Rose Hathaway was a Dhampir, a race made from the vampire-human relationship. Dhampir’s life goal was to protect the Moroi.
Series Title: Vampire Academy
Author: Richelle Mead
Genres: Fantasy > Paranormal > Vampires
Read Format: Kindle Edition
Total Pages: 2,752
Reading Date: 07th April 2018 ~ 08th May 2018
The Reading Order – How to Read Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead
- 1 Vampire Academy
- 2 Frostbite
- 3 Shadow Kiss
- 4 Blood Promise
- 5 Spirit Bound
- 6 Last Sacrifice
Rose Hathaway was the heroine in this series. She was a Dhampir, a race made from the vampire-human relationship. Dhampir’s life goal was to protect the Moroi, and it was possible with their strength and agility.
Moroi was a purebred Vampire with elemental magic. However, by the old law, magic was prohibited to be used. Thus, they depended on Dhampir to safeguard against their enemy called Strigoi.
Strigoi was formerly a Moroi, but because they killed an innocent, they automatically turned to one. For Dhampir and humans to become a Strigoi, they must drink Strigoi’s blood. The downside of becoming a Strigoi was that they couldn’t withstand the sun, and they were void of emotion.
Since a child, Rose had been best friends with Princess Vasilisa Dragomir, a member of the Moroi royalty. On the day Lissa’s parents and brother died in a horrible car accident, Lissa unintentionally revived Rose from the dead using her spirit element, resulting in them being bonded or called shadow-kissed. With the bond, Rose was able to feel the emotion and also see through Lisa’s eyes, and it made things a little bit easier to protect her best friend.
The book starts out with Lissa and Rose in hiding after running away from St. Vladimir’s Academy, a school for vampires and Dhampir.
Soon enough, they were caught and sent back to the academy. To catch up on the two-year missing lesson, Dimitri, a hot Russian Dhampir was assigned to train Rose privately.
Over the course of a few weeks, they both developed a forbidden feeling with one another but couldn’t be together due to their age difference, and also because they were both assigned as Lisa’s future guardian which required their full attention as Moroi’s safety always comes first.
The only person that aware of their relationship was Lissa’s uncle, and he used the opportunity and create a spell that would ensure his plan to kidnapping Lissa a success.
In the aftermath of the events of the first book, with another Strigoi attack so close to the school, the authorities decided to have a mandatory winter vacation in the Idaho ski lodge.
Driven by the desire to destroy the Strigoi once and for all, Rose’s male best friend, Mason who had a crush on her went with two other students to the nearest town, where the Strigoi attack had occurred. Rose felt responsible for giving away the information, she pursued them and later on, blamed herself when one of them died.
In the third book, Rose finally realised that there was a greater meaning to being ‘shadow-kissed’ than just sharing a bond with Lissa.
During another Strigoi attack in the academy, Rose used her ‘ability’ to question her deceased friend to find out the enemy’s location, and with the information, they managed to rescue most of the captives and also killed plenty of Strigoi.
However, Rose lost one person that mattered the most to her, Dimitri, who was forcibly turned into a Strigoi.
In the fourth book, Rose leaves the Academy and abandons Lissa in order to fulfil the promise she made to Dimitri – To kill him if he ever turns into a Strigoi. Rose had financial support from Adrian, whom she promised to give a chance once her mission was accomplished.
In Russia, she met with Sydney, an Alchemist, a reputable man named Abe who turned out to be her long-lost father, Dimitri’s family, another spirit user with her shadow-kissed partner, and also a group of rogue Dhampir.
When she finally found Dimitri, she hesitated to kill him. Dimitri held her captive and almost convinced her to become a Strigoi. Eventually, she managed to stake him, but later on, she found out about the possibility of restoring Strigoi.
Came back from Russia, Rose kept her promise and gave Adrian a chance. She was also relieved knowing that Dimitri was still alive even though he threatened to kill her.
Rose teamed up with Lissa and Christian, and together they broke a secure prison housing Lissa’s uncle to get the information about restoring a Strigoi.
Lissa and Christian’s hard work finally paid off when they successfully restored Dimitri back to his former self.
However, Dimitri couldn’t forgive himself for all the bad things he’d done during his time as a Strigoi, so she avoided Rose and told her that he no longer loved her. Though she was with Adrian, Rose couldn’t deny her feelings, and the more Dimitri avoided her, the more she obsessed with him.
Accused of murdering the queen, Rose had to find a way to clear her name. But her friends wouldn’t let her do anything. Instead, once they set her free from the prison, they asked her to lay low with Dimitri and Sydney until they caught the real killer.
Hiding in a secluded area, Rose couldn’t just sit down doing nothing, so she set off to find Lissa’s sister despite the disapproval from Dimitri and Sydney. Finding Lissa’s sister was the only way for Lissa to be eligible for the Queen’s position, and Rose would do anything to make it happen.
My thoughts…
It was so funny that instead of asking a crucial question like who was the killer, Rose asked the deceased queen if she was the one who wrote her the note. Nevertheless, this series packed with action, mystery, romance, heartbreak, and betrayal was absolutely a page-turner.
I loved seeing everything that the characters went through throughout the series and then how it all turned out. I especially adore Rose, her transformation from an immature young woman to slowly becoming independent and a badass guardian was fantastic.
I was sad to let Rose go, but I also wanted to know what would happen to Adrian, Lissa’s sister – Jill, the Alchemist – Sydney, and the Keeper – Angeline in Bloodlines, the spin-off of this series.
