Jessica's Totally Over The Top Book Obsession's Reviews > Vampire Academy

5 Little run away stars



******************Spoilers*********************

I don't know what it is about teenage vampire love stories, but I eat them up like chocolate! I devour every angsty teen vampire book series I get my hands on. Vampire diaries, Bloodlines, Vampire Academy, Crave, and of course the one that started it all for me, Twilight!!!!!! Yes I am that mom, the Twimom! And I have no shame!



After reading Twilight for like the 9th time and not getting my fill of vampires, (this was years ago before I found Goodreads) I went to the library to find a new vampire book and came across Vampire Academy. Smart ass, kick ass heroine, Russian warrior god like hero Yes please!!! I loved this read. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because as with many first books in a series this book was a little slow at the first half. With the details setting up the paranormal world and character development it slowed the book down a bit, but still a really enjoyable read.



This series focuses on four people and their relationships with each other, and the world of Moroi, Dhampire, and Strigoi. So I will speak a little about each main character then touch on the plot of this book.

1. Rose (Rosemarie ) Hathaway: Rose is the main Heroine in this series. She is a 17 year old Dhampir (Half human/ Half Vampire) at St.Vladimir Academy where she is training to be a guardian ( guardians are Dhampirs trained to protect Moroi the good vampires against the Strigoiki the bad vampires). Rose's best friend is Lissa and her love interest is Dimitri. Rose has some abandonment issues because she never met her dad and her mom dumped her off at the school to be raised so she could go off and be a guardian. Rose is a smart mouth, that is loyal, brave and she has a short fuse.

2. Dimitri Belikov: Dimitri is the main hero in this series. He is a 24 year old Dhampir guardian. He is called a god because he is one of the best guardians and has amazing fighting skills. He is Lissa's guardian and a teacher at St. Vladimir academy. He is the love interest of Rose and he is her guardian trainer. Dimitri is stoic and stand offish. He is totally dedicated to his job. Dimitri is very protective and loyal.

3. Lissa(Vasilisa) Dragomir: Lissa is a Moroi Princess. She is best friends with Rose and her love interest is Christian. Lissa's whole family is dead killed in a car wreck. Rose also died in that wreck but Lissa having spirit magic brought her back to life. Now Rose is shadow kissed and has a bond with Lissa. The bond is one way Rose can feel what Lissa is feeling and sometimes she can see through Lissa's eyes. Lissa feels a lot of guilt that she isn't living up to her family name as she is the last Dragomir. Because of Lissa's spirit magic she gets depressed and has dark painful emotions and cuts herself to feel better. Lissa is sweet, loyal and doesn't treat people badly just because she is a royal. Lissa can't stand for anyone or animal to suffer and wants to help and heal any time she can.

4. Christian Ozera: Christian is a Moroi royal. He has fire magic. His parents made a choice to turn Strigoi willingly so they could live forever. They were hunted down in front of him when he was a child and killed. He lived with his aunt around humans for a time. He is anti-social, and everyone acts like he doesn't exist. He is very brave and open minded. He wants to fight with the Dhampirs instead of being protected and helpless. He is very smart, observant, but is insecure and can be jealous .



The Plot:

The book starts with Rose and Lissa being caught and brought back to St. Vladimir's Academy by Dimitri after being on the run for the last two years in the human world. As the girls settle back into school life and try to get caught up with their classes and friends some crazy things start happening. Someone keeps killing animals and putting them in Lissa's room. In the spoiler tag is a run down of the rest of the book with heavy spoilers so don't read if you don't want to know (view spoiler)[ It's Victor Dashkov with the help of his daughter Natalie. He was testing Lissa to see if she could heal death. Victor is sick and dying and ends up kidnapping Lissa to force her to heal him. He tells her that because he has a chronic disease that would just keep coming back he plans to hold her prisoner and force her to heal him over and over. Lissa is saved by Dimitri, Rose and Christian. Victor is taken to prison where he has his daughter Natalie turn Strigoi and break him out of prison. Natalie is killed by Dimitri after almost killing Rose. Victor is recaptured. Dimitri tells Rose that he has feelings for her but they can never be because for one he is older and her teacher and for two if he let himself love her he would protect her and not the princess. (hide spoiler)]



I loved the chemistry between Dimitri and Rose. I could understand why Dimitri would hold back. I loved the sister like friendship between Rose and Lissa. The way they were there for each other even when they were fighting. The connection between the 4 main characters is built up nicely in this book and felt real. The plot was good and I loved the different take on vampires. Overall I really enjoyed this read and I can't wait to start book 2.