Vampire Academy

In honor of Peacock picking up the book series Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, I decided to review this first book today!

Description from Amazon-

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.

It’s been a couple years since I’ve read this series but even then it’s stuck with me, Richelle Mead‘s writing was so good! It’s easy to read, while still making the characters and story complex and interesting. There’s never a boring moment in this series, Mead was able to keep the whole 6 book series interesting, and keep me on the edge of my seat for what would come next.

The character arcs in Vampire Academy were great as well. Rose Hathaway, a headstrong fierce rebel girl, starts off a little too rebellious, but you can she that she grows throughout the series into a responsible yet still very fierce guardian. Lissa, the powerful princess, starts off as kinda shy and is getting over the deaths of her parents and brother, but she grows to be more confident and in control of her powers. Then there’s Dimitri Belikov, the closed off Russian guardian teacher, who learns to open up to love and the people that will become his family. Adrian Ivashkov, the bad boy, who as the series continues he becomes better and learns his own self worth. The last and one of my personal favorite of the boys is Christian Ozera, he’s very closed off in the beginning because of what happens with his parent, but he learns that he‘s not his parent, and that he can have a different fate than them.

Mead also does fantastic job of balancing the romance with the friendships and the fantasy of this world. There’s a love triangle between Rose Dimitri and Adrian, but that’s not the main focus of this series. Mead focuses on friendships a lot too especially between Rose and Lissa learning how to depend and trust each other. Mead also delves into mental health issues, addiction, and politics during different parts in the series.

I like the movie that came out in 2014, and wished it had done better, but I absolutely love the fact that like City of Bones this series is getting a second chance at an adaptation, because some series don’t get that chance. In some ways a book to tv adaptation is better than a book to movie adaptation because you can fit more into a tv series than a movie. I’m excited to see what the writers do with this going forward, and can’t wait to watch it!

The books-

Vampire Academy (one)

Frostbite (two)

Shadow Kiss (three)

Blood Promise (four)

Spirit Bound (five)

Last Sacrifice (six)