'The Indigo Spell' Bloodlines #3 by Richelle Mead

 Received from the Publisher 

From the BLURB:

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives.

In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she struggles to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she finally tracks down the elusive, enigmatic Marcus Finch – a former Alchemist who the organisation denies exists, and who lives in shadows, on the run. With Marcus's help, Sydney realises that the group she's been loyal to her whole life has been hiding the truth from her. Is it possible that her golden lily tattoo might have more power over her than she thinks?

As she struggles to come to terms with what that might mean, Sydney is compelled to use her growing magical powers to track down an evil magic user who is targeting powerful young witches. Using magic goes against everything she always thought she believed, but she realises that her only hope is to embrace her special blood – or else she might be next.

Forging her own way is harder than Sydney ever dreamed. Maybe by turning off her brain – and following her heart – she'll be able to finally figure out where she belongs.

** This review contains spoilers of previous books in the ‘Bloodlines’ series and all other ‘Vampire Academy’ novels **

‘The Indigo Spell’ is the third book in Richelle Mead’s ‘Vampire Academy’ spin-off series, ‘Bloodlines’. 

I have not been the biggest fan of this series. I was decidedly “meh” about the first book, and then ‘The Golden Lily’ pulled an abysmal two-star rating from me (the lowest rating of any Richelle Mead book I've ever read!). So when I went into this third book, I was competing against past disappointments and reading prejudices. Furthermore, ‘Indigo Spell’ is being released amidst much hype about the movie adaptation of Mead’s highly-popular ‘Vampire Academy’ series – so I've been thinking about how great those books were, what a kick-butt protagonist Rose was and how my love of that series will be reignited with this movie. 

So, know that it is no small feat that with all that baggage working against ‘The Indigo Spell’. . . I come away from this third book with a smile on my face and a feeling that this series has been reinvigorated. And I say for the first time, that I am on-board with the ‘Bloodlines’ series. Hallelujah. Amen. Praise! And on with the review. . . 

First off – the mystery at the heart of this book is superb. Alchemist Sydney Sage has been tutored in magic by her teacher, Ms. Terwilliger since she arrived at the boarding school. But when ‘Indigo Spell’ begins, Terwilliger has an odd request to make of Sydney – namely that she helps find her sister, Veronica, before she hurts any more magical young women. You see, while Veronica is ten years older than Ms Terwilliger, she looks decades younger because she has been draining young women of their magic and youth – leaving them human husks. And – Sydney being an attractive, young magic-user – she is also potentially in danger. I loved this mystery storyline, it had echoes of Elizabeth Báthory but more than anything it was a well-paced mystery and great ‘whodunit’. With both ‘Bloodlines’ and ‘The Golden Lily’, I feel like I could only recount vague details of the ‘mystery’ plots woven throughout those books – but the hunt for Terwilliger’s sister was written on solid ground, kept me guessing and most importantly advanced Sydney’s story and further complicated her Alchemist life by immersing her deeper into forbidden magic territory. Brilliant! 

I also enjoyed another mystery plot that runs concurrent to Terwilliger's sister - and that concerns a rogue called Marcus Finch. I will give nothing away - save to say, this was another intrigue that adds layers and complications to Sydney's life and I think will prove a ticking time-bomb in the future. But, my lips are sealed.

Now, Adrian has always worked for me as a character – I never really had complaints about him, per se, in either ‘Bloodlines’ or ‘The Golden Lily’ (he even moped amusingly). What didn’t work for me was his sudden romantic interest (and then love!) for the decidedly dull Sydney Sage. I just did not get it – especially when Mead indicated timeline by saying Adrian and Rose had only been over for three months when he moved from ‘depression’ to new ‘obsession’ with Sydney. 

With that in mind . . . the Sydney/Adrian romance clicked for me in ‘Indigo Spell’. In the previous two books, it kinda felt like an arranged marriage – Adrian had to be the hero of any VA spin-off, so he was just gonna wind up with whichever female protagonist Mead chose to write about anyway . . . and for two books Sydney/Adrian felt forced. But I finally *get* them in this book – it just became clear to me that with Sydney, Adrian has someone to protect and she needs him. I never felt like Rose needed him – sure, he was fun and cute, but for the serious life-and-death stuff she was either self-reliant, or running to Dimitri. Adrian was never anyone’s first choice for help . . . until Sydney. I get it now. 

I also like that Adrian at least addresses his sudden switcheroo from Rose to Sydney. And, in typical Adrian fashion, he brings the snark and wit to his romantic declaration; 

“Nothing will get you anywhere with me,” I exclaimed. 

“I don’t know about that.” He put on an introspective look that was both unexpected and intriguing. “You’re not as much of a lost cause as she was. I mean, with her, I had to overcome her deep, epic love with a Russian warlord. You and I just have to overcome hundred of years’ worth of deeply ingrained prejudice and taboo between our two races. Easy.”

Adrian feels more like Adrian in ‘Indigo Spell’. I can’t quite put my finger on it – and maybe it is down to him being in ‘romantic’ mode once again, but he seemed to bring the zingers in this book. I appreciated this quite a bit;

Adrian shook his head, still smiling. “I've said over and over, I'd do anything for you. I just keep hoping it’ll be something like, ‘Adrian, let’s go hot tubbing’ or ‘Adrian, take me out for fondue.’” 

“Well, sometimes we have to–did you just say fondue?” Sometimes it was impossible to follow Adrian’s train of thought. “Why in the world would I ever say that?” 

He shrugged. “I like fondue.” 

I will also say that for the first time, I have finished a ‘Bloodlines’ book excited for the next one. The ending is good, and that’s all I’m saying.

Now, just because I've got stuff to gush about, doesn’t mean the ‘Bloodlines’ series is magically perfect. No. Complaints I've had since book #1 still abound. 

Jill. Jill, Jill, Jill, Jill, Jill. Ohhhhh . . .  how I hate the girl (which is the only way I know she’s related to Lissa – that I hate them both fairly equally must mean they share DNA). Can I just say; when rumours of a VA spin-off first whispered across the internet, I was rather excited by everyone speculating that Jill would be our new protagonist. I thought she would be a rather great new narrator because, in theory, Jill is an interesting character with plenty of potential. She’s the love-child of a deceased monarch, half-sister to the reigning queen and at the centre of a potential political assassination. She could have been a pretty great narrator with an impressive story arc. In reality; she is God-awful.

So far, Jill’s storyline in the previous two books has centred on a wacky love-triangle and ambitions to become a catalogue model. Erm – are you serious?! What I really crave for Jill is a confrontation with Lissa – I want them to address the fact that Eric Dragomir cheated on Lissa’s mother, resulting in Jill and thereby wrecking her rose-tinted memories of their happy marriage (never mind that it’s a double-edged sword, since Jill’s existence allows Lissa to be queen). But Sydney frequently shuttles this elephant-in-the-room under the carpet by saying it’s too dangerous for Jill and Lissa to meet, Lissa hasn’t reached out to her – yadda, yadda, yadda. Excuses, excuses, excuses. Instead, Mead has given Jill a storyline based around a new love triangle (groan!) between herself, Eddie and Angeline. This is a plot point even Sydney admits sounds like a Shakespearean comedy – what it is, is a farcical failure – and all their scenes end up feeling a little ‘Sweet Valley High’ because they deviate so far from the vampire-world and just read like eye-rolling teen melodrama. 

Though I’m loathe to see Lissa return, I think her presence is needed to make a richer character out of Jill. Even if it’s just a meeting between the two of them that entails Lissa making her dislike of Jill known, and saying that she’s a means to her throne and nothing more (I can totally picture Lissa saying this, because in my mind she has always been villain-adjacent) – at least that would be a launching pad for an interesting character development for Jill. If there’s two more books in the ‘Bloodlines’ series, then something has seriously got to be done with this character – especially when her very existence is the central reason for the ‘Bloodlines’ spin-off series!

Overall though; put me on the ‘Bloodlines’ bandwagon, cause ‘Indigo Spell’ managed to hook me when the first two books in this spin-off couldn’t do it. Nothing is perfect, but I feel like Richelle Mead is finding a great balance now in merging the old with the new – I’m excited for where the story is heading, but I’m thrilled that the old Adrian is back. ‘The Indigo Spell’ is a book of thrilling, heart-palpitating, swoon-worthy magic. 

4/5 

'The Golden Lily' Bloodlines #2 by Richelle Mead

Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.

Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she's been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.

But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don't die. But it's her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her.

When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney's loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.

Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart?

** This review contains spoilers of previous book ‘Bloodlines’ and all other ‘Vampire Academy’ novels **

‘The Golden Lily’ is the second book in Richelle Mead’s ‘Vampire Academy’ spin-off series, ‘Bloodlines’.

Full disclosure: I was decidedly unimpressed with Richelle Mead’s first book, ‘Bloodlines’. I am such a fan of ‘Vampire Academy’, and was so excited that Mead’s intricate, vampiric world would live on in a spin-off series . . . but then I read ‘Bloodlines’ and felt a resounding “meh” about the whole thing. I didn’t love the Palm Springs human-world setting, and felt that the new series was lacking that extra “oomph” by not being set in St. Vladimir’s Academy again. I was also wholly unimpressed with new narrator, Sydney Sage, having had kick-butt Rose Hathaway for the six ‘VA’ books, Sydney’s introverted, cautious and health-conscious voice was a bit of a letdown. So, all in all, it wasn’t a great first outing for me. Okay. Fine. I was more than willing though, to give Richelle Mead the benefit of a series. I know she’s a phenomenal author – having stuck with her through the completion of ‘Georgina Kincaid’ and ‘Dark Swan’ in the last year. So I went into ‘The Golden Lily’ with an open mind and heady optimism for a great second attempt. . .

Unfortunately, ‘The Golden Lily’ was more of a wilt than a win for me.

The books starts out brilliantly, I should say. In Chapter One we’re out of Palm Springs and in the Alchemist’s den, where Sydney is learning the outcome of events previous. After discovering that fellow Alchemist, Keith, was selling Moroi blood to humans she reported him to the council, and when ‘Golden Lily’ begins, Sydney sees just what sort of punishment an Alchemist receives if they’re thought to be coercing with Moroi. This was a powerful and unsettling Chapter, purely because we’re given some insight into the slightly fanatical underpinnings of the Alchemist ethos. Seeing Keith’s punishment for having a business deal with Moroi also unnerves Sydney, because deep down she knows that her increasingly affectionate and friendly relationship with Dragomir Princess-in-hiding, Jill, and her spirit-bonded Adrian Ivashkov is bordering on something the Alchemist’s wouldn’t approve of.

After that first chapter, Sydney is back in Palm Springs and dealing with the many and messy tangled webs of her group. Eddie is fighting off the unwanted affections of rough-around-the-edges fellow dhampir, Angeline, while also suppressing his crush on Jill (who is dating his human roommate, Marcus). Dimitri Belikov and Sonya Karp are in Palm Springs as the only two known dhampir-turned-strigoi-turned-back dhampir, who are testing theories on how exactly they survived the transition.

Meanwhile, troubled soul Adrian Ivashkov is now only mildly wallowing in the loss of Rose Hathaway to the Russian Dmitri. He is more concerned with his imprisoned mother and silent father, and continuing the arts course he promised Sydney he’d stick out.

Sydney, meanwhile, finds herself in the odd predicament of having a date. When her classmate, Trey, unofficially sets her up with a co-worker who knows about Shakespeare, Latin and windmills . . . thus, Sydney finds herself a social life with wet-rag Brayden.

Phew. Now, that sounds like a lot of stuff going on. But, honestly, the above plots were all very . . . mundane. For a spin-off ‘Vampire Academy’ series called ‘Bloodlines’, I really felt there wasn’t enough paranormal stuff going on in this book. Mead also threw in a few clunky chapters in which Sydney translates magic spells for her kooky teacher who knows all about the Moroi and calls Sydney ‘Miss Melbourne’, but otherwise I thought this was a very paranormal-lite book. And after I got so excited with that first chapter that really concentrated on the Alchemist world, I was doubly disappointed when this 418-page book didn’t properly revisit that aspect until the very end, and even then in a single chapter.

This is another reason why I’m still somewhat disappointed that ‘Bloodlines’ isn’t set in St. Vladimir’s. On the one hand, I do like that Sydney’s rag-tag bunch are all outsiders and on the periphery of Moroi society. But having them be undercover at a human boarding school in sunny Palm Springs does mean that they’re not so involved in the supernatural goings-on of the Moroi world. It’s boring.

I also have a complaint about the development of secondary characters in ‘Bloodlines’. Now, in ‘Vampire Academy’ the clear stars of the series were Rose and Dmitri, and their illicit, scorching love affair. But Rose’s best friend and spirit-bond connection, Lissa Dragomir, did get a very well constructed story arc too – and a love story with outsider, Christian Ozera. I didn’t necessarily like Lissa, or really rate her romance with Christian, but I can’t deny that over the six books they got a very well fleshed out story arc. Not to mention fellow dhampir’s like Mason and Eddie and Moroi, Mia also got enough side-story mentions to keep things interesting. Now considering that the first book in ‘Bloodlines’ was 421-pages, and ‘The Golden Lily’ is 418-pages long . . . it’s a bit odd that I feel no real connection or interest in any of the book’s secondary characters. Jill, Eddie, Angeline and Sonya . . . I can’t say that I know any of them any better now, than I did when reading about them in ‘Vampire Academy’. Jill is just a bit of a twit, in my opinion, seemingly content to walk runway fashion shows and have a human boyfriend who has gained her lots of human friends. Considering she only recently found out she was the illegitimate daughter of a Moroi prince (not to mention half-sister of the current Queen!), you’d think the girl would have more depth and be more interesting. She’s not. And, honestly, I don’t even notice when she’s not there – she walks into a scene and suddenly I remember there’s a character called Jill who’s meant to be important. Now, I personally think this is another reason that ‘Bloodlines’ should have been set in St. Vladimir’s – so we could read about the student body reacting to having Jill in their midst, and so there was a chance that Jill could interact with Lissa on occasion. Mead is trying to increase Jill’s interest by including a still-forming maybe-crush with her dhampir bodyguard, Edie, but honestly it’s so half-baked and underexplored in ‘Bloodlines’ that it’s more afterthought than romantic entanglement.

No, clearly the secondary characters in ‘Bloodlines’ are just props. The real stars are meant to be Sydney and Adrian – but they are a weak imitation of the Rose and Dmitri that made ‘Vampire Academy’ such a hit.

In theory, Sydney and Adrian should be interesting. They’re opposites attracting, for a start, Sydney with her perfectly compact, sugar-free life and whose Alchemist upbringing has her wary of Moroi. Paired with wild-child, tortured soul and ‘Vampire Academy’ romantic underdog, Adrian, it should be a star-crossed slam-dunk. But it’s just not. After reading ‘Bloodlines’ I said I was delighted/half-hearted about the clearly intended Adrian/Sydney romance – but I did predict that it would take a long time to get there. As it turns out, I was wrong. We’ve seemingly jumped from a few questioning glances and stray thoughts in ‘Bloodlines’ to barely-restrained-adoration in ‘The Golden Lily’. Adrian just suddenly really likes Sydney. He devises paper-thin excuses to hang out with her, and he asks in very round-about ways if her feelings towards Moroi have improved. He’s barely civil towards Brayden (a secondary character red-herring who doesn’t really deserve a mention for the amount of unnecessary page-time he took up!) and Adrian takes up arms with any who cause Sydney discomfort. Sydney, of course, is none the wiser. But I just wasn’t buying it. . . especially not when Adrian reveals that his and Rose’s romance has only been over for approximately three months since she chose Dmitri over him. Three months!? And now he’s smitten with Sydney?! I just wasn’t buying it.

Speaking of Adrian Ivashkov. Yes, I am a fan. A big fan. But I’m just not digging him so much in ‘Bloodlines’. I feel like he has lost a lot of his snarky, anti-hero, anti-social appeal that made him such a delicious bad temptation in ‘Vampire Academy’. In ‘Bloodlines’ he seems watered down, and it reads like Mead is forcing this chivalrous, romantic persona on him when he is much better suited to the sarcastic, tortured soul schtick. Some of that still shines through in ‘The Golden Lily’, but not nearly at the level Adrian was when he first stepped onto the scene in ‘Frostbite’:

“It is terrifying,” said Adrian. “And weird, for lack of a better word. And part of you knows. . . well, part of you knows something’s not right. That your thinking’s not right. But what do you do about that? All we can go on is what we think, how we see the world. If you can’t trust your own mind, what can you trust? What other people tell you?”
“I don’t know,” I said, for lack of a better answer. His words struck me as I thought how much of my life had been guided by the edicts of others.
“Rose once told me about this poem she’d read. There was this line, ‘If your eyes weren’t open, you wouldn’t know the difference between dreaming and waking.’ You know what I’m afraid of? That someday, even with my eyes open, I still won’t know.”

*Sigh*. Speaking of ‘Frostbite’ – there really is no comparison between the second ‘VA’ book and second in the ‘Bloodlines’ series. Although ‘The Golden Lily’ is a hefty 418-pages, ‘Frostbite’ did it figuratively bigger and definitely better at just 327-pages.

I didn’t love ‘The Golden Lily’, and I am rapidly losing steam with the entire ‘Bloodlines’ spin-off series. I want more paranormal, vampires and fighting. I want to delve deeper into the slightly psychotic Alchemist organization. And I want to like the secondary characters, but that will only happen if Richelle Mead gives them meatier secondary roles and more page-time. I guess I’m stuck with sugar-free Sydney Sage as protagonist, and sunny human-centric Palm Springs instead of vamp-focused St. Vladimir’s. But above all else I want the snarky, witty, damaged but beautiful Adrian Ivashkov of yesterseries. Basically I just want ‘Bloodlines’ to be *better*!

2.5/5

'Bloodlines' Bloodlines #1 by Richelle Mead

Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

BLOOD DOESN'T LIE . . .

Sydney's blood in special. That's because she's an alchemist - one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of human and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives. But the last encounter Sydney had with vampires got her in deep trouble with the other alchemists. And now with her allegiances in question, her future is on the line.

When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she thinks she's still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir - the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir - is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill's guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the unlikeliest of places: a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathizing with vampires. And now she has to live with one.

The Moroi court believe Jill and Sydney will be safe at Amberwood Prep, but threats, distractions and forbidden romance lurk both outside – and within – the school grounds. Now that they're in hiding, the drama is only just beginning.

When the Moroi world is in the midst of revolution and political upheaval, measures must be taken to protect the second most crucial member of the royal family.

Since discovering that Queen Lissa Dragomir has a half-sister called Jill, royal loopholes have thrown the young girl in danger. For her own safety she is being herded to Palm Springs, to live amongst humans and hide in plain sight.

Joining her will be dhampir bodyguard, Eddie, and two alchemist workers – Keith and Sydney. Adrian Ivashkov must also accompany the young woman, for reasons neither of them will reveal.

Though these vampires are fleeing from the turmoil within their own race, they’ll be even more surprised to find what lurks amongst them in the human world.

‘Bloodlines’ is the first book in Richelle Mead’s ‘Vampire Academy’ spin-off series.

I was ecstatic for this book. The sting was taken out of ‘Last Sacrifice’s’ finality purely because I knew there was a spin-off series in the works. I counted down the days, avoided spoilers and watched YouTube teasers. And in the end . . . I was a little underwhelmed.

Let me start out by saying the good. And because this is Richelle Mead, there is plenty of good.

For starters, this series has a very different feel to ‘Vampire Academy’. I don’t just mean the protagonist change of alchemist Sydney Sage versus dhampir Rose Hathaway. That’s obvious. I mean Mead has completely changed the atmosphere for this spin-off. In ‘Vampire Academy’ Rose and Lissa were nothing short of celebrities within the school grounds; Lissa, for being the last of the Dragomirs, and Rose for her attitude and eventually, kill rate. They were superstars and utterly cool. Because both Rose and Lissa were a part of the ‘inner circle’ it meant we read scenes with the queen, in the thick of political subterfuge and major social change.

In ‘Bloodlines’, that’s all gone. Jill is the illegitimate half-sister who needs to be kept in hiding. The people accompanying her in exile are likewise cast-offs and no-hopers. Eddie is a reprimanded dhampir, still being scolded for his actions in helping Rose. Adrian Ivashkov is a heartbroken drunk. And Sydney is under no illusions as to why she has been allowed on this mission – the alchemists have little love for vampires, and they wouldn’t send their best to guard one of them.

The characters in ‘Bloodlines’ are the bottom-of-the-barrel outcasts, and that makes them brilliant! By simply offering us these outskirt characters, Mead changes the entire focus and trajectory of the series. Suddenly we are able to bear witness to the Moroi societal changes from the bottom-up; we read what the little people really think of those above them, and how royal decree affects the little guys.

The other positive of this series won’t come as much of a surprise – Adrian Ivashkov. Ohhhhhh. . . Adrian! Richelle Mead really wrote lightening in a bottle when she came up with this tortured alcoholic royal. He is a fan favourite, even more so when he became the romantic under-dog of ‘Last Sacrifice’. Many VA fans who are unsure of venturing to a new series terrain should be implored to make the trek purely for Adrian because . . . he’s freakin Adrian Ivashkov!

I will say that in ‘Bloodlines’, Mead barely touches on the extent of Adrian’s heartbreak in the wake of Rose. He’s still at the point of bottling-up and being outwardly bitter. But he’s still the same smart-aleck wounded soul that fans fell in love with back in ‘Frostbite’. Part of Adrian’s brilliance simply lies in his truthfulness, however cutting. His utter honesty in all things means he has some brilliantly poignant scenes and is a wonderful interpreter for many other characters. He’s not always the snarky alcoholic, he does have occasional flashes of brilliance –

He eyed me. “Is it really so terrible being around us?”
I blushed. “No,” I said. “But. . . it’s complicated. I've been taught certain things my entire life. Those are hard to shake.”
“The greatest changes in history have come because people were able to shake off what others told them to do.” He looked away from me, out the window.

Now, for the not-so-good.

Sydney Sage is not a great narrator. She’s not bad, and though it pains me to compare – she’s certainly no Rose Hathaway. I know, I know! Richelle Mead wanted a very different protagonist to carry ‘Bloodlines’ – and you can’t get anyone more different to Rose than Sydney.

Where Rose was brash and cocky, head-strong and fiercely loyal, Sydney is meek. She has lived a sheltered and bookish life and feels closer to forty than twenty. Sydney does improve over the course of ‘Bloodlines’ – so by the end of the book she is a changed woman on the brink of upheaval, nearly ready to reject all she has ever known in the face of what she has come to learn from living with the vampires. But ‘Bloodlines’ is 421 pages long. . . and it takes a while for Sydney to get to that point of interest.

Though I did like Richelle Mead’s head-nod to Australia that came from an in-joke with Sydney’s name;

“And your name is?”
“Sydney.”
“Sydney . . .” she checked the clipboard and looked up in astonishment. “Sydney Melbourne? My goodness. You don’t sound Australian.”
“Er, it’s Sydney Melrose, ma’am,” I corrected.

Another problem I had with ‘Bloodlines’ was simply pacing. I was about 114 pages into the book when a character makes an off-hand mention that two days have passed. What!? Two days in 100+ pages? This is a very different time-line and pace from previous VA books, and it was hard for me to assimilate to the drag. Part of the reason for a sluggish pace is simply setting – Mead can no longer rely on fans’ touch-stone to the actual Vladimir Academy, instead Mead has to build up this new Palm Springs accommodation and set the scene for the human school. This takes a lot of time, and is one reason I sort of wish the books had gone back to the good old Vladimir Academy . . .

One more small complaint I had was romance. Considering ‘Vampire Academy’ had such an incredible illicit love story at its centre, as a fan you can’t help but look for the romance in ‘Bloodlines’. I won’t give anything away, but there are many male secondary characters in the book. Each time one of them trotted across the page I couldn’t help but wonder “is he the one? Will Sydney fall for him?” When it became apparent who the romance will be with, I was delighted/half-hearted. On the one hand; YAY! On the other hand . . . it will take a while to get there. That’s all I’m saying.

Honestly, ‘Bloodlines’ had me under-whelmed for about 300 pages of this 421-page book. But, of course, in the last sprint Richelle Mead writes her typical saving grace – a thrilling, action-packed ending that will leave your heart thundering. And her signature cliff-hanger is a fifty-foot freefalling doozy! Be warned! ‘Bloodlines’ wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for with the VA spin-off, but that ending will definitely have me coming back for more.

3/5

Book #2 coming May 1st 2012