Bite, Fight or Flight

Bite, Fight or Flight

• Jul 26, 2012

Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead

Release Date: 2007-2010

Publisher: Penguin | Razorbill
Pages: 2,688 total

Source & Format: Library; Hardcover

Series: #1-6

Amazon | Goodreads

Sum It Up

Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, and her best friend, Lissa, is a Moroi Vampire Princess.

Rose is in training to become a guardian - a special group trained to protect all the Moroi. She's studying with Dimitri, who is one of the most well-known and respected guardians in the business. Rose is attracted to him, but they both know it's a forbidden romance. In the meanwhile, Lissa is struggling to make sense of her gift and all of its ramifications.

These books detail their adventures and attempts to defeat the Strigoi, the group of truly evil vampires in search of immortality. But, trust me, there's a whole lot more going on than just hunting some bad vampires.

Thoughts on the Vampire Academy series

I seriously hate these covers so much. I would never, never have considered reading them if it wasn't for several posts by Jen at Makeshift Bookmark trying to convince people to read them. Then, I did a little stalking on Good Books and Good Wine to see what April thought of them. After reading her glowing reviews, I figured I ought to at least give them a shot. But, again, the covers aren't doing these books any favors...

With the exception of the first book, which I read like a while ago, I finished all of these books in a week. These are not short books - they were just that addicting. I would also like to throw out a word of caution. Do not read the jacket copy of these books - they contain so many spoilers for previous books. This was an issue for me because I was requesting them from the library all at the same time and lost some of the "surprise" of finding things out while reading.

So many people have reviewed these books, which is why I'm just writing a few thoughts on the series. As I already mentioned, I was convinced that I would hate these books. I'm not huge on things like vampires and such, so I was expecting these not to be my cup of tea. After frantically reading them all, I can definitely say that I was pleasantly surprised.

Richelle Mead has created books that completely suck you in. She's knows how to write characters that are believable, action that is thrilling, and a world that has been carefully developed. There wasn't a lot I didn't like about these books. I had a few minor issues with Rose - she lost a little of her backbone and strength in some of the later books. There were also a few moments where I wished for more Lissa, Christian and some of my other favorite secondary characters. But for the most part, these were great poolside reads.

If you read the first book and don't like it, you probably won't enjoy the rest of the series. But, if you read the first book and can't put it down... get ready to shell out some money or stalk your library so you can get your hands on all these books.

Need a better list of reasons why you should read these books? Here is Jen's list, "The ABCs of Vampire Academy," that convinced me to give these a chance.

Final Verdict: Addicting & Enjoyable

I might not recommend these to every reader, but I'm not surprised that these books have a huge following. Mead is a talented writer, and she knows how to write some pretty dang addicting books. If you're curious at all about these books, you should give them a chance. Don't let the covers discourage you!