Josh F F itibaren La Sonnaz, Switzerland itibaren La Sonnaz, Switzerland

Originally posted here: http://living-a-thousand-lives.tumblr... WARNING: If you haven’t read the Vampire Academy books yet…there will be spoilers for these here. It’s unavoidable. The Cover I’m not a big fan of covers with big faces on them. Or any faces really. I like to imagine the characters in my head but when I see covers like this, they kind of influence it. I don’t like it. In this case, the models look a lot like how you would imagine Sydney and Adrian to look like but it’s only a small consolation. I also don’t like the “Rose” font, I connect roses with…well, Rose, so it really doesn’t fit this series. I’m not sure I’d be comfortable to be seen with this in public. The Story This is a spin-off series to Richelle Mead’s “Vampire Academy”(VA) novels. In the VA world vampires exist. There are different kinds though. The Moroi are “living” vampires, i.e. they are born and mortal and pretty much like humans, well except for the fangs and drinking blood and being sensitive to the sun (they won’t incinerate though) and the superhuman strength, oh and they can do elemental magic. The Moroi are the good kind of vampires. Then there are the Dhampirs. They are half human and half vampire. They don’t drink blood nor do they have fangs, they have the Moroi strength though and are usuall very athletic, that’s why the Dhampirs are there to protect the Moroi from the Strigoi. The Strigoi are the bad vampires, the immortal ones. They are made, either involuntarily turned by being killed and then fed Strigoi blood or they are Moroi who have intentionally drained another person, and by killing that person they turned to an evil Strigoi. Then there are the Alchemists who are humans. This secret organisation has sworn to protect the human race from all vampires, i.e. Moroi, Dhampirs and Strigoi. Their view is that vampires are unnatural and ungodly creatures and that humans can’t know about their existence, they are disgusting beings that shouldn’t exist. That’s the Alchemists doctrine. So now that this short overview is done, we can finally get to Bloodlines. Sydney Sage is an Alchemist and she, like all of her kind, is terrified of vampires. Her newest assignment, however, is to actually protect one - Jill Mastrano. Jill is the half-sister of the young Moroi queen Lissa Dragomir, and it is very important that Jill stays alive as only then can Lissa continue being queen. After a murder attempt at her life, Jill’s sent to a human boarding school in Palm Springs with her Dhampir guardian Eddie Castille and another Moroi, Adrian Ivashkov, in order to keep her safe. Sidney is assigned to Jill in order to keep her save from the Moroi assassins, as well as to keep her undetected by the humans. Of course, being in hiding is not all fun and games and Sydney soon discovers that strange things are happening at Amberwood Prep, like half the student body has tattoos that look strangely like Sydney’s golden lily tattoo (which is infused with Moroi magic) and have strange effects on the people having them. The Protagonist I know a lot of people think that Sydney is boring and passive and weak, espcially compared to Rose Hathaway (the MC in VA). But I disagree. Well, one thing is right, Sydney is nothing like Rose, but that’s a good thing. We already got the strong, impulsive and confident heroine in the VA novels. Wouldn’t it be incredibly boring and repetitive to have the same kind of heroine here? Sydney might not be as physically strong as Rose, she might not be as kickass as Rose, but people forget that you can actually be kickass without literally kicking ass. Sydney’s powers lay in her mind. She is extremely smart and analytical. She thinks before she acts and doesn’t run head first into unknown situations but that doesn’t mean that she’s passive. She’s only human so obviously she isn’t as physically strong as Rose, her strengths lay elsewhere. Sydney and Rose are a lot alike in other ways though. They are both incredibly loyal to those they love and would do anything to protect those they care about (and I mean ANYTHING). They also put duty above anything else. I really like Sydney even though she is not perfect or maybe because of it (as I said nothing worse than a Mary Sue). She’s a perfectionist through and through and has extreme body image issues. Whereas Rose was extremely confident in her looks and body, Sydney is the opposite, she is avoiding any sugar and calories in order to be as thin as Moroi girls. This lack of self confidence results from a very severe upbringing by an overachieving father with unrealistic expectations in Sydney. I feel like I can identify more with Sydney than Rose, because she’s human with very human problems but also because she’s a thinker and bookworm and cautious, which is a lot like me. Despite being so book smart and pragmatic, she’s also compassionate. Her social skills might be lacking but she’s always kind and polite to everyone and tries to make everyone comfortable and tries to help them in anyway she can (she’s a typical “problem solver”), even the Moroi and Dhampirs she fears so much. Throughout this book, you can really see her character development. A lot of people are put off by Sydney’s views towards the Moroi and Dhampirs, but I think it is important for her character growth. Plus, these views have been indoctrinated into her mind her whole life. It is hard to shed these kind of believes even when you see that they might be wrong with your own eyes. The Heart Rate I can finally talk about Adrian! My love for Adrian Ivashkov is just unhealthy. The thing is, I don’t even know how it happened. I loved him from the very first moment he turned up in Frostbite and throughout the books my love only grew and my heart broke for him when Rose broke his in the last VA book. THANK GOD! I mean, not for Adrian being hurt but for the fact that Adrian and Rose didn’t work out because then there would be no Sydney/Adrian (Sydrian). My love for Adrian is probably only topped by my love for Sydrian. Because these two are just perfect for eachother. Again, on the surface you think they have absolutely NOTHING in common. But somehow they are the only ones who understand the other perfectly. Anyway, I think I’m going to make a separate Sydrian post because otherwise this review will turn into a very long Sydrian love fest. Back to Adrian. Why do I love him so much? He’s gorgeous, with tousled brown hair and emerald eyes, he drinks, he smokes, he’s sarcastic and snarky and doesn’t take anything serious, just your typical handsome bad boy. So, I really shouldn’t like him. And these things are definitely not the reason why I love him (ok the good looks ARE a plus), because this is only one side of Adrian, it’s more like a cover he uses. Adrian’s actually extremely loyal and caring, he’s very perceptive and possesses a natural charm. In short, he’s totally swoonworthy. The Good - Sydney, Jill and Eddie pose as students at Amberwood Prep, a human boarding school. Ever since I read “St. Clare’s” by Enyd Blyton and then Harry Potter when I was young, I thought that boarding school sounded so great. No parents, you see your best friends every day, daily sleepovers, pranks etc. Obviously, I know that it probably isn’t anything like in my imagination. But stil, I have a soft spot for books that have boarding schools in them. - I’ve never been to the US let alone Palm Springs and while I don’t like the heat, it sounds really nice there. Plus, it is nice to see a vampire novel without the typical gloomy gothic setting (though Clarence’s house sounded a bit creepy tbh). - The supporting characters are great and not one-dimensional. Obviously we get to know Jill and Eddie better than others. Jill had her rebellious and annoying phase but she’s 15, so I’ll forgive her especially since she matured a lot by the end of the book. Eddie is just awesome. No need to elaborate. Sydney’s human friends Kristin, Julia and Trey were hilarious but also great friends to her. I’m really glad that Sydney is finally able to make friends her age and who don’t have anything to do with her job, this also allows her to have a more or less normal life for the first time. The Bad N/A The Rating ★★★★★ Well, 4.5 stars because there is not enough Sydrian (again, there will be a whole post dedicated to them, probably when I’ve reviewed The Golden Lily). It’s actually embarrassing how many times I’ve read and listened to the two books in this series. The fact that the next book, The Indigo Spell won’t come out until February next year doesn’t help. I really like the VA books, but I LOVE the Bloodlines series. It’s borderline obsession. I’m not claiming that these books are literary gems or anything. They are just fun and entertaining with great characters that make me care about them (way too much to be healthy actually) and that’s all I want in a good book.