Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Published January 2007 by Razorbill
Format: Paperback
ISBN 9781595141743
332 Pages
Series? Vampire Academy | # 1
Rating: High School
Source: Library
Challenges: 2012
GoodReads

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St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. . . .

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

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This is the review format that I have been dreaming of. The review format to rule all review formats. Mwahahaha!

This one will be a combination of a traditional review and a list review. What I like will be the traditional part and what I disliked will be done in list form.

This has to be my all time favorite vampire book of the year if not out of all of the vampire books that I have read so far. I had originally skipped this book because I, like a very small number of females, did not like Twilight and so another book about vampires was not something that I cared to read about. Yet I have finally found myself unresentful of the hordes of fans that love that book (I once told my mother that Twilight would probably never get popular but was still an unique take on a classic mythological creature). Luckily for me my mom never listened to my really long talks on books and does not remember that or else I doubt that she would let me live it down. So I saw Vampire Academy at the library and decided to give it a try.

I really liked the book.

The first thing that I noticed about the book is that the main character of the book is not necessarily the most important one. Rosemarie Hathaway is Vasilisa Dragomir bodyguard. Lissa is a Strigoi princess and Rose is a Dhampir. In simple terms Lissa has two vampire parents and Rose has one vampire and one human parent. The second thing that I noticed was that Dragomir is the same name from Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side. It was Jessica's real last name. Then I realized that that last one was not important and I moved on.

While I normally  find people like Rose a bit overindulgent and annoying I found it hard to dislike Rose. She just wanted to keep her friend safe and have fun doing it. The fact that said friend is going a little coo-coo for cocoa puffs and that she is forced to take a front row seat in Lissa's emotional roller-coaster makes it easier to give her the benefit of the doubt.

I liked that Richelle was able to smoothly insert Lissa's point of view while not making it seem like there is no purpose for how she slips it in.

I really liked Rose's interaction with her fellow novices and most especially Dimitri. I might have developed a slight crush on him.

Rose's irrationality also has a way of seeming really rational which is both genius and luck.

In comparison I did not really find myself able to connect as much to Lissa as I was with Rose. She was a boring but I was able to stick with even her narration because of Rose's commentary. Which is odd because my personality is more like Lissa than Rose.

What bugged me:

1. This has nothing to do with the book but the fact that it is compared to Twilight on the back of the book. I don't really see the point in comparing any books with another but the fact that these two books only share the fact that they both have vampires in them bugs me even more.

2. Time skips. There are a good amount of flashbacks and the beginning of the flashbacks have no kind of break to differentiate whether you are in the past or present.