mikaela_lauren's review against another edition
4.0
Again probably closer to a 3.5, but I just love Dimitri too much. The story suffers for the split between Rose and Lissa but some of the storylines are just so good
rabbitheartzz's review against another edition
5.0
Just no!... No no no no no!!!! I'm so conflicted between "I loved it! It was perfect!" And "I'm so scared for what's gonna happen!!" And I'm also hopeful and sad and happy all at the same time and why does Richelle Mead like to keep playing with our emotions?!?! All and all, I need the next one, just please, the next one. Now.
msbandthebooks's review against another edition
4.0
I give this book 4.5 stars. For some reason, this author has me hooked even though I find Rose’s stubbornness so frustrating. I mean, just when I thought she was making progress at the end of the book and was going to start to move on, she decides that her next insane quest is going to be even more crazy than the last. And, it’s all over a guy! I mean!!!!!! Come. on. girl!!! He. Is. Not. Worth. It.
She barely escapes death trying to kill Dimitri and instead of realizing that she needs to let it go, Rose seems hell bent on trying to find this impossible solution that may or may not turn him back from being a strigoi. At this point, I feel like she needs to let it go and realize that the more important thing in her life is her duty as a guardian.
She barely escapes death trying to kill Dimitri and instead of realizing that she needs to let it go, Rose seems hell bent on trying to find this impossible solution that may or may not turn him back from being a strigoi. At this point, I feel like she needs to let it go and realize that the more important thing in her life is her duty as a guardian.
magalha's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
lyrrael's review against another edition
3.0
Tales of the vampire princess Lissa Dragomir and her dhampir guardian Rose at Vampire High School. It gets hard to find books that a) have been adapted to the screen and b) you haven’t read when you read as much as I do. This was basically Mean Girls with fangs. There was behavior from all sides I really didn’t like -- including the spreading of rumors and the theft of boyfriends and whatever else. And, to my shame, I’m sort of tempted to skim the rest of the series.
kenziehulsey's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 ⭐️ Read via audiobook
This series has become a comfort series. Like one where you come back to when you’re feeling kind of meh about everything else. It’s super easy to listen to and follow what’s going on. This specific book wasn’t my favorite but it still had a great ending that keeps you wanting more. It just felt kind of slow for most of it but not like in a bad way.
This series has become a comfort series. Like one where you come back to when you’re feeling kind of meh about everything else. It’s super easy to listen to and follow what’s going on. This specific book wasn’t my favorite but it still had a great ending that keeps you wanting more. It just felt kind of slow for most of it but not like in a bad way.
brokenrecord's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars, although I actually liked this a lot more than I expected to! I mean, YA vampire stories definitely make me hesitant, because even though I love YA and tend to prefer fantasy/paranormal stuff to other genres, I tend not to be as into vampires as other paranormal creatures, and there was just a flood of terrible teen/vamp romance books after Twilight that made me avoid most books focusing on vampires altogether. But this was really enjoyable! I mean, it helped that neither of the romances were teen/vamp, they were vamp/vamp and guardian/guardian. I enjoyed Christian and Lissa a lot together. I liked Dimitri and Rose, but I'm not totally sold on them yet. The age difference and teacher/student thing is a little too much for me, and the power dynamics also don't help (although at least he was more of a training partner to her than an actual teacher. Like, he wasn't giving her a grade in a class or anything. It was more like a tutor/student relationship). It helped that there wasn't this instant attraction where Rose was constantly thinking about how into him she was; I liked the more gradual development of their romance, and that there was no instalove. But Rose did seem pretty immature at times, which made it hard for me to get on board with her developing a relationship with a 24 year old.
This book did have some issues with slut shaming that really bothered me. I really didn't like Dimitri when he was yelling at Rose after he found her making out with Jesse about how she was making herself look cheap and how she didn't have any respect for herself or whatever (although the later reveal that he was mostly upset about the idea of another royal taking advantage of a dhampir girl helped slightly? But he still shouldn't have said what he said). And like, if it was only Dimitri, I would just hate his character and move on, but Rose also seemed to slut shame other girls, and the whole attitude towards blood whores really bothered me. I also didn't like that I couldn't tell if the book was endorsing Rose's view, or if we were supposed to think she was wrong. And I have really mixed feelings about Mia's character. She does some pretty terrible things, but I had some sympathy for her after some stuff is revealed about her, and it bothered me that Rose's attitude towards her basically stays completely the same even after she finds out that stuff. And there was just a lot of slut shaming on both sides of the Mia/Rose feud, which frustrated me.
But despite all the negatives, I did like this a lot! Rose and Lissa's friendship was SO amazing, and I appreciated that their friendship was a greater focus of the book than either of the romances. The pacing of the end felt kind of weird and rushed? But otherwise I liked how information was slowly revealed throughout the story, and I found myself more invested in what was going on than I expected. I also thought the examination of mental illness through what was going on with Lissa from a paranormal perspective was really interesting and not something I have seen that often in these kinds of books, and it was handled really well, so I appreciated that a lot. So yeah, this was pretty good! I will definitely be reading the next book in this series!
This book did have some issues with slut shaming that really bothered me. I really didn't like Dimitri when he was yelling at Rose after he found her making out with Jesse about how she was making herself look cheap and how she didn't have any respect for herself or whatever (although the later reveal that he was mostly upset about the idea of another royal taking advantage of a dhampir girl helped slightly? But he still shouldn't have said what he said). And like, if it was only Dimitri, I would just hate his character and move on, but Rose also seemed to slut shame other girls, and the whole attitude towards blood whores really bothered me. I also didn't like that I couldn't tell if the book was endorsing Rose's view, or if we were supposed to think she was wrong. And I have really mixed feelings about Mia's character. She does some pretty terrible things, but I had some sympathy for her after some stuff is revealed about her, and it bothered me that Rose's attitude towards her basically stays completely the same even after she finds out that stuff. And there was just a lot of slut shaming on both sides of the Mia/Rose feud, which frustrated me.
But despite all the negatives, I did like this a lot! Rose and Lissa's friendship was SO amazing, and I appreciated that their friendship was a greater focus of the book than either of the romances. The pacing of the end felt kind of weird and rushed? But otherwise I liked how information was slowly revealed throughout the story, and I found myself more invested in what was going on than I expected. I also thought the examination of mental illness through what was going on with Lissa from a paranormal perspective was really interesting and not something I have seen that often in these kinds of books, and it was handled really well, so I appreciated that a lot. So yeah, this was pretty good! I will definitely be reading the next book in this series!
brokenrecord's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars, I think? I really loved this one!!! Definitely my favorite yet. It was VERY different from the previous books, I guess mostly since it's not set at the school (or at least Rose isn't there; we do get bits of it when she checks in on Lissa, but it doesn't really feel like it's set there since Rose is away) and it's all about Rose finding Dimitri to kill him. I LOVED Rose in this. Not that I haven't loved her in the past, because I have, but I just had so many feelings about her in this book. I've complained a bit about her immaturity in past books, but she was amazing here, and I really appreciate how she's grown through the course of the series so far.
All the Dimitri stuff killed me. And I wasn't even on board with their relationship until the end of book 3!!!!! I still don't even know how I got so invested in them, because there were things about them in the previous books that did bother me, but somehow I'm totally into them now. The story here actually reminded me a LOT of season 2 of Buffy, with how the main character's boyfriend essentially loses his soul after the first time they have sex (although here it's not a consequence of the sex, it's just a coincidence that it occurs shortly after that) and then torments her and there may be a magical cure but she may also be forced to kill him before she can figure out the magical cure. I mean, it's really only similar in general terms; in the specifics, the boyfriend here doesn't start off a vampire, and I'm 99% sure she's going to be able to save him and won't be forced to kill him, and their characters really aren't much like Buffy or Angel at all. But that season is one of my favorites of any TV show, so it makes sense that I would be into a similar story here. I was a little nervous when Dimitri first captured Rose because I was afraid we were supposed to think he did truly still love her when his actions were actually totally creepy and gross, but luckily it turned out that we weren't supposed to be okay with what was going on, so that was good.
I also REALLY loved getting to see Dimitri's family!!! HIS GRANDMA!!!!!!! God, she was so great. And Sydney!!!!! I know she's the main character of the Bloodlines spin-off series, so it was excited to see her here. I didn't know anything about her going into this (other than Bloodlines is focused on Sydney/Adrian's romance, but I really knew nothing about either of them as characters before meeting them in this series), so it was a lot of fun to see her here, and to learn about the Alchemists (and I just love how each book introduces this new element to the world that we weren't aware of before. It really helps to slowly build up this world without overloading the reader with too much detail early on), and I'm definitely excited to see more of her (and to see how she and Adrian play off each other, but I know that's not coming until Bloodlines). Oh, and ROSE'S DAD!!!!!!! I really did not expect Abe to turn out to be Rose's father, and I felt kind of stupid when it was revealed because I feel like it should've been obvious, somehow? And yet it totally wasn't. And then the fact that he lied about working for someone else and that he had actually just following her to make sure she was ok. SO GREAT. I definitely want to see more of him.
The Lissa story wasn't the most interesting to me since it was pretty clear that Avery was going to be evil in some way and was behind Lissa acting out/being paranoid/etc. the whole time, so I was a little frustrated when other characters weren't figuring that out sooner. I also just missed Lissa and Rose interacting and being best friends. But it wasn't such a terrible storyline that I felt like it really dragged down the book; it just wasn't as interesting as the stuff Rose was getting up to. And them meeting up again in the end was great. I loved when Lissa told Rose that if Rose ever has to go off alone like that again, she has to take Lissa with her. The other negative for me is the stuff between Adrian and Rose at the end, because like, they're actually pretty cute! Rose telling Adrian to make her an offer and give her a point-by-point outline of why he'd be a good suitor, and him telling her he would go to his room and start drafting it was super adorable!!! But I can't really enjoy it because A) I know Rose is in love with Dimitri still and I just don't think she feels even close to the same way about Adrian, and now she thinks there might be a way to cure Dimitri, so it's not like she's going to be able to completely move on as long as that hope is alive and B) I mean… I know this series ends with Dimitri/Rose and the next one is Sydney/Adrian, and I typically don't let myself get invested in ships that I know are doomed, so it's just hard for me to root for them at all when I know this is going to have to end in heartbreak for Adrian. But they are pretty cute together, and I love Adrian, so it's not like I hate their scenes or anything; I just prefer them staying friends.
Anyways, I'm just really, really glad I decided to give this series a try because I am totally into everything now, and I can't wait to see where things go from here!!!
All the Dimitri stuff killed me. And I wasn't even on board with their relationship until the end of book 3!!!!! I still don't even know how I got so invested in them, because there were things about them in the previous books that did bother me, but somehow I'm totally into them now. The story here actually reminded me a LOT of season 2 of Buffy, with how the main character's boyfriend essentially loses his soul after the first time they have sex (although here it's not a consequence of the sex, it's just a coincidence that it occurs shortly after that) and then torments her and there may be a magical cure but she may also be forced to kill him before she can figure out the magical cure. I mean, it's really only similar in general terms; in the specifics, the boyfriend here doesn't start off a vampire, and I'm 99% sure she's going to be able to save him and won't be forced to kill him, and their characters really aren't much like Buffy or Angel at all. But that season is one of my favorites of any TV show, so it makes sense that I would be into a similar story here. I was a little nervous when Dimitri first captured Rose because I was afraid we were supposed to think he did truly still love her when his actions were actually totally creepy and gross, but luckily it turned out that we weren't supposed to be okay with what was going on, so that was good.
I also REALLY loved getting to see Dimitri's family!!! HIS GRANDMA!!!!!!! God, she was so great. And Sydney!!!!! I know she's the main character of the Bloodlines spin-off series, so it was excited to see her here. I didn't know anything about her going into this (other than Bloodlines is focused on Sydney/Adrian's romance, but I really knew nothing about either of them as characters before meeting them in this series), so it was a lot of fun to see her here, and to learn about the Alchemists (and I just love how each book introduces this new element to the world that we weren't aware of before. It really helps to slowly build up this world without overloading the reader with too much detail early on), and I'm definitely excited to see more of her (and to see how she and Adrian play off each other, but I know that's not coming until Bloodlines). Oh, and ROSE'S DAD!!!!!!! I really did not expect Abe to turn out to be Rose's father, and I felt kind of stupid when it was revealed because I feel like it should've been obvious, somehow? And yet it totally wasn't. And then the fact that he lied about working for someone else and that he had actually just following her to make sure she was ok. SO GREAT. I definitely want to see more of him.
The Lissa story wasn't the most interesting to me since it was pretty clear that Avery was going to be evil in some way and was behind Lissa acting out/being paranoid/etc. the whole time, so I was a little frustrated when other characters weren't figuring that out sooner. I also just missed Lissa and Rose interacting and being best friends. But it wasn't such a terrible storyline that I felt like it really dragged down the book; it just wasn't as interesting as the stuff Rose was getting up to. And them meeting up again in the end was great. I loved when Lissa told Rose that if Rose ever has to go off alone like that again, she has to take Lissa with her. The other negative for me is the stuff between Adrian and Rose at the end, because like, they're actually pretty cute! Rose telling Adrian to make her an offer and give her a point-by-point outline of why he'd be a good suitor, and him telling her he would go to his room and start drafting it was super adorable!!! But I can't really enjoy it because A) I know Rose is in love with Dimitri still and I just don't think she feels even close to the same way about Adrian, and now she thinks there might be a way to cure Dimitri, so it's not like she's going to be able to completely move on as long as that hope is alive and B) I mean… I know this series ends with Dimitri/Rose and the next one is Sydney/Adrian, and I typically don't let myself get invested in ships that I know are doomed, so it's just hard for me to root for them at all when I know this is going to have to end in heartbreak for Adrian. But they are pretty cute together, and I love Adrian, so it's not like I hate their scenes or anything; I just prefer them staying friends.
Anyways, I'm just really, really glad I decided to give this series a try because I am totally into everything now, and I can't wait to see where things go from here!!!