ŷ������

“You can't force love, I realized. It's there or it isn't. If it's not there, you've got to be able to admit it. If it is there, you've got to do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love.��

Actual rating 3,5 stars!



THAT ENDINGGGGGG!! I loved it so much, and I cried, like a lot.. So the last 70 pages were really good, but I didn’t really like the beginning of this book. The plot was so slow and I didn’t like the whole ski trip thing.I did like some of the new characters and Rose was amazing in this book as well. Although I wanted some new world building and some more tension in the middle of this book.

Vampire Academy: 4 stars

Note: Those wonderful arts weren’t made by me, but since I couldn't mostly find the sources, I just want to thank the artists for their awesome artwork.

“Everyone has light around them, except for you. You have shadows.��

Contains spoilers for the whole VA series!

Start of the book (4 stars)
The first 50 pages or so I really enjoyed this book. I was so happy to be back in Rose’s snarky head. I really enjoyed reading about her life after all that’s happened in the previous book. I found the tense situation when the .. family was murdered super creepy and fun to read and I flew through the book. However the book started to get quite monotonous after a while. It was just much of the same with mostly Rose being on practice or on campus. Just her ordinary life and I was getting quite tired of this when it took over 100 pages.

The writing style (3,5 stars)
The writing style was pleasant to read only it was nothing special. I like being in Rose’s head and reading about her snarky opinions and sarcastic sneers. I love the humor that’s mixed in, also in serious situations. Only sometimes I wanted more from the world and I didn’t get that from Rose’s perspective. I also still feel like this book is meant for younger (teenage) readers, Rose is struggling with her identity, sex, friendship etc. a lot. And this wasn’t something why I was reading this book, so I found these chapters a bit too long. I also want to comment on the repetitive writing style. The amount of times Rose gets called young in this book was over the thirty!! I know it the first three times! But also repetitive from the first book, I’ve just read it so I didn’t need to know every detail from book one.

“Things die. But they don't always stay dead. Believe me, I know.��

The world building (3,5 stars)
The world didn’t really expand from book one. Now we had this resort where they were prisoners in and in the first installment it was the academy. While we did get a bit more inside in the royal families and a bit more about Stragoi and about fighting, I found this not enough new information for a second in a series. I did like to finally the Stragoi and seeing what they are capable off but the world building was rather dull in this book and I didn’t care at all about this ski trip/resort thing. I do still really like the whole Vampire Academy concept with Stragoi, Moroi and Dhampirs and think it is super original.

Characters (3,5 stars)

“Not into older guys, huh?" asked Adrian once we were alone.
"You're imagining things," I said. "Clearly, my stunning beauty has clouded your mind.��

Don't get me wrong I love a main character with confidence and it was super refreshing and something else from every winey ya book, but Rose did get a bit on the arrogant side sometimes. I didn’t mind it but I hope she calms a bit down. I did like how smart, brave and stubborn Rose could be. I loved her in the scene in Spokane and I found her breaking down super realistic (cried a lot)
I hated Lissa even more in this book, I hated how she was unable to help Rose, how she never tried anything, how she dropped Rose for Christian. The only thing I liked was the idea how to train the Moroi magic.
I did like Christian in this book. The scene in the cellar he was super brave and he helped a lot.
I also did like Mason, but I hate the decision he made to go and save Rose. I mostly felt sorry for him during this book because Rose didn’t really like him.
I also liked Adrian, he was super mysterious and I really liked that he is also a spirit user and his powers are cool.
Tasha was also one of my favorites in this book. I love her background story about the Stragoi attack with Christian’s parents and her wearing that scar so proudly. I love for her standing up for using Moroi magic and teaching some of the kids how to use them in secrets.
I didn’t like Dimitri in this book, he was really one dimensional and on the back ground.
I loved Rose’s mother (bawled my eyes out with that scene after the Stragoi attack, when she comforts Rose). I love her history and am curious about the rest of it.
So I did start to like Mia a lot more during this book, I loved that in the beginning of this book I hated her but her mom dying, her going to Spokane and her wanting to fight with her magic actually gave me respect for her. I love that she came back to safe Rose with her magic even though Rose told her water magic was useless.
If I think back on this I find all the characters quite one dimensional. They lack history and a backbone. And I maybe wanted a bit more new characters, especially in the beginning of this book.

“We can't stop living because other people are dead.��

Romance (2,5 stars)
I hate the thought Rose has like well okay I can't get the guy I want so how about I take my best friend instead and try with Mason. Like Hell that's not how it works girl.. And then Mason goes and sacrifices himself for Rose and I felt so bad because she didn’t even like him like that. So mad about this. I also didn’t feel the ending with Rose and Demitri, like oh you killed two Stragoi, now your worthy of me. I just didn’t feel it between them.
Super annoyed how Lissa behaved with Christian. What the Hell is wrong with people! Just dropping your best friend when you get a boyfriend. I could relate so much with Rose’s jealousy, but I HATED Lissa for not realizing what she was doing.


Plot (3,0 stars)
This book suffered majorly from second book syndrome, it’s not even funny. I mean the beginning this book was fun because I love reading from Rose's perspective and I found what happened with that family interesting. But after a while I just got so bored with the plot. NOTHING HAPPENED. Rose just had her ordinary day, with training, joking with Mason, being Jealous of Christian who takes up all Lissa's time, being annoyed by Tasha (which I found really unfair). It was just so boring, and I took so much time reading this book. And then this ski trip happened and well that was just so random. I didn't expect that at all. It lacking new world building, it lacked tension, it lacked new characters. It was just really blend.
It took so long for the plot to become remotely interesting that I almost gave up on this book. So on the ski trip, (halfway in the book) they find out another Stragoi attack had happened and that even more Stragoi and humans had fought together in this slaughter. So this frightens a lot of Moroi and Dampirs, and they organize this meeting where they come up with ridiculous ideas about how to fight this group of Stragoi. But then Tasha speaks up. And I absolutely love her for this, she thinks the Moroi should fight besides the Dampirs and use their magic. I was so proud of Tasha and I agree fully with her. So everyone goes off on her and this huge discussion breaks out. Then more Dimitri and Rose drama happens. So then this Arthur guy shows up again and he invites Rose and her friends to a party. So they go to this spa and Rose gets drunk. And then this random fight breaks out about the opinion Tasha just stated. And of course Rose is in the middle of this. So after Mason saves her, she ends up with Lissa and Adrian in this lounge and something strange happens between Lissa and Adrian which I was soooo curious about! But Christian shows up and they leave this weird spa party.
So then after Mason and Rose have a fight he appears to be gone when Rose searches for him. And then she realized what a mistake it was telling him about Spokane (Stragoi were hiding there). So Mia, guy I didn’t know or cared about and forgot his name and Mason are gone. Rose decides to take Christian to get them out of the resort and find the others. I found these decisions from every person super stupid. I hated that they got lost, doesn’t anyone know how the ask the way to the station or to read a map or have a phone? So annoying. So these humans kidnap them and bring them to Elena and Isaiah, who is super old and likes to play games.

“There's nothing worse than waiting and not knowing what'll happen to you. Your own imagination can be crueler than any captor.��

From this point I started to really like the plot. I loved the tense situation and it never got boring, I just wanted to read and know if they would survive! I loved every single character’s behavior and found the decision making super cleaver. I loved how they escape although it was really predictable, but I didn’t expect the Stragoi to find out and actually killing Mason. I was in the train reading the chapter and I bawled my eyes out. I loved how this was all unfolding and for it to be casualties even though I loved Mason I never would have accepted them all surviving. It was so realistic how Rose got in shock and how she responded the days after. The last 70 pages were the best of this book!

“It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay. You can let go of the sword."
"I can’t. I can’t leave him alone. I have to protect him."
"You have.��

The ending (4,5 stars)
After Rose gets a bit out of shock she receives her molnija, I was really proud of her and how she responded to the whole situation. The only thing I didn’t like was the Dimitri situation, I just don’t like it and I don’t know why..

I’m excited for the next book but I hope the plot is a bit faster in the beginning and a few new characters are introduced.