Review: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Genre: Paranormal
Format: Paperback
Published August 25, 2011 by Razorbill
More about the author: Website // Twitter
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Sydney protects vampire secrets - and human lives.
Sydney belongs to a secret group who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the world of humans and vampires.
But when Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, she fears she's still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. What unfolds is far worse. The sister of Moroi queen Lissa Dragomir is in mortal danger, and goes into hiding. Now Sydney must act as her protector.
The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathizing with vampires. And now she has to live with one...

This book is a spinoff of the Vampire Academy series, so of course I had to pick up this book. I knew the main character was an enormous contrast to Rose Hathaway of the VA series, so I didn't expect the same pacing or action. What I did expect was some action. Bloodlines takes a seriously interesting world of vampires and alchemists and puts it in a human high school with a baby-sitting protagonist. It wasn't what I expected at all.

I liked reading from the perspective of Sydney. She and I are alike in a lot of ways and we constantly feel responsible for things, so she didn't bother me like other readers. The other characters in the book kind of fell flat for me. Adrian was entertaining for about ten pages and the others needed explanations for why they were in a scene constantly. And a 20ish year old university student is a creepy romantic option for a 15 year old girl. Did none of the characters see that? No, they said he was a nice guy and let them date. It wasn't the natural writing of Rachille Mead I was used to. In fact, the plot, especially in the beginning needed justification on every single page. To me, it felt forced. I wanted the plot to be shown to me, not explained.

Overall, I was disappointed but I'm torn at the same time. I love the world so much I'm willing to give the second book, Golden Lily, in the Bloodlines series a chance. Just for you, Richelle Mead. And because I'm interested to see if it gets better. Other people absolutely love this book, so I feel like there's something wrong with me. I'd recommend it as a staple for Vampire Academy fans, but not as a standalone book.