Vampire Academy Author: Visit Amazon's Richelle Mead Page | Language: English | ISBN:
159514174X | Format: EPUB
Vampire Academy Description
From Booklist
After two years on the run, best friends Rose, half-human/half-vampire, and Lissa, a mortal vampire princess, are caught and returned to St. Vladimir's Academy. Up until then, Rose had kept Lissa safe from her enemies; school, however, brings both girls additional challenges and responsibilities. How they handle peer pressure, nasty gossip, new relationships, and anonymous threats may mean life or death. Likable narrator Rose hides doubts about her friend behind a tough exterior; orphan Lissa, while coping with difficult emotional issues such as depression and survivor's guilt, uses her emerging gifts for good. Mead's absorbing, debut YA novel, the first in a new series, blends intricately detailed fantasy with a contemporary setting, teen-relevant issues, and a diverse, if sometimes sterotyped, cast of supporting characters. Occasional steamy sex and a scattering of vulgar language demand mature readers, but teens able to handle the edgy elements will speed through this vamp story and anticipate the next installment. Rosenfeld, Shelle
Review
This story is no ordinary vampire tale. Mead has done her homework on Romanian folklore and Orthodox Catholic saints, and she uses it to weave a unique and mesmerizing mystery with a whodunit ending that even the most skilled detectives will not predict. With social angst that every teenager can appreciate and sexual tension that leaves Stephanie Meyer's Twilight looking like a children's book, this little gem is sure to be a hit.—VOYA
Mead’s absorbing, debut YA novel, the first in a new series, blends intricately detailed fantasy with a contemporary setting, teen-relevant issues, and a diverse…cast of supporting characters. Occasional steamy sex and a scattering of vulgar language demand mature readers, but teens able to handle the edgy elements will speed through this vamp story and anticipate the next installment.—Booklist
See all Editorial Reviews
- Age Range: 12 and up
- Grade Level: 7 and up
- Lexile Measure: 640L (What's this?)
- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Razorbill; Later Print edition (August 16, 2007)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 159514174X
- ISBN-13: 978-1595141743
- Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
- Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
While Mead's take on the vampire universe is unique and refreshing, her storytelling is ultimately what made this book fall flat for me. The concept is very intriguing, but Mead's sometimes amateurish prose, lackluster dialogue, and one-dimensional characters made this a very irksome read for me. I kept waiting for the book to get better, hoping that the plot would suck me in, but it just never happened. This is really unfortunate, since the plot itself is clever, imaginative, and genuinely engaging.
Mead's great concept is hindered, in part, by her thinly drawn characters. While it seems that Rose is meant to be clever and smart-mouthed, mostly she just comes off as a rude person who is weirdly obsessed with her best friend. Her witticisms seem limited to generic pseudo-rebellious comments and wry observations about how "lame" the people around her are. Meanwhile, Rose's friend, Lissa, seems to lack any personality at all, other than to occasionally cry or whine about something. Dimitri, Rose's love interest, is a sloppily written "Strong, Silent Type" (TM) whose only defining trait is that he occasionally listens to Prince's "When Doves Cry."
The prose, too, leaves much to be desired. Mead has a great tendency to TELL, rather than SHOW, and while this may not be such a bad thing when handling exposition into her elaborate vampire mythology, this tendency causes the character development to feel pretty thin. Furthermore, I feel that this novel could have used an editor in some spots--for example, when Rose comforts a crying Lissa after a gruesome discovery on campus, Rose makes note of Lissa's "sleek, silky hair.
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