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A review by brokenrecord
Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
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!!!