Review: Bloodlines

Bloodlines, by Richelle Mead. The GoodReads summary:

When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Bloodlines explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive - this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone's out for blood.

It’s no secret that I love the Vampire Academy series, so I was pretty sure I was going to like Bloodlines too. And I totally did (yay!). I thought it was a great combination of people we knew and loved from VA (Sydney, Adrian, Jill, Eddie) with a new place (Palm Springs), a new culture (the Alchemists), and a new cast of secondary characters (Sydney’s family, other Alchemists and Moroi, schoolmates and teachers). It made the book seem familiar enough for me to feel at home without having it be so familiar that I was bored.

I already knew that I liked Sydney from the VA books, so it was nice to spend more time with her and get in her head. I immediately could relate better to her than I could to Rose, mostly because Sydney’s a thinker and planner, versus Rose who’s all about action. There’s this one part where Sydney spikes a girl’s shampoo bottle to get back at her for something, and all I could think was that if she were Rose, she would’ve just punched the girl in the face instead. The only thing that annoyed me about Sydney was her obsession with her weight. I mean, she’s a size 4, for pete’s sake, and she’s freaking out because she’s not a size 2? Give me a break.

The jury’s still out on whether I like Adrian or not. I want to like him, and sometimes I think he’s pretty witty, but I just get so tired of him being a spoiled brat. I just want him to grow up already. But I can see his potential, and I think Mead is a talented enough author to make his transition into a worthwhile person believable over the next few books. I’m kinda excited for it actually—Dimitri was perfect from page one, so it’ll be nice to see some major character development going on.

My only quibble with the book was that the climax and resolution felt a little rushed. It was all just kinda crammed into the very end of the book. It was also a little too neat and easy for my taste.

Overall, this was a totally enjoyable book. If you liked Vampire Academy, I think you’ll like this book too. It’s a little less action-oriented than VA, but I still had a great time with it.