Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, Book 1)
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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.
DESCRIPTION:
Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9781595141743
ISBN: 159514174X
Label: Razorbill
Manufacturer: Razorbill
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2007-08-16
Publisher: Razorbill
Reading Level: Young Adult
Studio: Razorbill
SIMILAR ITEMS:
• Frostbite (Vampire Academy, Book 2) (Bk. 2)
• Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, Book 3)
• Marked (House of Night, Book 1)
• Betrayed (House of Night, Book 2)
• Chosen (House of Night, Book 3)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Enroll today - you won't regret it.
Comment: Vampire books are literally a dime a dozen and, to be honest, many of them are pretty interchangeable. Vampire Academy, however, stands out from the crowd. The school setting might not be all that original, but author Rachelle Mead offers a unique twist on the vampire society, giving us the Strigoi (immortal vampires), the Moroi (mortal vampires) and the Dhampir (humans with vampire blood).
The plot hits the ground running as Dhampir Rose and Moroi Lissa try to evade capture by school officials. (Why they felt the need to flee from the Academy two years earlier is revealed later in the book.) Forcibly returned to the Academy, the girls settle into the routine of a boarding school life where their biggest problems should be gossip and hormones. But sinister forces at work and the pair are soon pawns in a major power struggle.
This might be a Young Adult novel, but it avoids silly pop-culture namedropping and shallow characterisations. Protagonist Rose is a great: sassy, snarky, and smart. Part self-obsessed, sex-obsessed teen, part hardened warrior, she is a likable but not cuddly character who grows during the course of the story and has fantastic potential for the sequels.
4.5 stars.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazed
Comment: I am not a teenager. I have read hundreds of gothish and Gothic books (what old folks cal preternatural books) I have read thousands of novels. I picked this up for brain candy on a whim hoping it was worth finishing. I was amazed.
It took a minute to get oriented because Richelle Mead dumps you in the middle of the story and takes off running. She expects you to keep up. The main characters are engaging and flawed. They have little time for angst while navigating through the dangerous waters of early adulthood. I am tempted to say more but do not want to give any spoilers.
Fans of the genre will appreciate the pacing and complexity. If you have a child, sibling or friend still mooning over Edward Cullen, toss this series their way. If those books bored you, these won't.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dark Thriller
Comment: Vampire Academy puts you in a very different and mystical setting I have come across in a long time. Rose, half vamp half human, is a formidable and loyal friend and guardian to Lissa, a Moroi princess, who has encountered a few changes in her life from the perishing of her family to the new and rare abilities (even in vampire standards) she has inherited.
After being on the run, they are finally caught and brought back to St Vladmir's Academy. They are back to where they left off, with a little less than a hospitable welcoming from their peers, who seem to live for nothing else, but the gossip; and they are the center of it.
Rose is forced to return to her lessons and practices of the guardian studies. She is reluctant at first, but realizing that her main goal and priority is to protect Lissa, she does all she can to get caught up with the rest of her class with the help of her sexy Russian mentor, Dimitri.
While having an unimaginable bond with Lissa in a way that is like no other; they encounter many obstacles besides being teenagers in high school.
I was completely enthralled with the intricacies and detail to each character in the story, the background story, and the thickening plot. I really enjoyed the flow of the book and the anticipation that the author threw at you every chance she could get. I am quite eager to read the next book!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting idea, mediocre delivery
Comment: While Mead's take on the vampire universe is unique and refreshing, her storytelling is ultimately what made this book fall flat for me. The concept is very intriguing, but Mead's sometimes amateurish prose, lackluster dialogue, and one-dimensional characters made this a very irksome read for me. I kept waiting for the book to get better, hoping that the plot would suck me in, but it just never happened. This is really unfortunate, since the plot itself is clever, imaginative, and genuinely engaging.
Mead's great concept is hindered, in part, by her thinly drawn characters. While it seems that Rose is meant to be clever and smart-mouthed, mostly she just comes off as a rude person who is weirdly obsessed with her best friend. Her witticisms seem limited to generic pseudo-rebellious comments and wry observations about how "lame" the people around her are. Meanwhile, Rose's friend, Lissa, seems to lack any personality at all, other than to occasionally cry or whine about something. Dimitri, Rose's love interest, is a sloppily written "Strong, Silent Type" (TM) whose only defining trait is that he occasionally listens to Prince's "When Doves Cry."
The prose, too, leaves much to be desired. Mead has a great tendency to TELL, rather than SHOW, and while this may not be such a bad thing when handling exposition into her elaborate vampire mythology, this tendency causes the character development to feel pretty thin. Furthermore, I feel that this novel could have used an editor in some spots--for example, when Rose comforts a crying Lissa after a gruesome discovery on campus, Rose makes note of Lissa's "sleek, silky hair." Pleasant, sensual lines like that really interrupt the urgency of the narrative, and yet Mead insists upon using them in scenes that should carry a lot of tension.
However, with such choice lines as, "And despite all the assurances I had from other guys that I was hotness incarnate, I needed to hear it from the one guy I actually wanted," one compliment I can give is that Mead has certainly captured the voice of a semi-articulate teenager. While this is undeniably realistic, I personally didn't think that it made for a very good read.
There are bright spots in Mead's novel--I particularly loved a line where Rose describes how an old photo causes "a dull throb" in her chest. Sometimes Mead's narrative really sings, but mostly, it falters. I'm hoping that the next books in this imaginative series will be an improvement (in much the same way that the later TWILIGHT SAGA books were better-written than the original).
With all that being said, I'm not at all surprised at the number of five-star reviews here. Despite the editorial flaws, Mead's world is still original, intricate, and certainly worth delving into with further books.
Customer Rating:
Summary: amazing
Comment: ok first thing is that i LOVE vampire novels. As someone that grew up with buffy the vampire slayer as my idol it was to be expected. I read twilight and loved it, read house of night and loved it, and i read blue bloods and i loved it. this is just another series that i loved. I love it when an author challenges legands and writes their own version of a story. This author is another one that challenges the normal vampire legands. The charcters have so much depth and realness i had to find out what happened to them i was so excited to find out in the next book i read the series in just over a day all three. I couldnt put the books down it was like an addiction i cant wait till august for the next book!
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