Book Review - Vampire Academy
Title: Vampire Academy, First in the Vampire Academy series
Author: Richelle Mead
Year of Publication: 2007
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 332
First Line: I felt her fear before I heard her screams.
Summary: Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with an unbreakable bond to the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest and most dangerous 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 her one of them.
After two years of illicit freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. Rose will continue her Dhampir education. Lissa will go back to being Queen of the elite Moroi social scene. And both girls will resume breaking Academy hearts.
Fear made Lissa and Rose run away from St. Vladimir’s - inside the Academy’s iron gates, their world is even more fraught with danger. Here, the cutthroat ranks of the Moroi perform unspeakable rituals, and their secretive nature and love of the night creates an enigmatic world full of social complexities. Rose and Lissa must navigate through this dangerous world, confront the temptation of forbidden romance, and never once let their guard down, lest the Strigoi make Lissa one of them forever…
Source: Back of book
Review: Vampire Academy is a young adult novel with a different twist on vampires. The story circles around guardian Rose and Princess Lissa, who are best friends. The novel is narrated by Rose and the reader can expect to experience her age and immaturity through the descriptive writing and teen-appropriate language. The story begins with a fast pace, filled with a sense of urgency, escape and mystery as the heroine and her friend attempt to escape capture. The characters are initially shallow and one-dimensional, but they develop as the story progresses. In particular, Rose and Lissa share an incredibly strong friendship and sisterly love. As the protagonists explore their powers and mature, they find out who they can and cannot trust as they try to survive the harsh realities of a supernatural high school environment.
Mead has created an interesting hierarchy within the vampire community. Moroi are mortal vampires who become weak if they do not drink human blood. Strigoi are immortal vampires who hunt Moroi and drink Moroi blood to survive. For this reason, Moroi have guardians, Dhampirs who have a mix of human and Moroi blood. The plot is quite original and interesting, however Mead’s style of writing seemed somewhat amateur; there were some grammatical errors, which is unacceptable in a published novel. However, toward the end of the book, I couldn’t put it down. Overall, this was an acceptable first novel for a series. I would recommend this novel to young adults or from ages nine and up.
Worst part: The slow character development.
Best part: The plot and different twist on vampires. The types of vampires and their habits have hinted at a darker and interesting lifestyle than the first novel explores.
Personal Rating: 6/10 - While the ending was particularly enjoyable, the slow character development and the poor writing style brought the score down.
Other Books by This Author: Frostbite, Shadow Kiss and more in the Vampire Academy series. She has also written the Georgina Kincaid series and the Dark Swan series.