Publication date: August 23rd, 2011
Published by: Razorbill
Genre: YA Paranormal, Vampires
Rating: 4/5
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 instead of finding safety at their new school, Sydney discovers the drama is only just beginning.
Bloodlines is without a doubt the most anticipated book of 2011 for me. Even though I was immensely dissatisfied by Vampire Academy series last book, Last Sacrifice, I believe in Richelle Mead and her writing. That, and also I was sooooo curious to see what happens to the characters I came to love all these years.
I can't say I was disappointed in Bloodlines but I was not exactly thrilled, either.
Bloodlines takes place in Palm Springs immediately after the events in Last Sacrifice. Well, if not immediately maybe after a couple days, a week tops. Jill is sent to a boarding school to disappear among humans and Eddie and Sydney are sent there too, to watch over her.
That was my first objection. Why Sydney? Why not another dhampir, who is strong and know how to fight? Who would protect Jill from a Strigoi attack?Sydney?Seriously? Also, let's not forget the fact that Sydney has the personality and charisma of a paper napkin(harsh but true)so why she's protagonist material, I'll never know. I hope there's a reason to it, which we'll get to see in the next Bloodlines books. Actually, I got that a lot while reading Bloodlines, the -this will be explained later on-feeling. BL is introductory, like Vampire Academy was. However, unlike VA, Bloodlines lacks the passion and the drive characters in VA had. They fell kinda flat and unfortunately not only Sydney, which I expected. But Adrian? Come on! Don't get me wrong, he was still he's annoyingly adorable self but I guess he was brooding too much for my taste. Yeah, Rose and Dimitri did a number on him(and we see Richelle admitting it through Sydney's voice in the book-thanks, Richelle!)but please can't he get over it already?Rose wasn't worthy of him then and she won't certainly be now or in the future. No need for him to continue to cry over her(thankfully, no real crying took place).Also plot wise, there was some things that were really unnecessary and trivial. Jill's promising modeling career? Please.
OK this is getting long, I have to finish up here.
So basically I think Bloodlines, although different from VA as far as the characters are concerned, its structure is completely the same. Jill is the royalty(Lissa)who lives in a boarding school(St.Vladimir's)and has people protecting her: Sydney(Rose) and Eddie(Eddie). And that's only the half of it!There are so many similarities that are a bit spoilery so I can't mention them here. But you'll understand when you read the book. As for Adrian, I don't know what his part is in all this. Is he like Dimitri?No way. But then again, he is kind of the male protagonist. I don't know, lines are blurry and I hope everything will start to clear out in the next installments.
What I did like however, was the information we get about Alchemists and their way of life and upbringing. I knew they kinda hated vampires, but man! They really really hate them! As in, they can't stand the mere sight of them! They also hate magic which I wouldn't thought possible since that tattoo of them that heals them?Yeah, kinda magical.
I also think Sydney's relationship with her father and sister was very interesting and I hope we get to see more of that in the future.
Whatever had to do with the spirit and spirit users was very interesting too.
Will I continue to read the Bloodlines series?Ha! Of course I will!
But given Richelle Mead's undeniable writing skills, I expected a lot more out of the first book. Here's hoping the next will more than make up for it!
*Question:do you guys know if the next book will be from Sydney's POV?Because what's the point in having THAT ending in BL #1, only to have Sydney narrate in BL#2?
*Also about the cover - Guys, guys ... *shakes head* what were you thinking?
I loved the Vampire Academy series but I'm not sure Bloodlines is for me. I agree, Sydney is not protagonist material - she was my least favourite character in the series! I'm not fussed on Jill, either - in fact, the only person I'm interested in who seems to feature heavily is Adrian. And I don't particularly want to read about him just moping around. Might have to give it a miss...
ReplyDelete@Belle: Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I know Mead can do much better that this. However, the story around spirit-users and alchemists was promising, so I think I'll wait for BL#2 and see what's going on.
ReplyDeleteI was also unsatisfied with Last Sacrifice, so much so that I'm not sure if I'm going to read Bloodline. It was more about setting up the plot for Bloodline then finishing the VA series. I still need to think about it.
ReplyDelete@Safari Poet: I have a friend who told me the exact same thing. She didn't like LS so she's not gonna read Bloodlines. Shame. But I understand her, and you, completely.
ReplyDelete