Review – Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

To celebrate the release of The Indigo Spell, the third book in the Bloodlines series, on the 12^th February, I decided to post my reviews for the first two books in the series. This week’s review is for Bloodlines, the first book in the series. Next week will be my Golden Lily Review and on the 11^th February I will post the Indigo Spell review, as I was lucky enough to get it early!! Enjoy……

Title: Bloodlines

Author: Richelle Mead

Series: Bloodlines #1

Genre: YA Paranormal

Published: August 23^rd 2011

Book Description

Sydney is an alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of human and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives. When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she thinks she's still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir - the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir - is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill's guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the last place anyone would think to look for vampire royalty - a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. But instead of finding safety at Amberwood Prep, Sydney discovers the drama is only just beginning...

My Review

I have read Bloodlines twice now and I loved it both times! The Vampire Academy series is one of my favourite series of all time, so it comes as no surprise that this rates up there as well. I've always enjoyed Richelle Mead’s books; they seem to always have me drawn in from the start. This was another of those books with a great storyline, fascinating characters and plenty of things happening to keep me guessing.

In this series, Sydney is one of the main characters and the book is told from her point of view. She was one of my favourite characters in The Vampire Academy books and I was happy to see her in her own spin off series. For someone so well educated through home schooling, and having travelled the world in her job role as an alchemist, she is still so naive! She has no idea about the normal day to day living that normal teenagers have. Everything is so black and white to her and she usually says the first thing that springs to mind.

The three other main characters in the book are Jill, Eddie and Adrian, all of which were in the VA series. It is good to see them in this new series and to see their characters develop further. I really love Adrian, so much so that if he were real, I would hunt him down and have his babies!! I was so excited that I got to see more of him and that his story didn't finish in the original series, he is such a great character who always has me smiling with his witty remarks and being so self absorbed!

In Bloodlines, most of the characters head back to high school, as Jill needs to go undercover. There are many twists in the plot of this story and even while reading the book the second time round, it still amazed me. There are also minor cameo roles from some of my favourite characters of the first series and I met some new ones too. It is a definite read for the Die Hard VA fans!!