Review | Vampire Academy

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Review by Rita
August 2007 by Razorbill
332 pages
Amazon + Good Reads

"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."

-Good Reads

I read this book, for the first time, 5 years ago. That was my introduction to Richelle's world. Since I wanted to write the review, I figured I needed to look though the book to remember some of the details. I ended up marathoning the whole series in about two days..

I know a lot of people say this book is not very good, that you have to go though this one and then the books get really good. I actually disagree, I think this one is epic. The thing is though, they just get progressively better.

Now talking specifically about it. 

The reader gets dropped in the middle of everything, we get some Rose/Dimitri action right off the bat. And is a little confusing in the beginning, but I love that Mead doesn't do any information dumping, she actually shows the reader how and why her world works. Then, it is our job to put it together.

The dialogs are amazing.. 

“Dimitri: "She might be wild and disrespectful, but if she has potential—"
Rose: "Wild and disrespecful? Who the hell are you anyway? Oursourced help?"
Kirova: "Guardian Belikov is the Princess Lissa's guardian now, her sanctioned guardian."
Rose: "You got cheap foreign labor to protect Lissa?”

This is just true love.

I love characters like Rose, witty out spoken and sexy. This book introduced me to this kind of heroine, now, I just can't get enough. One of the other favorites are the characters quirks, like Dimka's novels and the fact that nobody is perfect, a lot of them are morally impaired and not very politically correct. Makes them real and relatable. 

I also love the human relationships in this, Rose and Lissa's friendship is just so well written. I also really like Rose and Dimitri's thing(romance? friendship? mentorship?), I like how they get to know each other. And the steaminess.. 

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