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Review: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
Format Read: Paperback
Length: 421 Pages
Series: Bloodlines – Book 1
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Release Date: 23 August 2011
Publisher: Razorbill
Formats Available: eBook, paperback, hardcover
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository
SYDNEY PROTECTS VAMPIRE SECRETS – AND HUMAN LIVES.
Sydney belongs to a secret group who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the world of humans and vampires.
But when Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, she fears she is still being punished for her complicated alliance with the dhampir Rose Hathaway. What unfolds is far worse. The sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir is in mortal danger, and goes into hiding. Now Sydney must act as her protector.
The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathizing with vampires. And now she has to live with one…
My Thoughts:
We were never going to get another Vampire Academy, but what we did get was still surprisingly unique considering it was set in the same world.
Sydney Sage is a disgraced alchemist. After helping Rose to escape from prison whilst on a murder charge and befriending vampires and dhampirs, she is under constant surveillance from the Alchemists. Sydney is terrified of getting sent to a re-education centre and for her younger sister to get caught up in the Alchemist life.
Her newest mission is to keep Jill – Vasilisa’s sister – safe after being repeatedly attacked by people who want Lissa removed from the throne. They move to Palm Springs, a place that is very uncomfortable for vampires because of the heat. Jill is in for a struggle, but her safety is now more important than her comfort.
Sydney for me took a little time to warm to. She was never my favourite person in Vampire Academy purely because she was too uptight. Well, in Bloodlines she was still uptight, but being able to get into her mind, I also found that she was very human. Being raised in a cult like lifestyle full of rules and regulations Sydney hasn’t had the life of a normal teenager and once the full extent of that deprivation is explored, her upbringing is really quite sad.
Bloodlines took a few chapters for me to get into as well; I bought it purely because it had Richelle Mead on it and a Rose appearance in it. At first I was sceptical thinking that Bloodlines couldn’t possibly be as good as Vampire Academy, that Sydney was more of a consolation prize for Adrian to those of us who loved him in the first set of books.
There was actually no romance between them in this and I was so glad for it. Mead didn’t fall into the trap that I have found with so many authors lately of rushing relationships. She knows she has six books and it’s not even clear if Sydney and Adrian will get together. They are just friends for now which I am really happy about.
Bloodlines itself was more mystery than action. The mystery was fairly see-through but Mead’s incredible writing kept the pages turning even though I knew from the start which bad guys were going to do what.
Sydney started to come out of her shell towards the end of Bloodlines, making for a promising character to lead this series, she showed that she wasn’t the push over everyone seemed to think she was and I really started to like her.
The only thing that really disappointed me about this book was in the first chapter. Sydney narrated that she knew a secret about one of the other characters. I hate when people do that. Don’t tell me you have a secret about someone, it’s a cheap trick to try and entice us to keep reading. It’s what gave me the bad first impression, but I’m glad that Mead worked it up to a very good book in the end.
Mead left us with quite a few loose ends but no unbearable cliff hangers to carry us into the next book, the mystery behind the heritage of some characters and the future of others is quite enough to have me eager for more.
I give Bloodlines 4 Stars
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.
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| 5 Stars: Perfect! I Love It! | |||||||||
| 4 Stars: Awesome Book! | |||||||||
| 3 Stars: I Liked It! | |||||||||
| 2 Stars: Not bad, but maybe not for me. | |||||||||
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Great review Amanda. I have not read anything by Richelle Mead. Do you think the mystery would be more difficult to guess if this was the first book ever? If you did not know most/some of the characters already?
Honestly, I have a tendency to go, “he did it” within the first couple of chapters with any book. Without the back ground knowledge of the characters and what to expect from Mead ‘s writing style it might make for more of a surprise. But you will still probably figure it out before the intended “egad Watson, I think I’ve got it”moment. It’s still an excellent read though for the experience of the works and vampire lore.