Vampire Academy (book 1)

Well, although I was pretty much obsessed with vampire books at the time I read Vampire Academy, there's still something about this book-or should I say book series- that keeps me re-read it over and over again. I don't know if it is witty and sarcastic personality of main character, her self-destroying quest to protect her best friend and everyone she loves, or rich background story of the world they live in, or even maybe- not so cheesy- love story, that just made me keep on re-reading it over and over again, but what I do know is that this is very well balanced YA book. It has a good story and very,very good plot twists. Characters are interesting, and variate in personalities quiet a lot. When it comes to the first book in the series (Vampire Academy),it isn't the best one, but it's still interesting enough to get you to keep on reading. If you like YA books with strong main character, I highly recommend this series.show more

Itâ??s been an extremely long time since Iâ??ve been so hooked to a book that Iâ??ve read it within a few hours over the space of two days. But thatâ??s exactly what has happened here. Vampire Academy has been a book that Iâ??ve wanted to read for a while and even more so when I knew that there was a movie coming out. The book had me hooked from beginning to end. There wasnâ??t a moment where a page wasnâ??t filled with action, adventure or extremely interesting histories. The plot didnâ??t feel like it dragged at all and there was always something there that kept me reading. Throughout the book I didnâ??t really know what was going to happen next which made me want to read on. There was only something that threw you off track every time you took a guess about something and it kept you on your toes. The twists in the plot werenâ??t pointless either and werenâ??t there just as a filler. All the twists seem to interlock with each other and added up to the big picture. Rose has to be one of my favourite characters. I love the fact that sheâ??s so defensive and Lissa and wonâ??t back down from a fight when she knows that sheâ??s in the right. I loved the way that her character slowly started to change for the better when she started to realise her responsibility but you could still see the fiery side in her that still came out during the book. I got slightly worried before I had read the book that it was all going to be based around the forbidden romance that it mentioned in the blurb but I was quite happily surprised that that was far from the case. You could see there elements of romance in the book but Richelle Mead did a really good job making sure that It was a small sub plot that didnâ??t take away from the main point of the book. You could see Anaâ??s feelings develop midway through the book but there werenâ??t chapters of the book dedicated to it which was a really nice change. It made the book a lot more enjoyable for me since I really wasnâ??t looking for a supernatural romance book. I found the history that was put into the book extremely interesting. I loved reading the background of the Academy and about the Moroi. Even the charactersâ?? histories were really intriguing. It gave you an insight into all the characters and what brought them to place that they are in. I cannot wait to read the rest of the books in this series and Richelle Mead has done an amazing job of captivating her readers into this world.show more

And I thought I'd had enough of vampires. After many beloved and some stereotypical YA vampire books in the past years I felt fine with putting that category on the waiting list for a while. Until I decided to pick up the first book in this series and Richelle Mead's VAMPIRE ACADEMY restored my faith in good and imaginative vampire worlds. I'd had my eyes on the VAMPIRE ACADEMY books for quite a while, many people kept recommending them and I can remember the rave about the last book in the series. Now with the first movie coming out in 2014 I couldn't hold out on this series any longer. Richelle's series isn't your average -There's a vampire in this story and he's gonna bite you, so you become one, too- story. In the VAMPIRE ACADEMY series you don't encounter ordinary vampires. There are different types of blood-suckers, like different links to an evolutionary chain. Our two heroines Rose and Lissa cover the two categories of Moroi and Dhampirs. Moroi are vampires who have the power to wield magic. Dhampirs are a crossing between Moroi and humans and their task is to protect royal Moroi. At the St. Vladimir's Academy they are receiving a special training for the purpose of becoming body guards when they are finished. Those two kinds are co-existing and depending on the other, never purposefully harming humans. The Strigoi make up the third and an entirely different category. They are soulless creatures only existing to destory and hurt humans, Moroi and Dhampirs alike. Strigoi are effortless killers, but they can also be cruel enough to turn the other vampires into one of them and doom them to become evil and heartless, too. They make for evil and seemingly unstoppable enemies in all six books of this series. The fight between Moroi, Dhampirs and Strigoi is the main focus of the VAMPIRE ACADEMY series. Of course you can expect political, social and personal conflicts as well. Now the St. Vladimir's Academy is home to many Moroi and Dhampirs and is the central setting for the six books in this series. Housing, training and study rooms assembled like a small campus, the academic feel is definitely there. But with all the unexpected attacks and complications appearing on the scene it's no wonder Rose and her friends are forced to leave their textbooks behind and step into battle. The characters are travelling a lot, too. Really enjoyed seeing many new places together with Rose and her friends. All six books read on a book binge equal a huge vamptastic adventure beyond imagination. So much action and fights! However the series has its quiet moments, too. The greatest personal focus lies on the bond Rose and Lissa share as best friends and their spiritual bond that's pretty special for Moroi standards. Rose can feel what Lissa's feeling and in certain moments even see through Lissa's eyes. At first this was a very fun aspect about their friendship. The more often Rose visited Lissa's body though, story lows occurred. Sometimes I just felt like skipping these scenes altogether. Rose is the breakaway, tough and sexy warrior. Lissa her well-guarded, spiritual, emphatic protégé. They are body and mind, friends who rule the hearts of many readers. They are lucky to have been gifted with two equally appealling love stories, slightly erotic, romantic and steamy for sure. Lissa finds Christian, an outsider, who was not even looking for acceptance until he met Lissa. They are healing each other from the wounds of their pasts and click together like a puzzle meant to exist. And Rose gets her love story with Dimitri. Just like everyone told me, that guy is sexy! Their difference in age and experience puts a forbidden touch to their love story. He is her instructor and she is supposed to keep her hands off him. Is that a dare? Major turn-on! The first book in the VAMPIRE ACADEMY series is funnily the one book which I liked least out of the six books in this series. I don't remember it as overly significant to the story, not remarkable character development-wise. Its writing feels a bit clumsier than the other books. While I read all six books back to back, I definitely saw a noticeable evolution over the entire series in writing, story line, character development, and surprising moments. The books keep getting longer and longer. Currently LAST SACRIFICE is the longest book I've read so far this year. Not just in page count – 2688 pages- is this series truly epic, but in its emotional variety, youthful voices, and imaginative, adventurous story line. 5/5 ***** VAMPIRE ACADEMY Series- One of the most enthralling and memorable YA vampire worlds I've had the pleasure to live in. A series I wish I would have encountered much sooner. I'm so glad that all six books were released already and I could pick up the next book right after one was finished. I wouldn't have wanted to wait one year for each of them to come out. The first three BLOODLINES books are waiting on my Kindle to be read. The decision whether to start the series now or wait till all of them have been released has yet to be made.show more

Okay, I've read a lot of books about vampires and, although this is not my favorite one I really enjoyed it. The plot was really good, it's for me the first time that I read about "alive vampires" and "dead vampires". I thought they were all dead, you see. For a change it's refreshing to have a story that is not so focused on love but on friendship and loyalty. And don't get me wrong, I'm all about love (romance is one of my favorite topics) but to be able to "feel" what Rose and Vasilisa (I love her name!) go through... I truly believe friendship is one of the most important things in life. In this book we get the idea of an academy that is set in this world but we, humble normal humans, don't know anything about it. We see the story through Rose' eyes. And, let me tell you, she is one of the best heroines I've read about. She is strong, confident and sometimes, most of them to protect or help Vasilisa, arrogant and bad mouthed. But she is also very loyal, and that's why I love her. Lisa -or Vasilisa- is the complete opposite to Rose. After losing here family she loses her confidence and becomes very shy and vulnerable. But at the same time she would do anything to help Rose. And she hides a secret, a very interesting secret that can change her live - and Rose's live- for ever. Now, don't get me wrong. Vasilisa isn't stupid... in fact, no one should mess with her. And I like that "dark side" of hers. Now, for the male characters... I totally and utterly loved Dimitri (I have a thing for Russian names xD). How focused he is, the way he controls his own feelings in order to protect Lisa just because it's how things work... Please, tell me, would you be able to do something like that? Without having second thoughts? I wish I could say yes, but I'm not sure. We have also Christian, the "bad/mysterious" guy who is an outsider in the academy for something his parents did... But he has charisma and, deep down is a good boy. And the end of the book... I most certainly wasn't expecting that so the surprise was REALLY good. I can't wait to read the next one. Read it, you won't get dissapointed.show more

Vampire Academy is the first book in the six-story installment of the Vampire Academy series. I was hooked onto the story right from the start, all the way to the latest one. The way Richelle Mead tells the story is just excellently done. It is a pleasing story about a teenage girl by the name of Rose Hathaway who is ignorant towards the real world but as the tory goes on she realises the difference between the real world and the Academt which she lives in. Sworn to protect her best friend she realises that the Academy isn't as what it was initially thought out to be. Overall it was a pleasing story which i'll be willingly happy to read over-and-over again.show more

I'll admit that I put off reading this series for quite a while because, well, I judged a book by its cover. No offense to the model, it's just not exactly the kind of cover that catches your eye and makes you want to read the book. Another thing that deterred me was the title Vampire Academy; it's just too... obvious I think. The titles of the rest of the books in the series are great - Frostbite, Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise, Spirit Bound. Now that I've read it, let's just say I regret not reading it straight away. I loved this book! I can't think of a single flaw, or anything that annoyed me! The characters are so well-written that they feel like real people, each with their own distinct personalities. Rose, the narrator, is fierce and very strong willed. She is absolutely loyal to Lissa and has a wicked sense of humor. Lissa, on the other hand, wouldn't hurt a fly. She relies heavily on Rose to be there for her as she goes through dark times. And Dimitri *swoons* how I love Dimitri! To find out why you'll just have to read the book. The mythology of Vampire Academy is awesome and very well thought out. Between Moroi, Strigoi, Dhampirs and plain old humans, there are a lot of different strengths and weaknesses among the different characters. That comes into play a lot more in the later books in the series. The elemental magic is very interesting though its not really talked about a lot. The action is great and the plot twists totally unexpected. I must admit that there are a lot of similarities between Vampire Academy and the House Of Night Series by P.C. & Kristin Cast. They're both about vampire schools, both contain elemental magic, both have good and evil versions of vampires and both have vampire protectors. As much as I hate comparing books, because each are great stories in their own right, I would have recommend Vampire Academy over Marked. It is much more mature and the writing is of a higher quality. Overall, I loved Vampire Academy and am giving it 5 stars out of 5. I recommend it to all lovers of all kinds of fantasy, vampire stories, and paranormal romance. What are you waiting for? Go read it!show more