NEWS: Full Vampire Academy trailer & The Fault in Our Stars casting news

Richelle Mead author of the Vampire Academy series/© Flickr/alanagkelly

These past 24 hours has brought some great news for fans of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead . A lot of readers out there are jumping up and down with glee right now, others might be flat out disappointed. Which category do you fit in to?

Vampire Academy trailer

The Fault in Our Stars - casting news

Actor Sam Trammell/© Flickr/Gage Skidmore

As you might have suspected from the photo at the very top of this post everyone's favorite bar owner Sam Merlotte, or Sam Trammell as is his real name, is casted to play in  the movie adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars. Sam Trammell will be playing Hazel's dad.

Is Sam Trammell a good choice to play dad or did you picture someone else? And what was the first thing on your mind after the ending of the Vampire Academy trailer? 

Book Review: The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

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?

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist assigned to protect Jill Dragomir, a Moroi princess. Because of the happenings
in Bloodlines Sydney is now a praised examplary Alchemist. However, the higher Alchemists don't know the half of it. Sydney has developed a friendship with vampires, Adrian in particular... While struggling with her feelings and loyalty she also discovers a dangerous secret: vampire hunters may not be a legend after all.

The Golden Lily was a perfect, though somewhat predictable, sequel to the Bloodlines series. In Bloodlines the focus was on the Alchemists and about Sydney settling with her new 'siblings'. While there's more to learn about the Alchemists, magic and even vampire hunters in The Golden Lily, the focus is on Sydney's personality and her relationships with characters around her. Suspense, action, drama and mostly romance. It was all there. Because the novel has several entwined story lines, there was enough speed in the story. Slightly more action than in the previous book., though it might not be as much as some want. However, trusting Richelle Mead, I do think there's plenty of it in the coming books: She is a master at writing dialogue and developing characters.


"Too bad you got so bogged down in books. You've got the spirit of a warrior." Sydney is a great heroine, because she simply isn't your typical heroine. She is not exceptionally beautiful or self-confident or generally badass. She is smart and has an innocence and sincerity that you can't help but admire. I was glad to see her change thoughout this book. While she still has a bit of the Alchemist rigidity about vampires, she has started to see her companions as friends. She realises all too well she should keep her distance and should hate them, but she knows she can't.
"You need me? You yell. You want to leave? We go. I'll get you out of here, no matter what." Adrian. How I love Adrian. Ever since the VA series we've known him as an irresponsible spoiled party boy. Now, we actually see the real Adrian. He is very smart, loyal, talented and he just needs someone to believe in him. Someone like Sydney. We also get a closer look on Adrian's past, his family, which explains a lot about him and his behaviour.

"Adrian, I'm on a date. Why are you here? On my car?"
Ah, their is such tension between Sydney and Adrian. Their relationship is interesting, both Sydney and Adrian unpredictable. They are complete opposites, yet they complement each other perfectly. I am very curious to find out more about these two, especially with the Alchemist prejudice about vampires and relationships with them...

I was happy to see other characters develop too. Eddie, who is so kind and loyal. He pushes his own feelings for Jill aside, while trying to keep Angeline off his back. Jill, who shows she is maturing. She begins to take her position as the Queen's sister and realises she can't have a relationship with a human.

I must warn you: The Golden Lily ends with a terrible cliffhanger leaving the reader desperate for more. With amazing characters and intriguing developments the Bloodlines series is a series you should watch out for!

My rating of this book

Source

E-book copy.

Other links

Find this book on Goodreads

Visit Richelle Mead's website here

Book Review: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

BLOOD DOESN'T LIE. Sydney is an alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of human and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives. When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she thinks she's still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir - the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir - is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill's guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the last place anyone would think to look for vampire royalty - a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. But instead of finding safety at Amberwood Prep, Sydney discovers the drama is only just beginning...

My thoughts:

I have to say I had huge expectations to this book, as I loved both Vampire Academy and the Succubus books also by Mead, and so I had to download Bloodlines to my Kindle as soon as it was released. Needless to say, I did not get a lot done at work or at home yesterday.

Bloodlines picks up where Last Sacrifice, the last book in Vampire Academy, left off. This time the story is told from the point of view of Sydney Sage, the Alchemist who helped Rose earlier. She did not have a big role in VA, but she definitely comes into her own here. It's fun to see how freaked out she is by working with Moroi and dhampirs, even if she's considered a "vamp lover" by her fellow Alchemists, and I loved seeing how she developed and got more used to this when the situation left her no other choice. It was also nice to see how both human Sydney and Moroi Jill had body issues: Sydney envying the vampires' stick thin figure, and Jill thinking she's too skinny. If you've read VA you should remember Moroi bad boy Adrian, and he's back and better than ever. I love how he always has a snarky comment ready no matter the situation, and yet there's a part of him that holds a seriousness he doesn't show off often.

The story starts out with action and excitement, and keeps it up through most of the book. Some parts might feel a little slow, but I had the same feeling when I first read Vampire Academy, and that series picked up the pace a lot from the second book and out. I was completely taken by surprise a couple of times, while I figured out other parts long before the characters, and that's just the way I like it. I loved the small interaction Sydney had with Rose, but it was very weird reading about Rose from someone else's point of view after spending five books in her head with VA. Another thing I really liked is that even if there were hints of a possible romance to come, it was not something that took up a lot of time, which is so much more realistic than all these YA novels where everyone falls in love as soon as they see someone hot. A fair warning: Bloodlines ends on the worst (or best) possible cliffhanger, so if you're anything like me you'll be cursing at Richelle for ending it like that. Either way I am very excited to read The Golden Lily when it is released in May 2012.

The cover:

I like it, but I don't love it. Face pictures on covers have a tendency to ruin things for me as the characters never look anything like what I've imagined.

My rating of this book:

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews from some of my book blogging friends:

The Crooked Shelf
My Shelf Confessions

Want to know more?

Add Bloodlines to your Goodreads wishlist

Visit Richelle Mead's website

Read Richelle's blog

Follow Richelle on Twitter

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Published: August 23 2011

Pages (hardcover): 421

Publisher: Razorbill

ISBN: 1595143173 (ISBN13: 9781595143174)

Full disclosure: Purchased for my Kindle

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and online book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I am not an affiliate of either). The latter store has free shipping to about 100 countries.