Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Pages: 332
Publisher: Razorbill
Released: August 2007

Plot: St. Vladimir's academy isn't just any boarding school. It's the school home to vampires. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, the protector to her best friend Lissa a Moroi vampire Princess. After being on the run they are now back at St Vladimir's, the very place they had tried to escape from.
Now that they're back the danger returns. Dead animals are being found in Lissa's room, they're 'friends' bitch and cause rumours and the constant threat of the Strigoi - the most feared type of  vampire rises. Plus Rose and Lissa are both having problems in their love life.
Can they work through all of this and stay alive?

Good Points: Okay, I'm quite liking this series so far. I know people have been going on about it for ages and so I thought I should finally give it a try.
To start off, I liked the main character, I thought her personality was what helped make the book, along with the dashing Russian guardian Dimitri of course. With her fits of rage every now and then that make you want to enlist her into anger management classes, Rose's character definitely brings a certain... spirit? to the book.
Plot wise I thought it was just okay. It was basically your typical first book, introducing you to the characters, letting you get a feel of them and implanting some heavy clues as to what may happen in the future. So not overly impressed here but I think I have to commend Mead on creating a world that was genuinely enjoyable to read.

Bad Points: Okay I don't know what it is but recently I have noticed that the more YA books I read the more I am noticing that the male lead is growing older and older. Not really a big deal, but when you are constantly reading in series's the fretting on the female's behalf of whether or not they can or should be together... you get where I am going.
On the other hand though this book did come out in 2007 and so I am guessing this was quite a, is ground-breaking the right term here? sort of thing to do in a teen book.
Oh, and Dimitri is a Russian God? Really,is there any need...

To Sum Up... Overall this book was a quick easy read that has done its job in wanting me to read the next books in the series. Yes, there were certain things that I didn't like about the book but after not reading a vampire themed novel in a while it was sort of nice for this to be the one that I read.
Corny, I know.
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