Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1) by Richelle Mead - Review

I'm so excited that I finished the first book in the Vampire Academy series. I've been waiting to start it for a while and now that I have, I'm so excited to continue on with this series. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Richelle Mead's launch party for her newest book. I had never read any of her books, but I was excited to see her speak nonetheless. She completely charmed me and I bought almost all of her books... yep... a lot of them.


This series follows some of the students who attend St. Vladimir's Academy, a boarding school for the Moroi and the Dhampir (a race of vampires and their half-vampire guardians). Lissa is a Moroi princess who's best friend, Rose, happens to be a very talented Dhampir who lives to protect her. Because of her loyalty, Rose takes Lissa on the run to save her from herself and those at St. Vladimir's. Once they are recaptured by a group of Dhampir working for St. Vladimir, Lissa and Rose must immerse themselves back into life at St. Vladimir among threats against Lissa and her powers and taunting from classmates. As if this wasn't enough to deal with, there's always the threat of the Strigoi, the evil race of imortal vampires hell bent on killing the royal Moroi families. Rose will stop at nothing to save her best friend and that may mean losing her life.

I completely fell in love with this book and it's characters. Mead has written a rich story with characters you can't help but love. I enjoyed Mead's writing style very much. She has a way of writing that sucks you into the world of the Moroi and the Dhampir and has you never wanting to leave. Her characters have a witty sensibility that makes you laugh out loud and wish that they were your best friends.

My absolute favorite part of this book was Rose, our heroine. She made her way up there as one of my favorite girls in YA fiction. She's strong, sassy and doesn't take anyone's B.S. Rose really has her head on straight and even as she's still growing up and learning to be an adult, she makes the hard decisions that no one has the balls to make and unselfishly, she thinks only of protecting Lissa and making herself the best guardian she can be. Seriously, this girl is kick ass and I loved reading about her adventures.

Now lets talk about Dimitri. Oh, Dimitri. If I were Rose, I'd be on him like white on rice! I loved their forbidden attraction and their almost love affair and I can't wait to see what happens with them in the coming books. I know I'll probably be frustrated and probably yelling for some kissing, but I can't wait!

I really liked Mead's unique take on vampires in this story as well. After hearing her speak, I found out that her basis for the Moroi, Strigoi and Dhampir are based on certain aspects of Romanian folklore. I really liked this different take on mythology. I found it to be creative and more believable... yes I said believable.

Overall, I did really like this story. I think I'm going to like the other books even more as I was just trying to get acquainted with the new world and the characters in this one. It was a lot to take in and a lot of different names to learn in this one!


Here's me and Richelle. Eep! I was fan girly and I hadn't even read any of her books yet!

8 out of 10

Happy Reading :)