Wednesday 31 August 2011

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

For Review: Puffin Razorbill
Published: 25 August 2011

From Goodreads:

BLOOD DOESN'T LIE.

Sydney is an alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of human and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives. When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she thinks she's still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir - the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir - is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill's guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the last place anyone would think to look for vampire royalty - a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. But instead of finding safety at Amberwood Prep, Sydney discovers the drama is only just beginning...


I am a major fan of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series so I was super, super excited when I heard she was writing this spin off. I loved Rose and Dimitri but I realised after reading Last Sacrifice that I was also very attached to all the other characters that lived in this world.

Bloodlines is narrated by Sydney, an Alchemist we were first introduced to in Blood Promise. I liked her then and I am so please Richelle Mead decided to write the story from her perspective. She is a very different character to Rose, much more reserved and thinks things through before jumping in, but there are qualities to her that kind of remind me of Rose too. She's caring, loyal, puts other before herself. And sometimes she can be just as badass - just in a different way!

The other characters that are back are Jill, Eddie and the wonderful Adrian. He really grew on me in the VA series, and with the way things ended for him in Last Sacrifice I am glad we get to see him move on from that. Or hopefully move on from that...

The story is awesome as well. Not only do we have the continuation from the previous series in terms of Jill, Eddie and Adrian but we also get to learn so much more about the Alchemists. Who quite frankly are a scary bunch - I'll be interested to hear other people's thoughts once they have read this one. There is also a mystery concerning young girls turning up dead with their throat slit that requires Sydney to investigate. Very exciting stuff!

Obviously coming to this as a fan of the VA series it's hard for me to say whether this works as a standalone. I think it would - most things were explained - but honestly the VA series is just so freaking good that I would definitely recommend reading them first! I mean, the last line at the end of Bloodlines? How on earth can it have that much impact?

An awesome start to what is going to be another addicting series for me! I can't wait for Golden Lily - I could spend so much more time in this world.   Loved it!

2 comments:

TheBookAddictedGirl said...

Oh, I am loving this so far! Don't you just want LOVE Adrian?!
Great review, Sammee! :D

Cliona said...

I still need to read VA! Yeah. I'm ashamed. :) Fantastic review!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...