Thursday, January 26, 2012

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.

5 comments:

  1. I thought this one was part of the Vampire Academy series (haven't gotten to it yet) but good to know it's a separate thing. Do you think it'd make sense if I haven't read the VA books?

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    1. I don't think you need to read VA to read this one--the author does a pretty good job establishing who's who and what's what. It might help a little to have read VA to understand why some things are important in this book, but I think it can stand alone pretty well.

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  2. I am a huge huge VA fan, so the idea of reading this one is a bit daunting. I've bought it but it's just sitting there. I think I'm afraid it won't live up to what I want it to be. I wasn't that fond of Sydney or Adrian so it's going to have to do a lot to pull me in. That being said, it bodes well that you enjoyed it cos I know we don't stand for the same kind of stuff a lot of readers would let go :)

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    1. Yeah, the main reason I read it was because I knew I liked Sydney already. Adrian, not so much. I don't think I would've read it any time soon if I hadn't already liked Sydney, so I can definitely understand why you're holding off. I think this one is a little less your type of book than VA, but I think you still might like it. I think it has some pretty good potential as a series.

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  3. Yay! Glad to hear you liked this one! Im just starting on the VA series and I'm trying to go through them slowly so that I can enjoy them as long as possible!

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