Bloodlines

Monicap

**Review from July 22nd 2012**
I actually first read this book last year. Unfortunately, I either wasn't a member of goodreads at the time or I simply didn't review it. 
I'm glad this is the time I'm reviewing it, though, cuz the first time I read it I didn't notice the thing with Trey.

Sydney is kind of adorable. She just is. She’s so scared of vampires, yet her best friend is Rose and, well, you know, she pretty much hangs out with vampires every day.
Also, she’s so smart about everything but people. She’s chock-full of adorable-ness.

So, the books starts out with Sydney being terrified that she’s being sent to re-education, otherwise known as brainwashing for Alchemists. 
She ends up getting sent to Palm Springs to be part of a team working to hide Jill Dragomir/Mastrano, otherwise known as Jailbait, whom I’m sure we all remember from VA.
Eddie is there (yay, Eddie!) as well as Adrian (words can not convey how happy I am about his presence.) 
There’s also this Moroi named Clarence Donahue, and he’s a couple crayons short of 24-pack.
Here’s a quote:

 “She was killed.” He said. There was a dramatic pause. “By vampire hunters.”
“I’m sorry, by what?” I asked, certain I’d misheard.
“Vampire hunters.” Clarence repeated. 

Now, I’m not gonna say anything more on that quote lest I give anything away.
But so, Sydney, Eddie and Jill are enrolled in a private school, Amberwood Prep, as a big family. There’s some dude named Micah who bears an eerie resemblance to our dearly departed friend Mason Ashwood.
Most of this book consists of petty high-school type drama, but it’s good. 
Now, I’m really trying not to give anything away, but I do have a couple more things to say before launching into my favorite quotes from the book.
To those of you who will be wondering about it until the secret is revealed on page 355: It’s about Carly. And that’s not a spoiler, that’s a hint.
Also, this next thing isn’t really a spoiler either, but it’s only for those who have already read the book:(view spoiler)[ who here is willing to bet Trey is a vampire hunter? I read the part at the fashion show where Sydney teased him about his sun tattoo, and he acted weird and I remembered Clarence saying something about vampire hunters worshiping the sun and then something in my mind clicked and I’m almost sure he’s a vampire hunter. Thoughts? (comment below, please) (hide spoiler)]
Now, for my fave quotes:

 Had I really thought he was a work of art earlier? More like a piece of work. 

Three guesses who Sydney’s talking about. That’s right, Adrian. And he IS a work of art. He’s a misunderstood work of art.

 It didn’t matter that people expected everything of me and nothing of him. We were still the same, both of us constantly trying to break out of the lines that others had defined for us and be our own person. Adrian Iashkov—flippant, vampire party boy—was more like me than anyone else I knew. 

If that right there isn’t proof that they HAVE to be together, than I don’t now what is.

 “You look to pretty to be useful.” 

Those words so perfectly describe my Adrian I can not even begin to tell you, other than, of course, what Adrian said in response: “Truer words were never spoken,” 

And with that, I bid adieu, off to read the Golden Lily.

alexandra

i read the first two VA books and was... not a fan, but after much insistence, i decided to give Bloodlines a chance. i didn't hate it, but i didn't love it either. the two biggest problems for me were 1) the pacing, and 2) the characters.

for most of the book, i felt like there wasn't much going on. it was almost like watching all the episodes of a tv show, but they don't contribute to a main purpose (or plot, in this case). because of this, i felt like it was really slow and wasn't very compelled to keep going.

there's really nothing i have against these characters. BUT i couldn't relate or really care for them. they felt really... flat. sydney is our practical, hard-working, socially unaware lead; adrian is the misunderstood bad boy; jill is the innocent and pure "sister." they all felt disconnected to me, so when something happened in the plot/to our characters, i didn't really care (??). 

aside for those things, Bloodlines wasn't too bad. it can get really funny and snarky at times, and it was entertaining for the most part. i'm not sure if i'd want to continue the series but *shrug* maybe. i feel like i've given this world too many chances and have been let down too many times – but i also know most fantasy series get better with time.

Giulia Giacometti

2.5* 

It took several seconds of silence for me to realize that I’d been staring at him while my mind spun out its thoughts. And, actually, he was staring at me, with a look of wonder.
“My God, Sage. Your eyes. How have I never noticed them?”
That uncomfortable feeling was spreading over me again. “What about them?”
“The color,” he breathed. “When you stand in the light. They’re amazing . . . like molten gold. I could paint those . . .” He reached toward me but then pulled back. “They’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.” 

Crying, shaking and throwing up, they’re everything ❤️‍🩹

Noelia Abreu

Emilie Adele Rognmo

4.5 stars

that was so good. amazing. and that sydneyadrian moment at the end? help me jesus. this is my first fantasy book, and i was really skeptical going into it but shit i can’t wait to continue the series!!

Phillippa Hinds 

** spoiler alert **
           terrible after the vampire academy series
The thing about vampire academy was that Rose was the center and her witty quips and snarky sense of humor was what made the book funny and enjoyable. 
Bloodlines just drags on far too long. I mean all the interesting things throughout the 6 books could easily be put into 1 maybe 2 books. 
in all honesty, I don't think it was worth the money or the time. i could have easily gone without knowing the information in the series apart from in the last book when we find out that Rose and Dimitri can have kids together because of Dimitri's ex-strigoi genes and that rose and Dimitri do finally get engaged years after when she's 20 I think.

Marissa Luzio 

Here we are, back again in the wonderful world Richelle Mead created. This book started off right on Sydney Sage at home being awakened by her alchemist bosses. Sydney's home life is a rough one, to say the least. Her father is horrible to her, he treats them like crap, and her sister is just so annoying. Zoe wants to do anything to make her dad proud, even if that means going on a mission that'll most likely get her killed, when she's only 15 years old. Of course, Sydney sees how obscure this is, and offers herself considering she knows more about the Moroi and Strigoi from her little escapade with Rose and Dimitri in Blood Promises and Last Sacrifice. Well, you can understand how upset Zoe was and accused Sydney of wanting all the glory to herself, yeah.. not really. What a brat.

Anyways, flip forward a couple chapters and Sydney is back with the gang!!! Sydney, along with an annoying 'supervisor/partner' Keith Darnell, the golden boy of the alchemists. She meets up with Rose, Dimitri, Adrian, Eddie, Jill, and weirdly enough, Abe Mazur, Rose's father and someone Sydney has clearly met and made a deal with before, -gasp- mystery. Sydney and Jill move to Amberwood Prep to protect the newly found royalty, Jill, after many suspicious attacks made on her life. 

This novel was super juicy and totally fun to read. It never once got boring and I flew through it in one sitting. Adrian is a huge character in this series, which I'm glad for considering he didn't really get much in Vampire Academy. The others do make appearances once in a while but the book is solely about Sydney and her new life hiding out with Jill, Keith and Adrian. While, this book was pretty predictable, it did have its twists and surprises later on in the book and in the whole series. Adrian's lines were hilarious of course, so we still had the humour. Sydney's P.O.V was definitely different from Roses. Sydney's would be smarter, critical and more serious while Rose's was funny, witty, and sarcastic. Aside from that, this book was pretty darn great! I had fun reading it and definitely reading the rest of the series. 

IF you liked this review, check out more on my blog where I review other YA and genre books!
http://keepcalmandloveboooks.blogspot.ca

Elizabeth Neill

I couldn't put it done finished it in a day. I really liked this book.

Jaclyn

ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! OMG it was SO SO GREAT! I missed this world so much and it was so much fun being back in this world and catching up with some old friends! Sydney is so different from Rose but I still loved her and was able to understand her and I loved her friendships with Jill and Eddie. Oh & OMG I SHIP SYDRIAN SO SO HARD OMG! Their friendship was so sweet and I love how unexpected this relationship is going to be and the slow burn of it is fantastic because it leaves so much room for development and I can't wait to see where it goes! It was so nice being back with Adrian! He was one of my favorites in vampire academy and he was just as flawless im this one. I couldn't help but crack up at some of things he'd say and ahhh I just really love him a lot & I was grinning and giggling a lot at the bickering between him and Sydney! They need to be together soon because I'm so excited! That ending was crazy! Even though I kind of guessed at some of the plot twist it was still very very exciting and fast paced. I literally couldn't put his book down!. It was so much fun and gripping and I love where this series is going! And omg that last line! I need to start Golden Lily like now! Such a fantastic & fun world! Richelle Mead has done it again! 

"My God, Sage. Your eyes. How have I never noticed them?"
That uncomfortable feeling was spreading over me again. "What about them?"
"The color," he breathed. "When you stand in the light. They're amazing... Like molten gold. I could paint those..." He reached toward me, but then pulled back. "They're beautiful. You're beautiful."

I WILL GO DOWN WITH THIS SHIP.

Sophie Hutchings

So I really loved this book... It was the perfect follow on to the vampire academy books. Many of the same characters are featured or have little cameos which is great! 

Sydney is the main character of these books and I really like how we get to explore who she is, this first book is clearly just the beginning. There is so much more to that girl! I loved VA and Rose but this is a different but still so familiar so it's great. 

Highly recommend for any true VA fan!

Jo Young

I absolutely loved this book, I just about read it in one sitting :)

Maggie El Lethy

I was so sad when I finished last sacrifice.. 1 I didn't want it to be over 2 I felt so bad for Adrian.. When I heard Adrian was going to be in bloodlines I of course had to go buy it.. It didn't let me down! Thank you very much ms. Mead for the wonderful books you write!! :)

Myla Larsen

As always Richelle Mead never disappoints. I loved the Vampire Academy and about a year of debating weather or not I should read the bloodlines series. I finally bought it out of "what the heck, it won't hurt to buy it". Of course I love it and would like to read the rest.

Pamela Alvarado

Well, this book was listed under paranormal romance.
Look right.
Look left.
There wasn't any romance here. *sigh* Despite this minor disappointment, I read this thing in one sitting because of the plotline. Few books have been so awesome that I didn't care they didn't have romance and enjoyed them. However, I feel like the book was too focused on the plotline, and not so much on Sydney herself.

Courtney ✿ @librarycutie

Vampire Academy is one of my favorite series, and definitely my favorite vampire series (after twilight) so far. I needed to continue the adventure in the spin-off series of Bloodlines by Richelle Mead. 

Sydney Sage is an alchemist who is assigned to watch over Jill Dragomir, a royal Moroi and the only thing keeping Vasilisa Dragomir as Queen, after an attack at court. Eddie Castile is sent to be Jill's guardian, as he is a dhampir. Adrian Ivashkov is also sent with them to Palm Springs, but instead of going to the private school Amberwood, he is staying at Clarence's, a local Moroi who cares not of the court or royals. 

In this book is Love, Science, Magic, Deaths, and of course Action. It took me a couple chapters to fully get into it, but wow. I was completely shocked by the last couple chapters. (And also that thing with Adrian and Jill, sorry no spoilers).

The Golden Lily, here i come…

Amy Grieve

After reading Vampire Academy I didn't think I could fall in love with anything more. But I guess I had yet to witness the world through Sydney Sage's eyes. 

On the surface Sydney is completely different to her Vampire Academy counterpart Rose Hathaway. The big difference is mostly their race with Sydney being a human and Rose being a dhampir. However at the core these girls are both strong, independent women. Their overall ideals may be different but they are both amazing.

However I think that I may prefer Sydney. She just seems like the type of person I would like to be friends with. The way she protects people is so brave, especially when it came to the Keith situation. She doesn't have any kick-ass fighting skills like Rose but she uses what she has to defend herself and others. I also love the way that she isn't a typical vampire-hating Alchemist. 

Yet there was also Mr Adrian Ivashkov who was a great balance to Sydney's serious nature. He can truly make anyone smile if he sets his mind to it, even Sydney. After all of his heartbreak with Rose I think that everyone agrees that he deserves some happiness and good in his life. Hopefully with the help of a certain Alchemist.

There is one thing for certain though, all the characters have some type of emotional baggage. Eddie is still dealing with so much guilt, Jill is trying to deal with all new pressures of her new life, Adrian is still heart-broken and Sydney is conflicted about the Mori. To me they kind of feel like the misfits of the Vampire Academy world with Bloodlines being their chance to shine as bright as Rose, Lissa and Dimitri.

Plot-wise Bloodlines is solid and, to me, very intriguing. Something tells me that Clarence isn't as crazy as everyone thinks. 

So excited for the next book.

(WARNING: KEITH DARNELL IS A DICK)

Camila 

Oh Dios! 
Me gustó Sydney desde la primera vez que apareció en VA y tener una saga con ella como protagonista fue genial. 
El libro tomó un camino diferente al que esperaba y me gustó mucho el plot twist y...

EL FINAL
DIMITRI IS BACK! Maybe??

Sam Kiszonka

ashley hopkins

I have to say I loved it. It wasn't Rose and Dimitri, but it held its own.

MY THOUGHTS:

Alright you all know by now that Vampire Academy is like my bible. Okay, not really but it is my favorite series/book. If I could I would make everyone read it regardless if they like that kind of read or not. It will always be one of the books I recommend or in Lan's word pimp it out. So when Richelle mentioned that she was making a spin-off series with some of the same characters from VA I knew that no matter what I would buy it, and read it and love it. You know what? I was right. Did I have a little concern that maybe I would hate it? Maybe like a 1% chance. After all they were characters taking center stage that in VA were only minor characters, and one of my loves for VA were the main characters Rose, Dimitri, Lissa (sometimes), Christian, and Adrian (when he was around). 


So question: How could I love a book that didn't feature them, and had Sydney (the alchemist), Jill (Lissa's half-sister), Eddie (guardian), and Adrian as main characters? Not to mention a few new characters as well. (which I will get into in moment) Easy I reminded myself that just because the characters changed that my love for Richelle's writing and story-telling didn't. I also realized that none of the Bloodline characters are going to be VA characters personality wise. I wouldn't want them to be. I wanted to be able to see that they had their own chance to grow as awesome main characters, and be able to shine. I think they proved that they could do that.


BACKGROUND STORY
Sydney is chosen to kind of play big sister to Jill when something happens that forces the Moroi Court and the guardians to send Jill to a boarding school out in California. It sounds like it would be just another job for Sydney, and hey maybe she could make amends for things she did. Boy was she ever wrong. Poor Sydney could never catch a break, and I just wanted her to yell and tell everyone to just stop. Yeah, that's about as much background as you getting from me.


 CHARACTERS
Our main character Sydney so I've noticed some people didn't like her as a MC. I had my doubts that she could be a good MC, but I was wrong. I'm going to say this once (maybe) She's definitely not the Rose we all love in VA, but she has her own personality. One that might I add gets her in to sticky situation just like the other. Remember if you will she helped Rose so she has those tendencies to do whatever first then stop and think after. She also wanted to be able to help anyone and everyone she could except for Keith, and maybe Abe. She wanted to protect the people around her even if it meant she had to deal with the vampires and play nice with them. Which for an Alchemist is hard because they're taught that any vampire whether it was the moroi or Strigoi or Dhampirs they are un-natural. I liked being able to see Sydney grow from the scared, shaky girl at the beginning of the book to someone less afraid and stronger.

First let's talk about the superior which she was suppose to go to if something happened in Palm Springs. Keith the one human person she couldn't stand for reasons not learned until later in the book. She had to play nice in order for him not to sending her packing. I think she did a fairly good job at it, but at some point in time it was like Sydney don't let this dude push you around. So needless to say I'm not a Keith fan.

Adrian, I'm so glad you came back. How I missed your smart-ass comments, and you just being you. As much as it hurt me to see Adrian treated the way he was in VA I think it may help him in this series. I mean yes he's still cocky and arrogant, but when you get farther into the story and see what he's done and who he tries to be he grows on you. I hope he gets what he wants in this series. I wouldn't mind twist with some of the female characters and him. :)


There's more characters I could go on about, but this review is a little on the lengthy side so I'll say this I liked seeing Jill in her own skin, and stand out from her half sisters shadows. Eddie deserves a lot to, and I think he'll grow. Micah, I knew the minute I read his description where that was headed for some other characters. I can only say I hope stuff turns out alright. Lee, I had a hunch that something was wrong with that boy. Oh, and the teacher what is up with her? That is all.


OVERALL
I loved the book, and if you think just because it's a spin-off it might suck. It doesn't really. I think maybe the only complaint I have would be a little more action. I mean with what happened you'd think problems would presents themselves left and right. Not so much. Only small bits. I will say I could have thrown the book for the kind of ending it left me with. One person I wanted to at least see a bit, and the end of the book is where the character shows. I want My Golden Lily now not next year. :(

Jessica Williamson

So glad to be back in the world of VA! Even though it's the same world there's a definite vibe to it this time. Being inside Sydney's mind is definitely different than being with Rose. They're two very different girls, and lucky for me, I like them both.

I feel bad for Sydney. Her family and the Alchemists seem completely overbearing and they make that poor girl do things she hates. But she's a good person and she does what she believes is right, and that's important.

Pretty much all of my favorite side characters from VA made it to Bloodlines and I'm super excited about that. I love Jill she's always been fun to read about and Eddie is probably my second favorite guardian (after Rose of course). And who doesn't love Adrian? Adrian is good for comedic purposes and that perfect heartfelt moment because he truly does bounce between the two.

I really liked the plot of this one. There were some good twists and turns and enough foreshadowing that I knew something was going to happen but never enough that I could guess exactly what it was.

Can't wait to start book 2!

laura

Very good. I really loved the characters and loved the setting. Plot sometimes a bit predictable but a good story and a good start to a series.

Jade Flynn

Lets face it...I'm never going to hate anything Richelle Mead writes.

Emily

Re-read 2021: 

oh yes, this holds up. 

it's been a minute since i read this for the first time, and i was worried i wouldn't love it as much as i did before. luckily, i was wrong. i'm still obsessed with these books.

the Vampire Academy universe is truly the perfect thing to fall back into when things are feeling scattered. in a reading slump? vampire academy. need an audiobook? vampire academy. the world is slowly crumbling around you? vampire academy is always the answer. 

are these books cheesey? honestly i don't think so. the covers exude an energy that i truly believe is not reflective of the content of the books. there is more depth to these books than you'd expect, and the plot and worldbuilding is more interesting than you'd probably expect too. heck, this was a re-read and i was shocked by the plot twist at the end again. 

these books are just so much fun, and the characters truly stick with me. i can't wait to continue, and i don't know what i'll do once i finish 😭

--

Original review 2018:

 Yup, so Richelle Mead has done it again. 

I'm positive that if you are seeing this book, or its original series Vampire Academy, on your feed for the first time you would definitely see it and be thinking, Well that looks godawful. 

And this is why we don't judge books by their covers. (Even though we all know we actually do)

Now, let me be real, I know that these books are not some literary masterpieces, but they have more substance to them than one might think. I am thoroughly surprised by multiple plot twists in every book, and that is not something I can say about a LOT of YA books.

I also love the character arcs woven throughout the first series, and I cannot wait to see what they are like in this spinoff.

I really enjoy being inside a new character's head because while Rose was an awesome narrator, Sydney provides a lot of contrast to that original point of view. Rose is a fierce character who sometimes lacked a filter, while Sydney is more calculated and logical.

I also really loved getting to know a new side of Adrian and I'm excited to see where his character goes.

Overall, 10/10 and I'm so excited to read the next book.

Bloodlines

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