“Last Sacrifice” by Richelle Mead

In the final installment of the Vampire Academy series, someone is trying to frame Rose for murder, and Lissa and her friends must try to clear Rose’s name.

Rose is one of my favourite characters of recent years. As a dhampir, she is strong and can fight to defend her assigned Moroi and herself against all comers, and as a person, she’s determined, strong-willed and independent, and always tries to do the right thing even if she gets it wrong sometimes.

I have to admit, I’d sort of guessed how Rose and Lissa’s stories would end in this series, but I had a lot of fun reading how they got there, and there were some twists and turns I hadn’t seen coming. I also see where I think some of the other characters will go in the future, and I’m pleased that although Rose won’t be a main character of the next Vampire Academy books, and we’ll follow other people and stories, the author has still said that we will be able to catch up with her in the future as she’ll still be writing about that world.

I think Richelle Mead writes great adventures, develops her characters well and all these books have been fast-paced page turners. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the entire series (despite my initial grumblings about the names which I found difficult to get in my head!), and I’ve also read all her other books as well now. Great fantasy books that are entertaining escapism with strong female characters.

“Shadow Kiss” by Richelle Mead

Back to St. Vladimir’s Academy for the third book of the [I]Vampire Academy[/I] series, and for me, this series has now kicked up a gear. Rose may have made her first Strigoi kills, but she still has to prove her skills at school, and guarding anyone other than Lissa is a struggle. But it’s not just being away from Lissa that’s hard, she thinks she’s starting to see ghosts …

The ongoing saga of Rose has ratcheted up a notch, and I read the story with my heart in my mouth a lot of the time, as the electrifying connection between her and Dimitri runs as a simmering undercurrent that eventually bursts up to the surface, while the menace from the Strigoi keeps the sense of peril mounting throughout to the thrilling conclusion.

I am now (not so) patiently waiting for the next book to be delivered to the library for me to collect and continue the story.

“Frostbite” by Richelle Mead

The second installment of this YA Vampire Academy series continues in much the same vein as the first one. After escaping from Lissa’s uncles scheming of the first book, Lissa and Rose are not long back at school before the threat of the Strigoi causes the majority of the student population to decamp to safety of the Moroi ski resort for winter break, but trouble is never far away …

I still find the unpronouncable names irritating, but the less than subtle pointing out clues to what’s going on seemed less obvious this time around.

I like the development of the characters, and I love that Rose is such a strong individual, determined to make herself the best dhampir she can, and even with her own doubts and failings, she still holds her own.

A nice change of scene as well, taking the students out of the school setting to the ski resort allowed for a look into the wider society of the vampires in this world, and broadened the story of Lissa and Rose, and where they might end up in the future.

Enjoyable story, and I’ll keep going with the series, although I’m only borrowing from the library, not buying them as I don’t think they’d stand up to multiple readings.

“Vampire Academy” by Richelle Mead

Another series of YA vampire books, this time centred around a school of vampires and their part human bodyguards. Rose is a Dhampir, a sort of guardian for her best friend (and vampire royal princess) Lissa. At the start of the book, the girls are in hiding after running away from their school, St Vladimir’s Academy. They soon find themselves cornered and returned back to school, where they are socially ostracised and must find a way to stick together and keep themselves alive.

As is the case with most of these type of books, I enjoyed it as a mildly diverting sunny afternoon read and will probably carry on with the series.

There were, however, a couple of things I found particularly irritating. The first was the names given to the various races, families and even characters at times, which I found incredibly difficult to pronounce, even in my head. Whilst I understand that authors want to make their work original, and particularly in the fantasy arena, it is fun to come up with new words and names, I felt the ones in this book were just a series of letters thrown together at times. The best “made-up” names are often derived from other languages (e.g. latin, greek or norse are common amongst this genre), but the ones this author used were either too much of a mixture of languages, or just plain thrown together letters. Usually when I come across a name I find difficult to pronounce in a book, I substitute it for another word, or read it slightly differently to the spelling as it’s only in my head anyway, but for this book, there were just a few too many names that made this jar every time I read them.

The other irritation was that I often felt there were too many less than subtle hints at what should be clues to some of the events or revelations that happen over the course of the story. I like that authors leave clues and subtle pointers as to what might have happened that will be revealed or foreshadowing events that occur later in the story, but in this book, I often felt there should have been a big pop-up sign hanging over a paragraph saying “Oi! Over here, look here, this is a BIG clue!”

Despite these grumbles (which are actually quite minor really), the book was entertaining enough, but I wouldn’t rush out to buy more, or necessarily encourage anyone to read them, unless you’re already a fan of the genre and desperate to read more.