Author: Richelle MeadSeries: Vampire Academy #4
Audience: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: August 1st 2009
My Rating: 4 Cups
Source: My copy
Blurb (from Goodreads):
Rose Hathaway's life will never be the same.My buddy read with Jamsu @ Jamsudreams of the Vampire Academy series continues. We have finally gotten to Blood Promise and this is one of the books in the series I've been most excited to read. Not only because we meed Sydney and Abe, but because evil Dimitri is a thing.
The recent attack on St. Vladimir's Academy devastated the entire Moroi world. Many are dead. And, for the few victims carried off by Strigoi, their fates are even worse. A rare tattoo now adorns Rose's neck, a mark that says she's killed far too many Strigoi to count. But only one victim matters ... Dimitri Belikov. Rose must now choose one of two very different paths: honoring her life's vow to protect Lissa—her best friend and the last surviving Dragomir princess—or, dropping out of the Academy to strike out on her own and hunt down the man she loves. She'll have to go to the ends of the earth to find Dimitri and keep the promise he begged her to make. But the question is, when the time comes, will he want to be saved?
Now, with everything at stake—and worlds away from St. Vladimir's and her unguarded, vulnerable, and newly rebellious best friend—can Rose find the strength to destroy Dimitri? Or, will she sacrifice herself for a chance at eternal love?
Finally, finally, finally! This has been my mindset ever since me and Jamsu reached this book. If for no other reason than Dimitri as a Strigoi. The twisted part of me wanted to see the dynamic between Rose and evil-Dimitri a bit more than what I remembered, which is why I was ready to read Blood Promise.
We get to see how Lissa and Rose function apart, and I have to say I was impressed. I didn't quite remember how bad-ass Rose was until she was away from Lissa, nor how naive and easily influenced Lissa was without Rose by her side. I had vague memories of what happens with Lissa while Rose is in Russia, but a part of me hoped it was all just a trick of my memory. That's only because I truly try to find reasons to like Lissa for who she is and not because of how Rose feels about her, but reading this book made me realize how fragile Lissa is. It makes me wonder how she'll manage being away from Rose in the spin off series.
Speaking of things I wanted more of. I was talking about this with Jamsu, and it's something I didn't realize while I was first reading this book. I love stories where not everything is as black and white as it is usually presented. So far we've had very few true bad dhampir and Moroi characters, and no "good" Strigoi. And I wanted that. I love it when a book explores the good vs evil debate in such a way, so a part of me hoped that Mead would explore that theme.
I had no memory of Avery. I knew Lissa would find a new friend and that she wouldn't be a good friend to her, but I didn't remember Avery herself. It took me until the second half of the book for things to come back to me, so it was like reading that plot line for the first time, which I enjoyed a lot. It also made me wonder just how powerful a Spirit user would get, because I feel like what we've seen so far is just a small part of what they could do.
Evil-Dimitri... Look, we already know my moral compass is ruined, so it shouldn't be surprising that I liked what the author did with him. I wonder why Dimitri held on to certain things after he was turned, like his love of old western books. The previous Strigoi we've encountered seemed so removed from what they were previously, and with the exception of Christian's parents, I haven't read about any other Strigoi that held on to stuff from their pasts. They also seemed much more organized and in control of themselves, which is again something I wish would have been explored more. Who knows, maybe if Mead decides to write more books in this world, she'll address this.
I liked Adrian, but a part of me can't help but dislike who he is in this series, because of his obsession with Rose. I love Bloodlines Adrian, so I cannot wait for him to get there. It's not that I think he's unworthy of Rose, because I don't, but I can see how Rose is bad for him, and I just wish he would realize that too.
I'm actually happy with how this book went. And I'm very excited for more evil Dimitri in the next book. If you want to read Jamsu's review of Blood Promise you can go here.
