Review: Blood Promise

By: Richelle Mead
Published: August 2009 by Razorbill
Format: Hardcover, 503 pages
First Reviewed: August 2011
Buy: Barnes & Noble//Books-A-Million//Amazon//Book Depository
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Rose Hathaway's life with never been the same...

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 victims 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?

Rating: 5/5

Once again: Another re-read, of course. Read this back the day it came out, after waiting outside B&N until it opened. And I'm going to sound like a broken record for this review, as I do for all VA novels, and also for the next two, but...too bad. It's what happens when a series is so epically amazing that you can't do anything but freak out at what's to come. Even if you haven't read the series; each book leaves you feeling so ecstatic for the next read.

Yet again, I have to mention how incredible Richelle Mead is. Sure, I found some more errors, but I'm starting to blame only the editors for that, considering these were easy to miss by the author's eye. But Mead? Mead. Is. A. GENIUS! A genius, I say! When I had just begun reading this series--I had to wait eight flippin' months for this book! Can you imagine the pain?! THE AGONY?! Okay--I had thought Mead was great. She was awesome, and I also wanted to go all Strigoi on her behind for what she did to me. Nonetheless, I hadn't truly realized her epicness until this book.

First off, she took us to Russia and Siberia. HELLO--sorry for the excessive use of all caps and dashes; but that's what you get with this series--that's only the most awesome setting ever. Not to mention we got to see a completely different side of this world Mead's created. We got to see the evil, see what it's really like on the other side of the whole equation. And, for me, this was when Mead got really complex, too.

Obviously, she had already been insane with crafting the plot, considering Shadow Kiss...*dies* But she came up with some great original aspects that I've never read being done before. Of course, this whole series is original, but some of these things were fantastic to me. Extremely imaginative. Oh, something I've failed to mention in the other three reviews: This series is not like other vampire books. I'm so serious when I say this. For anyone thinking, Ugh! No more vampires after Twilight! Or, Another vampire boarding school book? After House of Night, I don't think so. Or something else comparing Vampire Diaries, Blue Bloods, True Blood, whatever.

No. This book is so different. I kid you not. The only thing they have in common is the word vampire. And that vampires drink blood. That's it. Mead makes you forget everything you think about YA vampires. With such complexity, amazing twists and plot directional changes that keep readers on their feet, and one of the strongest female leads of all time (to me, of course), this book is nothing short of amazing. So anyone out there going, No more vampires! Well, don't make me slap you over the head. Better yet, I'll go all Rose on you. And you don't want that...