Series Catch-Up Mini Challenge: Favorite Series Highlight – Vampire Academy

SeriesCatchUp

Time for Series Catch-Up Mini Challenge #1: Highlighting a favorite series of mine. While we all know that I could go on an on about Harry Potter as my favorites series (and really, I have many, many times) so I thought I could choose a different series to talk about.

Let’s talk about THE VAMPIRE ACADEMY series. 

I actually still haven’t finished the series yet. As part of the Series Catch-Up Challenge, I want to finish book six by the end of the year. When I first thought about this mini challenge, I was planning on picking a series that I had already finished, but I realized I didn’t want to gush over Harry Potter again because let’s face it – I can do that all day. We all could. I wanted to pick a series that was more recent and also fresh in my mind (so that ruled out the Hunger Games as well because I can barely remember what happened in books two and three). I just started the Vampire Academy series this year and I’ll finish the whole series in the 2012 calendar year!

Each cover photo will lead you to my review for the book! Please be aware that if you haven’t read the whole series there may be some mild spoilers once you start reading about later books in the series.

Vampire Academy (Feb 2012): I first picked up Vampire Academy when I borrowed it from my friend Lisa back in February 2012. I was really hesitant about starting it because at that point in time I was “so over” the whole vampire scene and I was getting tired of hearing the same vampire plot lines over and over again. Lisa vouched for it and I decided to give it a shot. To my surprise I ended up really, really enjoying it! I loved how Richelle Mead came up with a variation on the traditional vampire idea. I also loved the Rose-Dimitri relationship. I was immediately intrigued and extremely interested in picking up the next book of the series!

Frostbite (Jun 2012): I finally got a copy of Frostbite and decided to read it in June – I think I originally got it from Book Mooch. I was so excited to see a different kind of adventure and action take off in Frostbite. We get a bit more character development – also when we’re first introduced to Adrian who becomes another major character in the series. In Frostbite we also got to find out a lot more about the Strigoi which turns out to lead to a huge twist in events. This book was also the first of many, many WTF moments that Richelle Mead seems to incorporate into the Vampire Academy series. I laughed, I cried, I finished the book thinking “I gotta have more!!”

Shadow Kiss (Sep 2012): Once I figured out I could borrow ebooks from the library as well as physical copies, I browsed through the selections and found Shadow Kiss! I actually read this one in my free time at work (which my work totally did not know about) and quite a bit of work got negelected because Shadow Kiss was an amazing story. I couldn’t wait to find out what the truth was behind Rose’s visions and if the ghost story had any truth behind it. Then once again, I had the biggest WTF moment of the series so far. Oh. My. God. Even though I’ve finished the fifth book, I still can’t believe that twist was even considered much less executed in the book.

Blood Promise (Oct 2012): Once I was done with Shadow Kiss, I knew I had to jump on Blood Promise. There was no way I could leave that ending open for long and I HAD to know what happened. Unfortunately I felt like the beginning of the book was a little hard to get into and I was still on a high from the last the book and I was DYING for answers. I also felt a little lost with the book taking place in Russia. I felt like it just was too far removed from the original characters and the setting – I just got lost in Russia and then the plot was a little weird for me for a while. Don’t get me wrong – I still enjoyed it – but after the first three books, I think I was just expecting a whole lot more!

Spirit Bound (Nov 2012): Spirit Bound was one of the first books I decided to read for the Series Catch-Up Challenge. This was the series I wanted to finish the most! Although I was a bit disappointed with book four, I was still terribly curious to find out WHAT THE HECK was going to happen with this plot! At this point, I couldn’t tell where it was going and how this was going to end. Finally at the end of this book, I got to see the big picture and what was once broken in the previous books, we get to see pieced back together, but not without a price. It was really interesting to see some serious advancements in the magic and awareness of such. We really get to see the Moroi figure out many secrets of the spirit and that also takes us to another major plot twist!

Now I’m reeling for book six which will be one that I pick up before the year is out because I HAVE to know what happens!!! I have to finish one book that I promised to review before the year is out and I had just started The Kill Order which is the prequel to The Maze Runner series, after writing this post, I cannot wait to get Last Sacrifice! I’m getting more and more excited to finish the series.

Favorite book of the series: Shadow Kiss. With a HUGE twist at the end and a lot more history about the entire background of the Moroi/Dhampirs/Strigoi, I found myself most interested and engrossed in this book. I really couldn’t stop reading and I felt like I got the most plot out of this book!

Least favorite book of the series: Blood Promise. I didn’t dislike it by any means, but I felt like this book was a bit slower than the others and with it taking place almost entirely in Russia, I just felt a bit lost. The plot also took kind of a weird turn for me and I was hoping for a bit more action than there was compared to the previous books.

Movies?: While I haven’t heard of any movie adaptations proposed for the series, I definitely would love to see the Vampire Academy series on the big screen! I think it would be excellent to see everything unfold in a movie and I think I’d be a lot more creeped out by actually seeing the Strigoi.  Then again, I would really hate for it to get compared to the Twilight series by the masses and I know it would be. I’m sure even as a book series it’s gotten compared to Twilight, which it really is nothing like it, in my opinion.

Would I re-read?: In all honesty, I probably wouldn’t re-read the series. I really do love it, but the books are just so long and involve so much time that with all of the books I have now to read, I would never have time to re-read all of these books! Actually, I think the only way I might re-read is if they actually did make movies out of the books. I always re-read (or read for the first time) any book that’s being adapted to the big screen so I have the story fresh in my mind. Without that push, I just wouldn’t have the time to read all of the books again! 

Link up your mini-challenge post below! What series did you pick to highlight? What favorite series did you share with us? 


Hi, I'm Brittany!
Hi, I'm Brittany!

I'm an avid reader, candle-maker, and audiobook lover! Here you'll find book reviews, fun blog posts, and my other loves of photography & craft beer!

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8 thoughts on “Series Catch-Up Mini Challenge: Favorite Series Highlight – Vampire Academy

  1. Ashley @ Wholly Books

    I’m glad you got caught up/finished with The Vampire Academy series! It’s one of my faves! I signed up for your Series catch up challenge and I’ll be honest so far I have totally sucked. I haven’t caught up on a single series! I had the best of intentions though, I promise! I am hoping to read Silence and possibly start Finale by the end of December but we will see!

    Reply
  2. ocdreader

    Blood Promise derailed me from finishing these because she was so “lost” for a bit in Russia, but I finally read Spirit Bound and now I am super excited for Last Sacrifice…I am HOPING to try to finish this series this year too. I am also hoping to get some uninterrupted reading time…we will see!! 🙂

    Reply
  3. Mommy's Reading Break

    I agree with almost everything you said in this post, except that I probably would reread. I’m actually already considering doing it before I go on to Bloodlines, since I didn’t go straight into it like I had planned to.

    What I’m the most surprised about is your space (time) between books! I couldn’t leave this series until I finished it. I read all of the books back to back in July-August!

    Reply
    1. Brittany

      For some reason I liked to spread my series out – I think because I always get so upset when they end haha. Once I’m done with VA, I might go right into Bloodlines. I’m very curious about it!!

      Reply
  4. Quinn

    I keep hearing the The Vampire Academy is a great series, but I still haven’t read the books. One reason is because vampires kind of freak me out. But I feel like I am totally missing out, because everyone keeps saying it’s a great series. I’ve heard the the series gets better the more books you read too.

    I still have 2 books left to read for Series Catch-Up. I’m a little nervous that I won’t finish because I am trying to listen to them via audiobook, and that does take longer. But the books are terribly long, so hopefully!

    Reply

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