Book Review of Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

Title: Shadow Kiss

Author: Richelle Mead

Release Date: November 13, 2008

*If you have not read Vampire Academy or Frostbite this will contain spoilers*

Rose Hathaway knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, Lissa-the last Dragomir princess-must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to gorgeous Dimitri Belikov, some rules are meant to be broken…

But since making her first Strigoi kills, Rose hasn’t been feeling right. Something dark has begun to grow in her mind, and ghostly shadows warn of a terrible evil drawing nearer to the Academy’s iron gates. And now that Lissa and Rose’s sworn enemy, Victor Dashkov, is on trial for his freedom, tensions in the Moroi world are higher than ever.

Lying to Lissa about Dimitri is one thing but suddenly there’s way more than friendship at stake The immortal undead are on the prowl, and they want vengeance for the lives that Rose has stolen. In a heart-stopping battle to rival her worst nightmare, Rose will have to choose between life, love, and the two people who matter most..but will her choice mean that only one can survive?

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review: So third installment in the Vampire Academy series, we are back at the Academy a couple of weeks after Rose has killed her first Strigoi and things are not quite right.  Rose has been forever changed by the events that lead up to Mason’s death and so has everyone else that was there with her.  This definitely increases the dark undertone that these books have had because Rose has a darker outlook on life.  She is no longer thinking about what outfit she should wear tomorrow or how cute her hair looks, as her birthday approaches she really only wants one thing

“Freedom, I thought.  That was the only gift I longed for.  Freedom to make my own choices.  Freedom to love who I wanted”

That line really sums it up the best I think.  Rose is struggling with who she is and what the priorities in her life should be.  She is also quickly becoming one of my favorite characters, I love her sarcastic attitude mixed with her ability to kick anyone’s butt who attempts to take a swing at her or her friends.  Which now that she has entered the field training portion of her senior year, she gets to take a swing at quite a few people and get out some of that aggression.

I also have a confession to make, I am starting to like Adrian, I know…I still don’t think he belongs with Rose, but he really is growing on me.  He is funny, and even though he might not want other people to know about it he really does care about people around him and try to help out when he can.  Which he does demonstrate big time towards the beginning of this book.  And all that joking aside, I really think he does care for Rose and wants a chance to date her, not that she is going to give into that right now.  Why is that?   Well Dimitri is still around and he is still the one I am rooting for.   Although getting some alone time between him and Rose is very difficult and it is definitely starting to weigh on them both.

Okay, the next part I might get people throwing things at me for but here goes.  While reading, I got up to get something to drink and I noticed on the back cover of this book it says “The obvious heir to the Twilight throne…”  Really?  Don’t get me wrong, I love Twilight, I really do!  It has a great story and I read all 4 books in one week, no seriously, I did.  I did not sleep very much, it was bad.  Anyways, that being said I don’t think these two books can really be put in the same category.  Just because they both have vampires in them doesn’t mean they are the same book.  Rose is a much stronger character and I like the view from her seat much better than Bella’s.  Rose  is much more complex and her life is just more interesting to me.  Vampire Academy also has a lot of layers to it and I like getting to peal them back book by book.  I also like all the character development we are getting in these books and the fact that things aren’t always pretty, there are causalities when you live in these worlds and Richelle Mead is not afraid to rip at your heart strings and kill off characters.   I know that sounds morbid, but I feel like a book that takes place in a world where there is constant fighting and paranormal creatures, you are going to lose some people.  That doesn’t mean I like it, I was horrified when Mason died.  I had to put the book down and walk away for a minute, but it made sense and it made the book more realistic.  Is all this making sense?

Along those realistic lines, towards the end I was getting a little more than annoyed with Lissa, which I will not say why because I do not want to spoil it but if anyone else has read this I think you know what I am talking about right?  She needs to step back and look at the bigger picture here because she is getting on my nerves.  I am hoping to be back on her side when I read the next book.

To sum up, I am loving these books!  I am also trying to read them slowly because I know I have to wait until D-e-c-e-m-b-e-r for the last one and I am not a very patient person.  But Richelle Mead has me hooked on these books.  She paints a dark picture of a world that I get lost in when I pick these books up.  So if you have not started the series yet, what are you waiting for?

Language Love:

“Leafless tree branches swayed in that wind, clawing at the sides of the stone dorm like fingernails.”

How could I not love this one?  I picture that scene in my head perfectly and I love the idea of branches clawing, great description.