Vampire Books

Shadow Kiss is the 3rd book in the Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead. It follows much of the previous story, and I recommend you read the first two books before you start on this book.

Let me first start out this review by saying that each book in this series has gotten gradually better, and I can not wait until the 4th book comes out in audio format. I don’t have time to read books much, but I do have a rather long commute to and from work, and I love listening to these books while I ride.

Now, on to the book! This book is set right before Lissa and Rose are due to graduate, they are in their last semester at St. Vladimir’s Academy, and they have a lot going on. Rose is seeing Mason’s ghost (if you remember Mason died in the last book), and she thinks she might be going crazy, and refuses to let anyone know what she is seeing.

Rose is also very much in love with Dimitri in this book, like every other book. And I still find it gross and disgusting. Then again most think Dimitri is Hot and Sexy – perhaps I’m weird. I still would love to see Adrian and Rose get together. Oh well, in addition to this though, Lissa and Christian are still together in this book, and Mead throws in a nice twist with having Rose guard Christian in their final guardian “in field” training each senior must go through.

The “in field” training is a 6 week training program where Dhampire’s are assigned to Moroi to watch and look after for 6 weeks, while the instructors sneak around and try to “get” the Moroi. The Dhampire’s must protect the Moroi against the instructors no matter what. Which is kind of fun, just thinking about being able to fight your instructors without holding back makes you go “hmmmmmm” lol.

Anyway, during the course of the book Rose becomes more and more convinced that she is seeing Mason for a reason, and tries to figure out what that reason might be. By the time she realizes what is happening its too late. The Academy is attacked by tons of Strigoi, and the Moroi, instructors, and Guardians must fight to protect the school and the Royal’s. This is a very exciting attack, not to mention the fight starts right after Rose and Dimitri “do the deed”. I would love to see this fight reenacted on film, it would be amazing!

This fight leads to the capture of several Moroi, and while on a rescue mission to take the Strigoi and save Moroi lives, Dimitri is turned into a Strigoi. This leads to a devastated Rose dropping out of school to go find Dimitri and kill him. This is the end of the book, and much like the end of this post, its way too abrupt to really be a “good” ending.

Of course ending like this really sets the tone for the next book, and I think its part of the reason why I am feining for the fourth book so much. Of course its not out in audio format yet, so we will just have to wait to see the next chapter.

All in all, this is one of my favorite books, 1, because of the Strigoi attack, it was described beautifully and it was very well thought out, and 2, because Dimitri gets turned into a Strigoi (hehe).  I would recommend this book, and this series to anyone urning for some more Vampire Love, Mead is a very talented writer, and these book seem very well thought out and they are easy on the ears.

Frostbite is the second book in the Vampire Academy Series, by Richelle Mead. The first books paves the way for this book, and lays the basis of this book, but it could also be read without the first one. The story is told through the eyes of Rose, a dhampire at St. Vladimirs Academy. St. Vladamirs Academy is a school for young Moroi Vampires, and Dhampires. Moroi are vampires who possess magic, and are in a general sense “good”. Dhampires are their protectors. Rose is best friends with a Royal Moroi, Lissa, who is very powerful, and possess the ability to wield “spirit”. Spirit is a very newly discovered ability and not much is known about it, but it is much more powerful than Air, Wind, Earth and Fire. In this book Lissa is learning to control her ability, and trying to keep out of trouble. She is dating Christian, which I think is a cute choice, they go together well, but have completely different personalities, so its fun to listen to.

Rose and Lissa are bonded together by a one way psychic connection. Rose can hear Lissa’s thoughts, and can also see what Lissa see’s through Lissa’s eyes. It is a very intriguing bond, and adds a lot to the story.

As for the specifics of this book, it is set in a ski lodge. Strigoi (the evil Vampires), attacked the Academy, leading to the whole school attending a very well protected ski lodge, usually reserved for Royal Moroi during Winter Break. Many extra Dhampire’s have been called in to help protect the students, including Rose’s very well known Mother. The tension between Rose and her Mother is well placed, and I believe it helps develop Rose a little more, and I like her character.

Again, Dimitri is in the book, romantic things happen, and it makes me uncomfortable… hahaha. I don’t like Dimitri, and I really wish his character was a little better portrayed. I listened to the audio book and his voice may be the thing that deters me, so it may be different if you are planning to read the book, instead of listen to it.

I love the character of Adrian, he is charming, mysterious, sexy, and I really dig the bad boys look (even though I get the feeling he isn’t too “bad”).

The plot revolves around the decision to either retaliate against the Strigoi for the attacks or do nothing. It is part of the old ways that the Moroi and dhampire’s stay clear of Strigoi, only fighting when necessary, but many Moroi and many Guardians think that it is time for a change.

The real adventure begins when Rose learns that Mason, Mia, and Eddie have escaped the Ski Lodge and gone after the Moroi that killed Mia’s parents. Mia is enraged and wants revenge, and Eddie and Mason are willing and ready to help take out some Strigoi. Of course Rose goes after them, and they are soon caught and held prisoner by Strigoi and their human helpers. In the end Mason is dead, Eddie has been starved and fed off of almost to the point of being dead, and Mia and Rose must create a plan to escape their bondage. They devise a plan and the group is well into their escape plan when they run into powerful Strigoi that want them all dead. Rose ends up showing her kick ass skills and kills her first couple Strigoi, and Mia, the whiny little brat overcomes her ways and becomes stronger as she helps Rose take the Strigoi out using the element of water.

Overall this book is pretty good, and if you liked the first book, you will definitely get into this one, and want to pick up the 3rd one right after you finish. It continues the story really well, and takes some nice twists and turns. As with the first book Rose is very easy to listen to, and the concept of the bond really helps keep this book flowing at a nice pace.

This book started off kind of strange, I didn’t really get into the first chapter or so – when they were on their own. But of course I understand it now, but to be honest, had I been reading the book instead of listening to it, I might have put it down. I kept reading and am pretty glad I did, it perked right up. Listening to Rose with her sarcastic and witty comments made me chuckle a little bit, and the story was pretty interesting.There are many aspects to this story that were pretty confusing, a lot was going on in this book. The running away, the bond, the academy, Moroi, Strigoi, Humans, Dhampires, Royals, Victor Dashkov, Mia, Dimitri, Dimitri, Dimitri…… it was all explained well, but it was a lot to take it. And Dimitri – he’s a whole different story. The character of Dimitri was needed but it the whole parental love thing they have going was a little disgusting to me. But then again I have never had a crush on a teacher so what do I know.

As for the plot, with Victor out to get them, and how he used magic, and had used Natalie to test Lissa all was very well put together, and flowed really nicely.  I put together the plot relatively quickly, but their were some twists I didn’t expect, like Natalie turning Strigoi. Natalie was the last person I expected to be the villian, so I really liked that part.

Lissa and the spirit magic were great additives, and of course, the bond helped move the story along at a decent pace, never keeping on one character too long. It was good to always know that Rose was the point of view, even when speaking from Lissa and her psychic bond. The “shadowkissed” references really make me want to keep reading this book. To have bits and pieces of this story is what really keeps the series going, and I love the mystical, psychic touch it has. I can’t lie, I’ve already starting reading the other books, and I still like the “Shadowkissed” references in it.


Now Lissa, she is a good character, but I really don’t like her meek ways, and small voice. She seems strong, but  sounds way too childish, I think this might have to do again with the fact that I listened to the book instead of reading it, but anyway, Lissa just needs to toughen up. And I really didn’t like the crazy cutting, I don’t think it added too much to the book, and that kind of fear and frustration could have been shown in a different way. In the end though I think Lissa does the right thing with being with Christian. And speaking of Christian, he is one of my favorite characters, I wish he said and did more. (Maybe in the next book ;-P )

The last characters I want to address are Mia and Mason. Mia is a straight up brat, and I love how her character is portraided in the book. She is a typical snob you would meet at any high school, and I loved the twisted plots and rumors that were tossed around. It made the book fun to read and get into. A few times I think I even found myself giving Mia a sigh out loud, hehe . Mason was a nice character, not good for Rose, but helped to balance out the school atmosphere.  He was a good ole boy, and who doesn’t love a good ole boy.

Overall I really liked the book – enough to keep reading, and I would recommend this book to anyone interested in this genre. I personally use Audible to download the audio books, and they have some really good deal for those interested in audio books.  

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