Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

Series: Vampire Academy, Book Four

Publisher: Penguin

Format: Paperback

Published: UK: 4^th February 2010 (USA: 25^th August 2009)

Number of Pages: 512

Book: Bought

Genre: Dark Romance, Action, Fantasy, YA

Warning: Contains Spoilers From Previous Books

How far will Rose go to keep her promise?

The recent Strigoi attack at St. Vladimir’s Academy was the deadliest ever in the school’s history, claiming the lives of Moroi students, teachers and guardians alike.

Even worse, the Strigoi took some of their victim with them... including Dimitri.  He’d rather die than be one of them, and now Rose must abandon her best friend, Lissa – the one she has sworn to protect no matter what – and keep the promise Dimitri begged her to make long ago.

But with everything at stake, how can she possibly destroy the person she loves most?

Review:

Shadow Kiss left me insanely emotional and even made me cry – which is quite hard to do.  Once I finished it, I knew I just had to read on, to know what happened... but on the other hand, I really, really didn’t want to.  How could I see Dimitri – one of my favourite characters ever – turn into a Strigoi; a heartless, soulless, undead thing? 

Of course, my addiction to the series won, and I’m so glad it did.   I went and bought the book, and read it as soon as I got it.  (Even though I only waited a couple of days, I still went into withdrawal: I missed the characters and their personalities!)

Blood Promise starts where Shadow Kiss finished: Rose has left Lissa to go out on her mission to free Dimitri from the unnatural state he’s in.  A mission which will most likely end in her own death – as Rose points out more than once.  But she loves Dimitri more than anything, and she promised to, so she has to.  And so that’s how she ends up in Russia, the land in which Dimitri was born.

I know I’ve said this in all of my previous Vampire Academy reviews, but I love Rose.  She was as awesome as ever, with her awesome sense of humour and confident air.  Also, I just love how she tells her story: the writing is brilliant, descriptive, yet easy to read.  And, of course, she was kicking butt.

Lissa, Christian, Adrian and co. aren’t really in Blood Promise, and when they are, it’s through Rose and her connection to Lissa.  The way Richelle Mead tied Rose’s storyline with Lissa’s was genius, and really worked.  There are a few new characters on Lissa’s end, one of which who is often there is Jill, who was briefly in one of the previous books.  I just love her nickname “Jailbait”: it really made me laugh.

Obviously, there are twists; lots of which I can honestly say surprised me.  And, unsurprisingly, not all of the new characters were nice.  Then again, this is Vampire Academy, and that’s precisely what I expected and wanted.

As I read, I loved that I was learning more about Rose and about Dimitri’s past, but I hated the new Strigoi-Dimitri.  Brilliantly written, and so heart wrenching I actually cried – again – Blood Promise was just as unbelievably addictive as the previous books.  So, if you’re ready to stay up until the small hours of the morning, cry and go on an emotional rollercoaster, you need to read this.  And even if you don’t want that, you have to read it anyway.  It’s absolutely sensational.  I’m off the read Spirit Bound now!

Star Rating:
5 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Vampire Academy: Vampire Academy, Frostbite, Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine

Dark Swan Series by Richelle Mead


Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)
Horror and Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

Vampire Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Parajunkee's View)