Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Bloodlines Series, Book 2
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Description (taken from Richelle Mead's website):
Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.
Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she’s been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.
But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don’t die. But it’s her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her.
When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney’s loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.
Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart?
The whole time I read this, this is what I thought, "When are Sydney and Adrian ever going to kiss?! Why is it taking so long?! Why won't they kiss already?!!!!!!!!!!!!" And let me tell you, my patience has been worn thin by this book.
I have been an Adrian supporter ever since the second or third book in the Vampire Academy series. And also, that is one of my favorite series. So, I'm a big fan of these books, however I felt like this book fell short of my expectations. I don't know if it's because Sydney is too much like me: she doesn't understand social cues, too analytical, afraid to get out of her own protective square, can't pick up on romantic cues, etc. I think I could provide multiple examples about myself and those traits, however it's hard to see it from Sydney's point of view when the obviousness of the situation is clearly there in the pages (never mind the fact that I'd be just as clueless if I were in her shoes).
Adrian, oh Adrian. Adrian Ishashkov... My husband better hope you never leave the fictional pages to enter the real world. And that's all I have to say about that.
Do I recommend this book? Sorry, it's your typical second book in the series, and I thought the plot was slightly lacking. But the series as a whole? Of course (read Vampire Academy first though). Am I eagerly anticipating the next one? Anything for Adrian.
Challenges: Sensational Seconds Challenge and Young Adult Reading Challenge
ADRIAN!!! Ever since I heard him say "Hey little dhampir" I was gone to his charms! I actually didn't want them to kiss cause I knew Sydney was not ready. She still has to see the evil in the alchemists. Poor Adrian! A crappy dad and such crappy luck with girls. He deserves the best! I actually liked this book better than the first. I thought all the characters developed well.
ReplyDeleteI really have to read this series, not knowing Adrian is killing me right now!
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a good entry in the series. Yes, I was waiting on the kiss since the *last* book. But you know she has to string that along. I was happy she had that in the book at all.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I thought there was plenty of other plot and character development. Attempting to date a normal human? Check. Starting to seriously question the Alchemists? Check. Actually using magic OMGWTFBBQSAUCE! Check. (I was waiting for that.) Using her brain to plan ahead to be ready for a bad situation? Check.
All in all I thought it was great. I knew the actual romance with Adrian would have to grow slowly and she had the ... distraction boyfriend angle to explore. My only complaint was that it was short. It felt like a long wait for so little book. With the way I read, that isn't necessarily true though.
If you want a book that has more kissing and romance, you could try Significance series, it`s more for the older YA :)
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