Book Review - Shadow Kiss
BOOK REVIEW
SHADOW KISS - RICHELLE MEAD
I give the book a 5 out of 5 stars!
Words cannot descirbe how utterly devestating the end of this book is. If I hadn't read the Bloodlines books first I would be even more devestated then I am now...but even with that, I feel so depressed. The book was amazingly good, filled with action and romance but man that ending was heart-wrenching! Dimitri lost his soul! He became Strigoi, something he would have rather died then become. Now, Rose is fulfilling his wishes by chasing after him to kill him. It's so horrible! Just after he professes that he's gonna do everything he can to be with her and just after they consumated their relationship...he's turned! It's just cruel!
I couldn't rate the book low just because the ending devestated me. I know I did that with another book, but honestly, this one was so good that I couldn't bring myself to do that. I don't think I'll ever rate a Mead book any lower than 5. This one had so many twists and turns and it was never boring, that's for sure. Honestly I don't understand how I could lower the rate of the first book where Dimitri and Rose made love! There was just so much love there, I couldn't take it when they told her his body was missing and that he most likely had been turned. My heart broke even further when Mason's ghost confirmed it.
The entire book consisted of Rose thinking she was going crazy because she kept seeing Mason's ghost everywhere. She kept it to herself for the longest time, which hurt her more than it helped. When she finally told the guardians and everyone else, nobody believed that what she had really seen was real, they believed she was just suffering from PTSD from the loss of Mason. Trns out, when she had died and been brought back to life by Lissa those many years ago...it made her able to communicate with the dead. What had strengthened it though was all the Strigoi she had killed. The more life she takes, the stronger the bond to death. Of course the crazy theory was also a little bit true. Whenever Lissa started to feel the crazy from her powers, Rose was able to take it all away from her without realizing it but it would go into her and she would start acting out on the darkness. The only person that was actually able to calm Rose down was Dimitri...now he's gone.
What infuriates me even further is that stupid group that Jesse and Ralf were recruiting members for. They were so dedicated to making their little wanna-be club powerful that they were using magic in an evil manner, torturing people, and it ended up shorting out the wards that were supposed to be protecting the Academy. Which is how the Strigoi were able to attack, which led to Dimtri getting turned and so many others being killed.
Lissa FINALLY finds out about Dimitri and Rose, but it's not till the end when she sees how broken up Rose is over Dimtri being gone that she figures it out. It angers her, and I'm sure I'd be angry too if my best firend hadn't confieded in me about something that important, but what really seperates them at the end is that Rose leaves the Academy, AND LISSA, to go find Dimtri. It's something that is very controversial in the Guardian world. A guardian is never supposed to choose love over their Moroi that they're supposed to be guarding. It's been drilled into them from their childhood, "They Come First" But Rose does it anyway.Even though I'm proud she's thinking of herself for a change, it really isn't fair that she left Lissa behind like that.
This book was also a huge turning point when it came to the issues that had been arising about Moroi using Magic as a weapon. When the Strigoi attacked and the guardians saw how Rose and Christian were able to kill so many Strigoi - him setting them on fire and her staking them with all her guardian training - they decided as a group that bringing in the Moroi would benefit them more than hurt, and it did. They saved a lot of people in the caves, even if they couldn't save all of them...including Dimtiri.
One thing I'm looking forward to is to have that horrible bitch of a queen, Tatiana, removed from power. Lissa deserves to rule instead, although I don't think for a second that Victor is in anyway correct about anything else. I do believe that Lissa needs to be the one to bring about change. He wants to exploit her though, so the more he's not a part of a plan the better.
I didn't think I was going to be able to survive the ending of this book. I knew before I even read it that Dimitri was going to turn, not just because of the foreshadowing, but because of Bloodlines. For once I'm glad of that, atleast I won't feel like his situation is entirely hopeless. I just gave away so much and I hope that those that are reading this Book review have already read all of the books, because I don't like giving away endings. Mainly these book reviews are more like a way for me to get out all my feelings after reading something so intense...atleast most of the time. Sorry to those who read this and were spoiled. Still, if you want to read the books anyway and you haven't...pick them up! Beacause they are spectacular!
