Okay, Richelle Mead is actually signing The Ruby Circle here, but see that stack of books next to her? That's Soundless. And I got one. So this picture totally works for this review.
Book Summary From Richelle Mead, the #1 internationally bestselling author of Vampire Academy and Bloodlines, comes a breathtaking new fantasy steeped in Chinese folklore. For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom. When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei’s home, the people she loves, and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation. But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon. Richelle Mead takes readers on a triumphant journey from the peak of Fei’s jagged mountain village to the valley of Beiugo, where a startling truth and an unlikely romance will change her life forever... Flo's Review I devoured this book in a day. It was a crazy, crazy travel day full of unpredictability and literally including trains, planes AND automobiles. But I started Soundless earlier in the day and finished it that night when I finally, finally made it home. My favorite thing about this book was the uniqueness. I have not read a lot of books based in Chinese folklore, so I really enjoyed the images that this world painted in my mind. Secondly, I was impressed with the amount of research this story must have taken. According to her author bio, Richelle "has always had a particular fascination with mythology and folklore." But I'm sure this unique story probably took some research. Then, there's the idea of being soundless. How do you describe sound? It had been gone from Fei's village so long, that there weren't even words for it. All the ways I can think of describe a sound right now involved these type of sound words, so it was really neat to read about Fei's challenge with this. Finally, if Richelle wasn't a rock climber, then she had to have done some research on techniques and challenges to help her with Fei's trips up and down the mountain. The beginning felt a little bit rushed to me. Fei makes a really quick choice in what may have been a few hours or even an afternoon, but to the reader it felt instantaneous. I wasn't expecting the ending, and it was entirely magical. It left me with a smile on my face. Soundless will be released in November 2015, and it's worth you picking up. This story is a fast read and it's unique and magical. Also, what a pretty cover!
Book Summary Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives. After their secret romance is exposed, Sydney and Adrian find themselves facing the wrath of both the Alchemists and the Moroi in this electrifying conclusion to Richelle Mead’s New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series. When the life of someone they both love is put on the line, Sydney risks everything to hunt down a deadly former nemesis. Meanwhile, Adrian becomes enmeshed in a puzzle that could hold the key to a shocking secret about spirit magic, a secret that could shake the entire Moroi world. Flo's Review I wasn't going to review this one, but how could I not?! I read TheRuby Circle basically in a day, only getting up for essential comforts like moving from the bed to the dining table to the couch and then back to the bed and then back to the couch. What I loved most about this book is that the ending was happy and satisfying. I truly can walk away from this series happy about where we've left everyone. The growth of these characters, especially Sydney and Adrian, is absolutely fantastic and knowing where they were in the first book, Bloodlines, makes me wipe away happy tears for them as I close The Ruby Circle. "The center will hold...because we are the center." <3 If you haven't yet read Vampire Academy and Bloodlines, I encourage you to go forth and do so!
Flo's Review
Since I was late to start this series, Silver Shadows was the first book I actually had to wait for. I had to wait about a month, and it was torture! (Don't hurt me, guys! Lol). But I would say it was worth the wait. I was struck by a few things about this book. First of all, the horribleness. I don't want to give away spoilers and talk about what happened, but a lot of it was simply horrible. No other way to describe. And what got me the most was that Richelle Mead didn't make it all up I think -- there have probably been similar things done to people in our history. And THAT is what destroyed me.
I love the way that Richelle Mead took the common phrase "things fall apart" and turned it around. (I know, this started in Fiery Heart, but it continues in this one.) That phrase is very passive and submissive, suggesting that things will go badly and there is nothing you can do about it. But Sydney and Adrian disagree -- the center WILL hold, they tell themselves. Because they will make it hold. They have turned themselves from victims into fighters, and I love that.
Of course, Richelle left us with a BIG cliffhanger for the final book in the series, and now I have to wait it out for months and months like everyone else...*sighs*.
Book Summary Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives. Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she’s been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist. But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don’t die. But it’s her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her. When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney’s loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her. Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart? Flo's Review This series is fantastic! Sydney is really coming into her own. She is questioning everything she has been taught to believe and is slowly creating her own belief system, based on what she has experienced and what her own heart tells her. This is very difficult for her to do, and I always find myself to be proud every time she makes a decision, has a thought, or takes an action that is truly her own. Among the whole magical story line of Moroi, Dhampirs, Alchemists, and more, there is teenage romance, which I love. At one point in the book I had to exclaim to my friends who had read it: "This book is frustrating me! I just want the people I want to get together to be together!!!" When I first met Adrian Ivashkov in the Vampire Academy series, I was like, "Eh. He's alright." I could take him or leave him. Now, everything single word he says and thing he does makes me laugh and melt. "Oh Adrian!" I want to say. All the time. In many different tones of voice with many different meanings. I wish you didn't have such an issue with the sun, then you could come live with me in Florida. You could paint all day while I worked and then we'd get some drinks at happy hour. I agree with the girls, though, that the smoking would be a no go. Anyway, I am officially on Team Adrian. The scenes with Sydney and Brayden were hilarious. Because the kinds of questions Sydney was asking herself are things that I think all teenage girls ask themselves in those situations. But they ask their friends, while Sydney makes note to find a book on the topic. LOL. The ending: I was not prepared!! My heart is still recovering. Why didn't y'all warn me?!?!? Needless to say, The Indigo Spell has been downloaded to my Nook and is ready to go!
Flo's Review
I didn't want to put the summary up because I think it's spoilery if you haven't finished the Vampire Academy series yet. My plan after finishing Vampire Academy was to take a break before starting this series. But after you've been with these characters for five books, it's hard to say goodbye. So here I am, jumping into Bloodlines.
Sydney Sage, who we meet in Book 4 of the Vampire Academy series, narrates this series. I had heard that her voice is much different from Rose's and it is. I enjoyed it though. I really got an insight into Sydney -- why she is the way she is, what she thinks, how she reacts, and so forth. I think I relate more to Sydney than I do to Rose, so it wasn't hard for me to become attached and feel her struggles.
The book started off a little slow for me, but I don't know if that's just because I listed to the first part on audio. For whatever reason, scenes seemed to drag out a bit that could have been a bit shorter. But once we got into the meat of the story, I enjoyed reading about the high school drama and the vampire mystery. And yes, because I know everyone is wondering, I even got a greater appreciation for Adrian Ivashkov.
I'm really looking forward The Golden Lily and the rest of the series -- I feel like now that we are settled with the new narrator and new surroundings, the story is really going to take off.
Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose... It's winter break at St. Vladimir's, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy's crawling with Guardians - including Rose's hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand-to-hand combat with her mom wasn't bad enough, Rose's tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason's got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa's head while she's making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy's not taking any risks....This year, St. Vlad's annual holiday ski trip is mandatory.But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price... (from Goodreads) Flo's Review Sadly, I read a major spoiler in someone's Goodreads review BEFORE I started reading this book. So I knew what was going to happen, and that's not cool. That being said -- was I prepared for it? NO! Did I love getting there? YES! Second books are always great because the world has been set up, so the story can pick up right where the first book ended -- and that's what Frostbite did. I loved the resort setting! That place sounds amazing and I want to go there and experience it all! I caught on to a few revelations before Rose did, but it was so obvious to the reader that I think Richelle Mead might have done that on purpose? I mentioned in my Vampire Academy review that I didn't really like Rose's character that much, but by the end of the story I came to understand why she was the way she was. Well, her less desirable quality traits shone with a force in this book that left me thinking, "Oh Rose..." or "Rose, really?!?" which is, I suppose, how her mother and Dimitri felt all the time. But even with that, I loved this book. It was less on the high school drama side of the first book and more on the vampire world and drama within it. I found the new characters interesting and liked seeing new aspects of the characters I already knew. I haven't wanted to fly through a series this quickly since Maximum Ride -- but I'm ready for Book #3! I need an audiobook, though, and my library doesn't have it. Boo. I guess I'll have to wait for a bit.
"St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger... Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever." (from Goodreads)
Flo's Review
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It had a lot of rave reviews attached to it, and of course it's going to be a movie, so I figured it had to be good. I've been meaning to pick it up before the movie comes out, but it just kept getting knocked down the TBR list. Finally, with the movie coming out in a few weeks, I made myself -- and the other Book Nerds! -- read it now.
Probably because I was expecting such greatness from it, the book actually seemed to start pretty slowly. But as I was reading it and lamenting its slow pace, I was understanding that it is the first book in a series -- so the world had to be built and canon had to be explained. And yes at times I felt it was just a lot of Rose explaining Moroi and Dhampir life, but I gritted my teeth and read on.
I'm glad I did! A little more than halfway though, the book started really picking up for me. I really started to get invested in the characters and romance. It's great because it is so high school with all the drama and social status. It could be 90210. (Oh boy, I think I just dated myself with that comment.) But then there comes the feeders of the fact that nighttime on campus is really daytime for them and you remember that we're talking about vampires.
I didn't really like Rose at first -- I thought she was too brash and too headstrong. But the explanation that is given at the end of the book for why she is the way she is is just so perfect. And I couldn't help admiring her for always putting Lissa first. I am honestly not sure how I feel about the chronology -- or lack thereof -- in the story. It didn't bother as much as it did with some other books, but that is still not my favorite way to tell a story. I finished this book in the lovely accidental way -- meaning, I didn't plan to finish it tonight, but I really couldn't put it down. I can't wait for the movie and somehow I want to find a way to read the rest of the series!
Final thoughts: Sexy. Russian. Vampire. Jacque's Review: I've had this series on my TBR list for a VERY long time. I can only think of one reason why I am just now getting to it. The original covers were AWFUL. I don't think these books ever would have jumped out at me with those cover. I know...don't judge a book by its cover, but in this case I did. It took the upcoming movie release AND Flo selecting this as our read along to finally get my attention. This book was AWESOME. I feel like I did when I stumbled upon the Twilight and Hunger Games series after all of the books had been released. On the plus side...I will be able to read another amazing series without having to wait between books, but how could I have lived with my head in the sand all this time? Lissa is a Moroi royal and her best friend and guardian, Rose, is a dhampir. Moroi are born as vampires and dhampirs are half vampire/half human. Moroi drink blood and prefer to stay out of the sunlight, but dhampirs are just like humans only stronger, faster, etc.
Lissa and Rose fled the Academy a couple of years ago and have been living on their own in Portland. They have been attending school and maintaining a fairly normal existence until some guardians finally catch up with them and take them back to the Academy.
Rose's punishment for taking Lissa from the Academy includes a TON of additional training sessions with Dimitri. She quickly learns that she has a lot to catch up on if she wants to graduate with the rest of her class. There are far worse things than spending time with a hot Russian guy only 7 years older than you. There is definitely an attraction between the two from the start and it only intensifies throughout the book.
The story is told from Rose's POV, but Richelle has a unique way of sharing Lissa's story as well. They have a bond that allows Rose to feel and see what Lissa is experiencing whenever Lissa has very strong emotions. It eventually becomes something Rose can control regardless of Lissa's emotion.
Lissa has the ability to manipulate people with "compulsions" in addition to some other powers. There is a lot of high school drama and politics that plays out in this story. Mia is a wannabe royal that is out to get Lissa and Rose. This comes back to bite her big time, but not without Lissa and Rose receiving their own share of drama.
My favorite character has to be Christian. He is a royal, but he comes from a disgraced family. He is very attractive, but has a dark personality and stays to himself. He is always observing things and seems to know about everything that is going on. Lissa and Christian start to form a relationship, but it is very slow to develop due to some....interference...shall I say. I definitely hope there will be A LOT more of Christian in the next book. Mary's Review: Okay, like my fellow Book Nerds, this has been on my TBR list ... well ... forever! I have recently fell away from paranormal books, because its all the same over and over and...well you get the point. Anyway, I like this book. Rose, by far, my favorite character! Lissa is so sweet and I can see the true bond between her and Rose. Their powers are somewhat unique, but perfect for the storyline.
The other characters; Mia, Christian, Dimitri , all of them are great! Yes, this is a drama filled book, lots of high school drama, but COME ON ... it's high school!! Overall, I will read book two!
