Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Is that a cheesy book cover, or what?

I first read the VA books over the summer, thinking that all five had been published and I could just read them all in a row, not having to wait for new books to be released.  Well, after finishing the fifth book, I discovered that a sixth book was set to be released.  So, I've been waiting since July to get my hands on book 6, Last Sacrifice, which was released today.  I ordered it from Amazon, so I'll probably have it in my hands tomorrow or Thursday, but before I read it, I'm rereading the others in the series so that I can jump right into Last Sacrifice.  And since I never reviewed the VA books when I read them the first time around (I was on a blog hiatus), I decided to review them as I reread them.  (Mostly for you, Kira, since you were so disappointed that I hadn't reviewed them.)

Vampire Academy revolves around dhampir Rose Hathaway, who is a bodyguard to Moroi princess Lissa Dragomir.  They'd run away from St. Vladimir's Academy, but have been captured and returned.  Now Lissa continues her schooling and Rose is back to guardian training.  Guardians are protectors of the Moroi, the good vampires, and mostly guard them from Strigoi - evil and highly dangerous vampires.  Rose is in training to hopefully become Lissa's guardian.  She takes her lessons from Dimitri Belikov, who's known as a "god" on campus.  Rose enjoys her time with Dimitri, and soon her feelings turn into more than just admiration for the skills he can teach her.  She falls in love with Dimitri, but knows that she must push those feelings aside and concentrate on protecting Lissa, for she and Lissa share a special bond and no one can protect Lissa like Rose can.

I feel the same way I did when I first read Vampire Academy: it started out a bit slowly, but the action grew and by the time the book ended I was ready for more.  Like Rose, I fell in love with Dimitri, and I can't wait to read more about him in the upcoming books.  Yes, I've read the other books before, but I'm giddy and excited all over again.  The scenes with Dimitri are hot.

I did find all the foreshadowing interesting this time around.  I already know the story, so it was fun to pick up on all the little details I'd missed before or not known to pay attention to, like all the talk about St. Vladimir's "spirit".

3.5/5