Review: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

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.

This book had been recommended to me so many times by all my real life friends and blogger friends. I had attempted to read this book once before and got about 100 pages in before returning it to it's owner (I had borrowed it for months). I just couldn't get into it the first time but so many people adore this series that I couldn't just give up. So last year I bought my own copy and early this year I decided I would read the entire series and continue with Bloodlines. One book a month.

When I picked this book up for the second time I have to say that once again it didn't completely capture me. I found myself putting it down after reading 10 or 20 pages at a time. Because of this it took me about a week to read it but by the end I was completely engaged.

Rose and Lissa were as close as best friends can be. You can genuinly see that they would do anything for each other. That was one aspect I really liked. Surprisingly though, I fell in love with the secondary characters. Mason was such a perfect friend to Rose. He was protective and adorable at the same time. Mason also had me laughing whenever he opened his mouth. I don't think Rose realizes how much he truly cares for her. My other favorite character was Christian. I know there are a lot of people who didn't trust him in the beginning but that was not the case for me. I could see how you would be wary of him at first but for me that feeling wore off quickly and became one of, YAY Christian!


For the overall plot of the book I was expecting so much more action. Don't ask me why. Did I read the book would be action packed somewhere? Nope, but that was what I was picturing in my head. Instead it was more boarding school problems with a huge dark twist. The Strigoi were creepy and there was a mystery surrounding the main story. I really liked the mystery aspect. The romance was there but not the main plot of the story. There was a lot of talk about it but it wasn't really seen as much, although the sexy scenes were truly sexy.


Overall I thought it was an okay book. Something a bit different  from what I was expecting, so maybe that is why I didn't enjoy it as much. But I will be continuing with the series. I've heard it gets a lot better with each book and I'm excited for the rest of the series.


3.5 stars