Vampire Academy – Series Review

 

Vampire Academy Series

by Richelle Mead

1. Vampire Academy ★★★★

2. Frostbite ★★★★★

3. Shadow Kiss ★★★★★

4. Blood Promise ★★★★★

5. Spirit Bound ★★★★

6. Last Sacrifice ★★★★

Expectation

I started reading this book series as a part of my Summer reading challenge and a project for reading more of the books I own. Only the first book in the series was a part of the reading challenge and I have deliberately left it for the last book in the challenge in case I decide to read the rest of the series. Good thing I did!

 

Sometimes I get put off by the books everyone else is reading or thinks they are great! That is part of the reason I avoided this book series for so long. I got the books sometime last year at a library book sale out of town. When I saw how cheap they were and that they are in excellent condition as a set I decided to buy them. Worst case scenario –  I have many friends who would love to have them in case I don’t like them!

When I started I did not have any high expectations and I approached the book series as a way to catch up with some pop culture references. I am usually a fan of YA urban fantasy and I had a vague memory of a movie being not so good.

Summary

I am not a fan of the covers of Croatian editions and covers with faces of young people in general. While I usually love to enjoy the book I’m reading both by looking at the cover design and materials it is made from, the books I was reading were the cheap editions one could get in general stores or kiosks. I tried not to be bothered by that and I mostly succeeded.

I was pleasantly surprised with the first book and in two weeks time I quickly managed to read trough the whole six books of the series! I rated all the books quite high with  four and five stars out of five total. This puts the series general score at four and a half stars which is a big thing for me to do. The main reason for this is that I was mostly very pleased with how the books had a dramatic and at times even very sexual appeal without being outright dirty or offensive in sexual descriptions. I appreciated the the author did not use the vile curtain down and pretended that sex had nothing to do with real life or her story like some do. I see it as vital part of our lives and while many do not want to admit this – many of our life choices are heavily influenced by our sexual experiences and preferences. I was even impressed with the authors ability to make things fluid and believable – both the good and the bad.

There were many taboo topics hinted in the books. From unhealthy and even illegal relationships to privacy boundaries and honesty issues. Some of these resonated with me and I did not expect this to happen while reading a YA fantasy series since I do consider myself an adult and have read books in the YA category I was unable to understand from that point of view anymore. Some of the books of the series were very dark and I was shocked by how dark they got. The drama in the books was very high and I was impressed more than once.

I watched the move again and was actually mad at how much they twisted it. The comedic approach did not go well with the actual setting in the books. It seemed like the director or the producers could not take the theme seriously but they still wanted to make money. Only thing I really liked in the movie was the actress Zoey Deutch and her portrayal of Rose Hathaway. I had some issues getting the actor who played Dimitri out of my vision of the character. His role was much more physical in the books because of his mostly stoic nature.

I did not know there was a graphic novel edition but I should have not been surprised. I definitely would not mind reading those if I ever get my hands on them!

Conclusion

I loved that I read this book series. It made me rethink my occasional prejudice against mainstream favorites. Reading experience was a roller coaster of drama and emotion I had not trouble getting into. I even have a need to rant and vent about some of the characters and the ending itself but will have to refrain from that since the hype train for the books is long gone for most readers. I do recommend this book series and I’m even kinda sad I ended it so quickly!

Stuck in the middle of a book series!

I am a great fan of books that come as a part of a book series. The longer the better! The longest book series I read currently has confirmed book number 26 in the series for June 2015. I have few other that are in the double digits as well. If I start counting manga and graphic novel series the list gets even bigger. This also makes for a good looking bookshelf since I’m very careful to continue a series in a same format and edition.

One of the series that gave me a headache in this is Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris – in this case the publisher whose editions I was buying decided to change cover design and made me want to scream at someone.

The last one on the photo is number 11 in the series and the color would be best described as screaming yellow in comparison to the rest. Also the number 10 is a little bigger in format from the rest and number 9 and number 10 have a TV series cover design…The publisher in this case stopped with publishing books with the design of the first 8 altogether. This is part of the reason I never bothered much to get the last two books of the series.

The troubles of long book series aficionados aside, there are quite a number of book series I am in the middle of. Some of them I am unable to purchase for the lack of funds. Some, after a while just get left behind for something more available at the moment. My biggest problem is wanting to read them right away, and sometimes waiting for the mass market paperback to arrive can last for a year or more – which is quite a long time to wait.

Here are some of the book series I have on my shelf that fit into category where I read one, two or more; but for some reason didn’t read them all.

Exhibit number one:

Lux (Armentrout) book series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Read 2 out of 3 I have on the shelf.

Exhibit number two:

Shadow Saga book series by Christopher Golden

Read 1 out of 4 I have on the shelf.

Exhibit number three:

The Hollows book series by Kim Harrison

Read 8 out of 10 I have on the shelf.

Exhibit number four:

Kushiel’s Legacy book series by Jacqueline Carrey

Read 6 out of 9 I have on the shelf.

Exhibit number five:

Ephemera book series by Anne Bishop

Read 1 out of 2  I have on the shelf

Exhibit number six:

Angel: After the Fall graphic novel series

Read 5 out of 6 I have on my shelf. (Also I have few more that continue onto this series available on my shelf as well!)

There are others but posting them all would be just bragging about how lazy I can be.

None of these were disliked. In most cases I read few books in the series and really liked it. Until the next book arrived I almost forgot how good it felt to read that particular book series. This post is a reminder of that.

I am currently stuck in many book series and have hard time keeping them up to date for various reasons – some of them are financial or practical for the lack of time. Love towards stories like all things needs to be cherished and reminded of on a regular basis.