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Book Review of Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, Bk 4)

Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, Bk 4)
nantuckerin avatar reviewed on + 158 more book reviews


Every time I think that Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series couldn't get any better, she pulls the rug out from under my feet and I'm left shaking my head at its awesomeness.

In Blood Promise, readers get a change of venue as we follow guardian-in-training Rose to Siberia as she hunts the love of her life and former mentor, Dimitri. Since he was forcibly turned into a Strigoi -- an evil, murderous vampire -- Rose can't forget her promise to never let him live that way, and is searching Russia to find and destroy him, no matter how much it hurts. To complete her quest, she has left her best friend Lissa behind to battle her own demons of spirit without her, despite the strain it puts on their bond.

Rose meets a lot of interesting and unexpected characters along her journey to find Dimitri, and eventually does track down her lost love. Mead does a wonderful job of showing Rose's conflict between her sense of duty and her confused emotions about Strigoi Dimitri. Readers also learn more about the Strigoi, the phenomena of being shadow kissed and the element of spirit in this information-packed novel. But the centerpiece of the book is love and loss.

I have really enjoyed watching Mead's characters evolve throughout the course of the series - I'm pretty heavily invested at this point. I'm so glad I looked past the YA label and somewhat-silly title, because it would have been a shame to miss this awesome series.