Saturday 24 September 2011

Bloodlines - Richelle Mead (review) + Bloodlines Book Club

I'm a big fan of Richelle Mead; have been for a few years now and I reckon I'll pick up anything she writes. If it has her name on it, I'm buying it. So I was thrilled knowing her super awesome Vampire Academy series (VA) was being continued through a spin-off series: Bloodlines.

Yesterday started the "official" Bloodlines-Discussion-Day, as voted on by fans and Penguin Australia. It marked the one month release of Bloodlines and the beginning of Bloodlines Book Club (BBC). I've participated in Penguin Australia's previous VA book clubs and they're a heap of fun, so join in if you've read Bloodlines and if you're new to Richelle Mead pick up Vampire Academy; it's an excellent series.

Blog discussion: Penguin Between the Lines – BBC

Facebook Discussion: Bloodlines – Official Facebook Page


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Bloodlines - Richelle Mead
Grade: YA
Rating: 5/5 Stars


The first book in Richelle Mead's brand-new teen fiction series - set in the same world as Vampire Academy.

When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Bloodlines explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive - this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone's out for blood. (Description from Goodreads)





I’m speechless. Richelle Mead has done it again. A fantastic new series, filled with action and excitement; as well as a cast of characters that we all know and love. It felt like I was greeting an old friend.

I’m so happy to be drawn back into the Vampire Academy world. While it was strange at first to be seeing all these familiar faces without being in Rose’s mind, it didn’t take long to love Sydney’s views just as much. Her organised and controlled way of thinking is so different from Rose’s act-before-thinking approach to life, but you can’t help but love her for it.

I love that ‘Bloodlines’ starts to wrap up the loose ends from the Vampire Academy series. While often leaving us with more questions than answers, we’re on our way to understanding where everyone fits in the vampire world and finding out what happened to so many of our favourite characters (especially Adrian, who was left hanging for a while). My personal opinion to those just started out with Richelle Mead books would be to read Vampire Academy before ‘Bloodlines’. While there is enough information given the ease into the series, the familiarity between characters and the history that has occurred between them would be better understood after reading ‘Vampire Academy’.

Sydney and the Alchemists are in interesting bunch of people. Working to protect the human population from vampires, it’s interesting to see how they reacted around the “evil creatures” that they try to hide. While we were given a glimpse of the Alchemists in Richelle’s first YA series, Vampire Academy, you never realise how strong their convictions are until you’re inside Sydney’s head. I always knew she was against the idea of vampires wielding magic and drinking blood (the actions that make them evil), but I never realised how terrified she was of it all. Sydney shows so much strength in ‘Bloodlines’, pushing through her fears in order to complete the role she’s be trained to do: help protect humans from any contact with vampires.

So much happens in ‘Bloodlines’, Richelle certainly throws us into an action packed book, with multiple plots weaving their way through every moment of the story. I'm still trying to process how I feel about them all, shocked and breathless are my initial reactions; and insanely desperate to see what happens next. And in a typical Richelle style, she leaves us with super extreme cliff-hanger to agonise over in the coming months while waiting for ‘The Golden Lily’ to be released.

An amazing read.
5/5 stars.

Kim. 
Originally posted on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/157593507

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