was such an awesome heroine because she is extremely brave and independent and even though I sometimes found her hot temper to be a little annoying at times, it is because she tries to protect her best friend Lissa from danger.  That is another aspect that I loved about Rose because she is always willing to put her life on the line to keep her friend Lissa safe and that just proves what a true friend Rose is.  I also loved how Rose always provides humor for the story as she is always making wisecracks about the situations around her and I especially loved her inner thoughts on taking care of the school bullies, which unfortunately involves her beating them up.  Now onto the hero and that is Dimitri Belikov!  Dimitri was one hero that is so hot and awesome at the same time and I loved the scenes of him fighting off anyone who tries to harm Rose!  I also loved the mysterious and dark attitude that he seems to give off towards everyone around him, but he also has a heart of gold and I loved the moments where he smiles at Rose and shows genuine concern for her safety. It just makes me feel so tingly inside every time he shows kindness towards Rose!
As for Dimitri and Rose’s relationship, it is kind of unknown to me at this point about where they stand, but there are still some pretty heartwarming and sexy moments between these two that I will definitely keep an eye out for!

Surprisingly, there is a strong amount of language and violence in this book and anyone who does not like reading strong language might want to skip over them.  Also, the violence in this book is pretty graphic as there is gore aplenty in this book, so that might be something that anyone who is not a big fan of graphic violence might want to check over.

Overall, “Vampire Academy” is definitely one paranormal book that every paranormal romance fan will read over and over again! Did this novel help me get more into the series?  You bet it did and now I’m going to read the second book in the series, “Frostbite.”

*Winner: 2008 ALA Teens' Top Ten



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