Review: Vampire Academy Series

Two races of vampires walk our world. One, the Moroi, are alive and wield elemental magical. The other, the Strigoi, are undead and evil--feeding on the innocent to survive. Rose Hathaway--a half-vampire with poor impulse control--is training to be a bodyguard for a Moroi princess. Learning to decapitate and stake is hard enough, but Rose's real danger may lie in an illicit romance with one of her instructors... 


Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with an unbreakable bond to the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest and most dangerous vampires--the ones who never die.

The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a Dhampir; she is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making her one of them.

After two years of illicit freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. Rose will continue her Dhampir education. Lissa will go back to being Queen of the elite Moroi social scene. And both girls will resume breaking hearts.

Fear made Lissa and Rose run away from St. Vladimir's--but their world is fraught with danger both inside and out of the Academy's iron gates. Here, the cutthroat ranks of the Moroi perform unspeakable rituals and their secretive nature and love of the night creates an enigmatic world full of social complexities. Rose and Lissa must navigate through this dangerous world, confront the temptation of forbidden romance, and never once let their guard down, lest the Strigoi make Lissa one of them forever...

I had heard many good things about the Vampire Academy but I didn't really believe how good it was until I read it. Richelle Mead wrote an award winning series of vampire books full of romance, adventures and heartbreak. Rose is one of the strongest female characters out there, her courage and determination makes you admire and love her. This series is another love triangle and normally I strongly dislike books with love triangles but I can honestly say that I enjoyed this love triangle and that it is one of the best out there.

Dimitri is a Dhampir and becomes Rose's teacher at the academy. I loved him from the beginning, his cool exterior and firm but kind teachings warmed my heart. He is no doubt one of my favourite male characters ever. However then there is Adrian, he doesn't arrive until the second book but he is a classic 'bad boy', when you first meet him, he isn't someone that like-able, but slowly he worms his way into your heart and keeps you interested in him.

The series has many twists and turns that surprise you and constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat. I loved Mead's writing and nearly all her characters had me cheering them on, each of them unique and different, but still able to appeal to me in their individual ways. The idea of vampires isn't exactly original but Mead's idea of mixed races that fight to protect the 'royals' is something that hadn't come up before in the 
vampire universe.

I enjoyed reading all six books and flew through them in my haste to see how it ended. I ended up going back and reading them again to make sure I didn't miss anything and enjoy it again. This series is definitely one of my favourite series out there and definitely makes my top 5. I absolutely recommend this to all paranormal lovers and those who love strong female heroines.

Average Rating for Whole Series: 5 out of 5 stars