[REVIEW] Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Published: August 2011
Publisher: Razorbill
Age Group: Young Adult
Series: Bloodlines #1

When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Bloodlines explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive - this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone's out for blood. (From Goodreads)

I've put off reading this book for a long time now. Not because the end of the Vampire Academy Series was horrible (cause it was, [review]) but because when I heard that the premise of the spin off series was that it would be following secondary characters, well I wasn't really interested. Frankly, I'm still not that interested...more than I was before though.

For readers who loved the Vampire Academy series, I will say that Richelle Mead's new series is different.  The writing is the same but the setting changes.  In Vamprie Academy, there is a lot of action and drama (mainly the love triangle and vampire politics), well in Bloodlines, the story has more of a mystery feeling mixed with teenage problems (school and social drama). There's a lot less action which was one of the main things I loved in the original series. Okay, now enough hating, I did like some parts of this book.

First, Sydney. She's a very interesting character. Well she had better be if she's expected to be the main character. I find a lot of similarities with her and Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy but Sydney has enough of a personality that I can read the story and still distinguish the two.

Second: I know I just ranted about the lack of action in Bloodlines but I must say, I do enjoy the school drama that is in this book. I was missing some good old teenage angst with all the books I've been reading so that was a good different.

Okay, now back to some more dislikes.
Adrian. Before you kill me let me explain. Adrian Ivashkov is sort of a scene stealer charactet in the original series. And I must admit that I did like him but purpose was just to be that third part of the love triangle between Rose, Dimitri and him. Honestly, I find that Richelle Mead only put him in this series because there were so many heartbroken female readers that DEMANDED he get justice for his sadness in the previous books. That's probably the only reason why he's in this book. Because there's a fan base behind him and people want to read more about him. What do I have to say about this? Meh. I don't really care, just that I've noticed that it seemed slightly forced with Adrian in the story.  It did get better later on but at the beginning, I kept reading thinking "Why is Adrian here?"

Also it seems evident that there's going to be some romantic relationship between Adrian and Sydney...I DON'T LIKE THAT. I don't know why...it just bothers me.  Maybe I'm too much of a Vampire Academy lover that I can't picture Adrian without Rose (or in this case with anyone else.)

Lastly, Richelle Mead has a way of bringing in characters from her first book to entice readers a little bit. Some of them work, others not so much. When Rose is there at the start, it seemed unnecessary. She had a couple of lines and a quick hug and that was it. Waste of a character and lines to be honest.  But another time Richelle Mead did this was at the end.

SPOILERS That last line. "Dimitri Belikov had arrived" spoke thousands. I LOVE  Dimitri and am so excited he's in the next book in the series, The Golden Lily. That's the only reason that's motivating me to read the next book. Dimitri. END SPOLERS

MEH