Author: Richelle Mead
Release Date: April 10, 2008 
Series: Vampire Academy 
Genre: YA | Fiction | Paranormal-Vampires | Contemporary
Pages: 327
ISBN NO.:  -
Publisher: Penguin India
Preceded by: Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy #1)
Followed by: Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy #3)

 Blurb

Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose…

It’s winter break at St. Vladimir’s, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy’s crawling with Guardians—including Rose’s hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand-to-hand combat with her mom wasn’t bad enough, Rose’s tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason’s got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa’s head while she’s making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy’s not taking any risks… This year, St. Vlad’s annual holiday ski trip is mandatory.

But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price…

Review

Plot | Story

After reading Vampire Academy #1, my expectations from this one were really high. But unfortunately it was a bit of a disappointment! The pace of the story was far too slow for my taste. The entire time I was waiting for some action to happen or at at least for some twists other than the one in the beginning. This part felt more like a normal romance novel where a girl loves someone with whom hooking up is just impossible even after knowing that he loves her back. Then she feels a pull of minute attraction for a friend who actually “more than likes her” and then she tries to fight her will to have a boyfriend just for the sake of it.

Having read VA#1 just 4 days before this one, the explanations by Rose for each and every concept really started to irritate the hell out of me. The explanations were so elaborate that it would have been okay if I would have read this one first!

After halfway through I was thinking about leaving it, but I read it anyway and as it turned out I was totally blown off by the ending and it successfully restored my faith in the VA series. So I’m ready to give this part the ‘benefit of the doubt’ as I feel that the next part has a lot more in store and so this one deserves 41/2 stars. It was a real shocker because the first one had a happy ending.

Characters

When it comes to Vampire Academy, characters serve as the soul of the these books. I love, love, love Rose Hathaway. She is the best female protagonist I’ve ever read! She is amazingly strong, independent and a total bad-ass and she’ll do absolutely anything for the ones she love. My other favourite characters are Dimitri (of-course!) and Christian. I’m not a fan of Lissa as she seems too stupid to do anything on her own. I really wish Rose was the Dragomir princess, she would have kicked some serious Stigoi asses with all the powers Moroi yield.

Romance

If this part is anything, it’s ROMANCE. I just hope that it is the only part in the entire series that is this way. You’ll witness a great progress in Lisa and Christian’s romantic relation. Rose tries her best to like Mason but ultimately her friendship prevails over pretentious love. Her attraction for Dimitri grows as ever but not that intensely as she tries to distance herself from him. In this part you’ll also witness Mason falling for Rose.

Writing

I love Richelle’s first person narration. Her writing is superb and it flows like silk. Though, as I mentioned before, some explanations were really irritating. Well if this book is on a passive side for a reason, then I can ignore it just this once, but if not then it’s gonna be a huge disappointment (which I highly doubt!). I sincerely hope that it’s for a good reason like setting the grounds for the next one or something like that.

Beginning

Beginning was quite impressive and instantly raised my exception for the rest of the book. With all the murders and Dimitri and Rose coming closer to each other, it began perfectly.

Ending

Mind-blowing. This part was totally MIA but the ending perfectly made up for everything and has given me exceptionally high hopes for the next part. It was a total cliff-hanger ending.

Cover Art

Not that great. Could have much, much, much better. A series as huge as this one definitely deserves a better jacket art, something like fangs covered in blood or whatever, even Dimitri would have worked 😉

Blurb

The one on Goodreads is fine and the one on the jacket is a bit too short. If it comes to picking books based only on the blurb on the jacket, then I would have probably left this entire series!

Other Stuff

Opening Line: “THINGS DIE. BUT THEY DON’T always stay dead.”

Highlights: Cliff-hanger ending.

Low-lights: Unexpectedly MIA.

Quotes:

“There’s nothing worse than waiting and not knowing what’ll happen to you. Your own imagination can be crueler than any captor.”

“We can’t stop living because other people are dead.”

“You can’t force love, I realized. It’s there or it isn’t. If it’s not there, you’ve got to be able to admit it. If it is there, you’ve got to do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love.”

Memorable paragraph:

“What matters is that someone—that you—know me that well. When a person can see into your soul, it’s hard. It forces you to be open. Vulnerable. It’s much easier being with someone who’s just more of a casual friend.”

Final Thoughts: MIA but Promising.