Format: Paperback
Pages: 421
Release Date: August 23rd, 2011
Publisher: Razorbill
Sydney belongs to a secret group who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the world of humans and vampires.
But when Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, she fears she's still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. What unfolds is far worse. The sister of Moroi queen Lissa Dragomir is in mortal danger, and goes into hiding. Now Sydney must act as her protector.
The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathizing with vampires. And now she has to live with one...
Bloodlines is a spin-off series of the of the popular Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. Truth be told, I think I loved Bloodlines more than the first book of VA (the only book of that series I've read). It was all kinds of amazing, really. Mead is an exceptional author with amazing talent and it definitely showed in this first instalment of what looks to be an amazing series.
{Characters}
Because I have yet to read the other books of the VA series, I hadn't come by characters like Jill and Sydney and Adrian before. They were all kind of new to me. I've got to say, Sydney was pretty fantastic. She was so easy to relate and so normal. Her reactions were realistic because, I mean, if I had been brought up my entire life being told vampires were evil, evil, evil, I probably wouldn't want to be in close contact with them either.
Adrian is awesome. I fell in love with him right from the moment he was introduced. The banter between Sydney and Adrian was really cute and I have high hopes that it will lead to something more in future books. Jill, Micah, Eddie and Trey were all lovely additions to the cast. Some not-so-lovely people like Keith were still super-interesting to read about. I could go on and on for pages and pages about Richelle Mead's wonderful characters but that would take far too long.
{Plot}
The pacing of the story was perfect in my opinion. I've heard from some other that it was a bit annoying to have to wait for Sydney to play catch-up but I guess since I hadn't read the VA books before, that didn't apply to me. I was always on the same page as Sydney and the big twist at the end left me stunned. I can honestly say I didn't see that coming.
This is definitely a favourite for me. There will be six books in the Bloodlines series and the next one, The Golden Lily, will be released June 12th. I honestly can't wait to see what happens to Sydney and Adrian and the rest of the gang. This is a must-read, even for those who haven't yet picked up a VA book.
