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scarlettereads's review against another edition
dark
tense
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
How is it that authors of the mid-late naughties got away with writing adult/minor relationships like they were romantic but just a bit frowned upon instead of actually illegal, and then get that p u b l i s h e d ? Certain scenes in this book made me feel physically ill just reading it. How could somebody write that?!
The Vampire Academy books continue to come so close to plainly saying that Dimitri is a paedophile but at the last second pivot one degree, just scraping by without saying what we all know to be true. So, so close, yet so far away.
Obviously I loved these books as a teen—I thought the fight scenes were cool, I enjoyed the vampire lore, and I thought Adrian was funny—though I was incredibly disturbed by Rose and Dimitri's "forbidden romance" being that I was only three years younger than Rose at the time. At fifteen it was very clear to me that Dimitri is a paedophile, so why did Richelle Mead feel okay writing something so despicable in a romantic light (rather than as a cautionary tale or something of the sort), and why was Razorbill so keen to publish it? And as a young adult romance, I might add!
Bad, bad, bad, terrible, very not good, disgusting, etc.
The Vampire Academy books continue to come so close to plainly saying that Dimitri is a paedophile but at the last second pivot one degree, just scraping by without saying what we all know to be true. So, so close, yet so far away.
Obviously I loved these books as a teen—I thought the fight scenes were cool, I enjoyed the vampire lore, and I thought Adrian was funny—though I was incredibly disturbed by Rose and Dimitri's "forbidden romance" being that I was only three years younger than Rose at the time. At fifteen it was very clear to me that Dimitri is a paedophile, so why did Richelle Mead feel okay writing something so despicable in a romantic light (rather than as a cautionary tale or something of the sort), and why was Razorbill so keen to publish it? And as a young adult romance, I might add!
Bad, bad, bad, terrible, very not good, disgusting, etc.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gore, and Sexual assault
steepz's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Best one out of the series so far, i finished it in 3 days with little breaks it had me hooked!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Mental illness and Torture
Minor: Rape
parkyparkpark's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Blood and Child death
Minor: Rape
lunxy's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
THIS BOOK IS SUCH AN UPGRADE FROM THE FIRST TWO ITS INSANE !!!! easy to say i’m fully invested in the plot now the last few chapters had me GAGGED
So things i liked!!!
- the flow of this book was just so much better, the banter was less awkward (altho still had the appropriate amount of early 2000’s cringe) and there were times i caught myself chucking at some of roses jokes 🤨🫢 even tho she’s my sworn enemy
-exploring the downsides to guardian commitment!!
-CHRISTIAN IS BACK!!! I feel like miss read cn only write so many characters and so in the second book Mason absorbed basically all of christian’s personality and that’s why he was such a wet towel BUT IN THIS BOOK MASON IS DEAD AND CHRISTIAN IS KING AGAIN!! I LOVE his relationship with rose! idk what it is about it but there brother sister dynamic is just so much fun!!!!!
“what are you my big brother now?”
“annoyed” he said “that’s what i am.”
-STFU OKAY DIMITRI CUTE IN THIS TOO.,.., he jus always being supportive and the church scene where he gets upset at rose accusing him of having ulterior motives for helping when he just wanted to b near her was SO CUTE!! and dimitri saying he was gna kill victor 🫣😳 IM NOT AFRAID TO SAY THAT WAS DANGEROUS AND SEDUCTIVE 😔
-basically everything that was annoying in the first two was less so in this one! Adrian was excellent and less cringe a great amount of comic relief mixed with tragedy (even tho he turned into a “where’s my hug” guy a bit too often), this was the first book i didn’t feel an overwhelming need for a lissa POV and whatever else i been complaining about damn (rose only calls dimitri a badass god once and im praying this downward trend continues )
-the ghost plotline was so fucking cool i LOVED it and the tie in with the wards felt like some rlly good pay off, as well as finally having confirmation that rose was using the bond to take lisa’s madness
-THE MAIN THING THO IS THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS OMFG that fr had me convulsing turning into a wolf under the light of a full moon !!!!! christian fighting with fire was sick!!!!!!!! dimitri turning strigoi omfgddjahaj i can’t even express how much i didn’t see that coming i was foaming at the mouth fr fr!!!! rose begging lissa to bring him back 😭 “I would do anything for you. You know that? And you won’t do this for me.” 😭😭 Lissa argument with rose as she’s trying to leave( bc she needs to kill undead dimitri 💀😭) was EXCELLENT her trying to use compulsion on rose to make her stay????
“Do not use compulsion on me. You’re my friend. Friends dont use their powers on each other.”
“Friends don’t abandon each other.” she snapped. “If you were my friend you wouldn’t do it.”
omfg like just such a satisfying argument and like idk it hurt so GOOD to see rose break away rlly had my heart breaking
“you love him more than me,” she said in a small voice sounding very young.
“He needs me right now”
“I need you. He’s gone Rose” KAHDKABSKABSJSHSJSBSJB HVE I NOT SUFFERED ENOUGH r
THINGS I DIDNT LIKE (look always besties)
- the main reason this is getting 3stars instead of 4 is lack of description in general but mainly in the fight scenes 😭 like i rlly felt like i had to do the heavy lifting to make them AMAZING in my mind, Richelle will constantly just SAY rose punches a few strigoi and then stakes them instead of rlly saying HOW she does it..,, i often felt myself wishing there were more detailed descriptions of how the fights were playing out and the injuries rose was sustaining, like the reader knows rose is a badass because we’re constantly told that but it would hav been cool if richelle had really taken this big battle as an opportunity to show us.,, it wasn’t that there was no description.,, jus maybe not as much as i wanted
-I thought the Jesse and Ralph plot line was kinda dumb 😭😭 like it definitely had potential but in the end sort of fizzled out to nothing..,…, and the big reveal of how the wards were weakening boiling down to some bullies casting mean magic over the nice magic was just sorta lame 😭😭😭 especially since i’d really been liking all the other magic aspects in this book i found this storyline pretty lackluster
- the dimitri rose sex scene just felt kinda..,,.,,…,,. anti climactic.,, idk it’s not like i wanted some crazy graphic shitshow or anything 💀💀 but the fact that rose is a virgin is CONSTANTLY brought up in the first two books 😭 and like the whole thing is that they can’t be together i just kind of felt like there should have been a bigger build up / pay off, instead they jus kinda randomly have sex literallt RIGHT after rose has an emotional breakdown 💀 and then they don’t rlly talk about it after 💀💀 ..,. like i get that it sorta needed to happen to make the dimitri loss even more BUCKWILD but idk.., jus didn’t quite hit right n maybe could hav been done a bit better
-OKAY NOW LISTEN UP DIMITRI SHOULD HAV BEEN LOOKING A ROSE WHEN HE WAS BITTEN?!!! U TELLING ME U SPENT THREE BOOKS BANGING ON ABOUT HOW THEY COULDNT BE TOGETHER BC IT WOULD DISTRACT THEM FRM THEIR DUTIES AS GUARDIANS AND WHEN ONE OF THEM FINALLY FALLS IN THEIR GUARDIAN DUTIES IT WASNT BC THEY WERE DISTRACTED BY THE OTHER?????????????v it could hav been so painful!!!!! like rose finally getting exactly what she wants but it’s exactly bc of that she loses everything!!!!!!!! like not that he needed to save her or anything bc rose being cracked at fighting was sick!! but like he’s almost out of the cave..,… and he’s just looking at rose bc he’s so glad he cn finally see she’s safe and they made it and can b together and then BOOM that moment of distraction is all the strigoi need to get the better of him and bite him!!!!! THAT WOULD HAV BEEN SO SATISFYING AND PAINFUL!!!!i wouldn’t have been weeping and crying i would just b fucking dead 😭😭😭
- and bc i rlly gotta mention it at least once every review the age gap 😭 i thought i had overcome it but having victor rlly say “statutory rape” was so out of pocket ☹️☹️☹️ miss richelle rlly doing everything in her power to stop me suspending my disbelief ..,..,,, like why tf would u literally truthfully point out in ur own romance that one of the character deserves prison 😭😭😭😭😭😭 girl like leave me tf alone already stop pointing it out goddamn i’m tried .,,,..,, u want me to b team victor???? is that it???? like i’m this close 🤏
BUT ANYWAY OVERALL I RLLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK IM SO EXCITED TO READ THE REST OF THE SERIES I CANT WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS WITH DIMITRI AND LISSA AND ROSE AND ADRIAN (btw the ending scene with adrian broke my heart omfg)
also i’m putting this here bc it’s not necessarily something i didn’t like bc i could change my mind once i read the next book but i kinda with rose had seen dimitri as a strigoi instead of just kind of figuring it out herself and then mason confirming it..,.. like imagine how fucked it would b if she was sitting by herself outside the school thinking he was still alive and STRIGOI DIMITRI had showed up and taunted her..,,and then fucked off or something 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 like bruh
So things i liked!!!
- the flow of this book was just so much better, the banter was less awkward (altho still had the appropriate amount of early 2000’s cringe) and there were times i caught myself chucking at some of roses jokes 🤨🫢 even tho she’s my sworn enemy
-exploring the downsides to guardian commitment!!
-CHRISTIAN IS BACK!!! I feel like miss read cn only write so many characters and so in the second book Mason absorbed basically all of christian’s personality and that’s why he was such a wet towel BUT IN THIS BOOK MASON IS DEAD AND CHRISTIAN IS KING AGAIN!! I LOVE his relationship with rose! idk what it is about it but there brother sister dynamic is just so much fun!!!!!
“what are you my big brother now?”
“annoyed” he said “that’s what i am.”
-STFU OKAY DIMITRI CUTE IN THIS TOO.,.., he jus always being supportive and the church scene where he gets upset at rose accusing him of having ulterior motives for helping when he just wanted to b near her was SO CUTE!! and dimitri saying he was gna kill victor 🫣😳 IM NOT AFRAID TO SAY THAT WAS DANGEROUS AND SEDUCTIVE 😔
-basically everything that was annoying in the first two was less so in this one! Adrian was excellent and less cringe a great amount of comic relief mixed with tragedy (even tho he turned into a “where’s my hug” guy a bit too often), this was the first book i didn’t feel an overwhelming need for a lissa POV and whatever else i been complaining about damn (rose only calls dimitri a badass god once and im praying this downward trend continues )
-the ghost plotline was so fucking cool i LOVED it and the tie in with the wards felt like some rlly good pay off, as well as finally having confirmation that rose was using the bond to take lisa’s madness
-THE MAIN THING THO IS THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS OMFG that fr had me convulsing turning into a wolf under the light of a full moon !!!!! christian fighting with fire was sick!!!!!!!! dimitri turning strigoi omfgddjahaj i can’t even express how much i didn’t see that coming i was foaming at the mouth fr fr!!!! rose begging lissa to bring him back 😭 “I would do anything for you. You know that? And you won’t do this for me.” 😭😭 Lissa argument with rose as she’s trying to leave( bc she needs to kill undead dimitri 💀😭) was EXCELLENT her trying to use compulsion on rose to make her stay????
“Do not use compulsion on me. You’re my friend. Friends dont use their powers on each other.”
“Friends don’t abandon each other.” she snapped. “If you were my friend you wouldn’t do it.”
omfg like just such a satisfying argument and like idk it hurt so GOOD to see rose break away rlly had my heart breaking
“you love him more than me,” she said in a small voice sounding very young.
“He needs me right now”
“I need you. He’s gone Rose” KAHDKABSKABSJSHSJSBSJB HVE I NOT SUFFERED ENOUGH r
THINGS I DIDNT LIKE (look always besties)
- the main reason this is getting 3stars instead of 4 is lack of description in general but mainly in the fight scenes 😭 like i rlly felt like i had to do the heavy lifting to make them AMAZING in my mind, Richelle will constantly just SAY rose punches a few strigoi and then stakes them instead of rlly saying HOW she does it..,, i often felt myself wishing there were more detailed descriptions of how the fights were playing out and the injuries rose was sustaining, like the reader knows rose is a badass because we’re constantly told that but it would hav been cool if richelle had really taken this big battle as an opportunity to show us.,, it wasn’t that there was no description.,, jus maybe not as much as i wanted
-I thought the Jesse and Ralph plot line was kinda dumb 😭😭 like it definitely had potential but in the end sort of fizzled out to nothing..,…, and the big reveal of how the wards were weakening boiling down to some bullies casting mean magic over the nice magic was just sorta lame 😭😭😭 especially since i’d really been liking all the other magic aspects in this book i found this storyline pretty lackluster
- the dimitri rose sex scene just felt kinda..,,.,,…,,. anti climactic.,, idk it’s not like i wanted some crazy graphic shitshow or anything 💀💀 but the fact that rose is a virgin is CONSTANTLY brought up in the first two books 😭 and like the whole thing is that they can’t be together i just kind of felt like there should have been a bigger build up / pay off, instead they jus kinda randomly have sex literallt RIGHT after rose has an emotional breakdown 💀 and then they don’t rlly talk about it after 💀💀 ..,. like i get that it sorta needed to happen to make the dimitri loss even more BUCKWILD but idk.., jus didn’t quite hit right n maybe could hav been done a bit better
-OKAY NOW LISTEN UP DIMITRI SHOULD HAV BEEN LOOKING A ROSE WHEN HE WAS BITTEN?!!! U TELLING ME U SPENT THREE BOOKS BANGING ON ABOUT HOW THEY COULDNT BE TOGETHER BC IT WOULD DISTRACT THEM FRM THEIR DUTIES AS GUARDIANS AND WHEN ONE OF THEM FINALLY FALLS IN THEIR GUARDIAN DUTIES IT WASNT BC THEY WERE DISTRACTED BY THE OTHER?????????????v it could hav been so painful!!!!! like rose finally getting exactly what she wants but it’s exactly bc of that she loses everything!!!!!!!! like not that he needed to save her or anything bc rose being cracked at fighting was sick!! but like he’s almost out of the cave..,… and he’s just looking at rose bc he’s so glad he cn finally see she’s safe and they made it and can b together and then BOOM that moment of distraction is all the strigoi need to get the better of him and bite him!!!!! THAT WOULD HAV BEEN SO SATISFYING AND PAINFUL!!!!i wouldn’t have been weeping and crying i would just b fucking dead 😭😭😭
- and bc i rlly gotta mention it at least once every review the age gap 😭 i thought i had overcome it but having victor rlly say “statutory rape” was so out of pocket ☹️☹️☹️ miss richelle rlly doing everything in her power to stop me suspending my disbelief ..,..,,, like why tf would u literally truthfully point out in ur own romance that one of the character deserves prison 😭😭😭😭😭😭 girl like leave me tf alone already stop pointing it out goddamn i’m tried .,,,..,, u want me to b team victor???? is that it???? like i’m this close 🤏
BUT ANYWAY OVERALL I RLLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK IM SO EXCITED TO READ THE REST OF THE SERIES I CANT WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS WITH DIMITRI AND LISSA AND ROSE AND ADRIAN (btw the ending scene with adrian broke my heart omfg)
also i’m putting this here bc it’s not necessarily something i didn’t like bc i could change my mind once i read the next book but i kinda with rose had seen dimitri as a strigoi instead of just kind of figuring it out herself and then mason confirming it..,.. like imagine how fucked it would b if she was sitting by herself outside the school thinking he was still alive and STRIGOI DIMITRI had showed up and taunted her..,,and then fucked off or something 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 like bruh
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape
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