What kept me going from book to book (total 6) in a span of 3 and half days, you ask me? DIMITRI. DIMITRI. DIMITRI.
So do I have a new crush (more like gut wrenching- overpowering-heart aching- obsessive-unrequited-love)? YES. Do I want to re-read this series? YES. . Although I wanted to smash away the books, whenever the annoying love triangle was thrown in the mix. Do I want to read more paranormal fiction stories? YES. Do I want to read the bloodlines series? HELL NO. Thank you author, for VA, but I think I’ll pass without any more love triangles or other polygons to deal with.
Aaah! I started the first book after much contemplation. Somehow Paranormal Fiction didn’t seem very appealing to me before. So VA opens up a whole new world for me to explore.
Now let me give you a part history of my acquaintance with the subject here- I hadn’t read any other paranormal romance books before now, including the Twilight series, gave up on the movie versions halfway, and the farthest understanding I have of fantasy creatures is from LOTR, Harry Potter, Disney and some fantastic popular culture- Van Helsing and Vampire Hunter D.
I don’t like love triangles, well, mostly. They seem so unnecessary and obviously ANNOYING. That’s the whole problem with the Twilight series. I thought every book in this genre couldn’t do without it. And actually, VA doesn’t do much to squash that opinion of mine, either.
HONEST TO GOD! I don’t really see the need for Adrian here, except benefitting a new spin-off series with him in the lead. What’s between Dimitri and Rose is so electric. It’s a no-brainer that, from the start, Rose’s relationship with Adrian didn’t even scratch the surface. Quite frankly, it did seem like she was using the poor guy. Not that I like Adrian (I don’t get how he falls for her- lust, I’ll agree. Love? Who are we kidding.) Their relationship seemed like a friends-with-benefits kinda thing, in the case, some ‘thing’ really happened.
And I found the recap of the story as recalled in each succeeding book quite irritating. Books like HP worked well without having to do that. And if the author thinks that is going to help new readers start reading from the middle of a series, then again, I don't think it really helps.
Rose is the perfect rebel. She’s feisty, reckless, restless, independent, angry and TONS OF ANNOYING. I can’t understand her hypocrisy and judgmental nature. Dimitri is the opposite- responsible, patient, controlled and everything else wonderful... mmhm...They both complement each other perfectly; we get a sort of Yin-Yang vibe about them. There’s something achingly beautiful and bittersweet about star crossed love. Adrian’s the boy-friend. He’s fun to hang out with, he makes you laugh, but he’s NEVER a good influence on you. Or any influence at all. And nothing good can ever come out of starting something with a boy-friend. If you are having doubts and issues, it’s time to run, girlfriend.
BEGINNING-
The first two books were great as introduction into the world of these ‘creatures of the night’. Richelle Mead paints a fairly beautiful picture of their world with much detailing. But there may be a few loose ends. What good it did me was the drop back into the world of Hogwarts and magical creatures etc. NOSTALGIA!!! It had been so long since I read any fantasy. Also the relationship between Rose and Dimitri develops slowly and gradually. The chemistry is great. And other characters are also developed well, to level the plane.
MIDDLE-
Books 3 and 4 were great with some bleak moments in their relationship, which were heartbreaking. The lead characters discover themselves, are on their individual paths to find themselves. Rose transforms a lot during this phase. There were moment when I really believed that Rose had to move on with someone new, and it would be the end of Dimitri. This was against my never ending hope that they’d get together in the end. It was gut wrenching and over powering with so many other emotions.
END-
Sloppy, very sloppy. The last two books had some of the best and the worst moments in the whole series.
First, Adrian. Completely unnecessary, trying to divert the attention to the relationship-that-would-not-work-even-if-Dimitri-was-not-in-the-picture. Saw it coming, but the ending of that seemed very puke inducing. How could Rose not feel guilty enough about that? Again, I’ll mention- I don’t like Adrian. Still.
Second, the breaking of Rose and Lissa’s bond. Hey author, i know it is all your creation and all. But this doesn’t really make any sense.
Third, Tasha. How could the author create a lovely nice picture of her and rip it apart later, to say she was a witchy little thing. The ending there seemed a little.. off. Now there’s someone I really feel sorry for- Christian. I don’t see a great future for him with murderers (strigoi or not) as relatives! And with the start of the series I thought it would be about a victory over the dark forces. (Like in Harry Potter, where the Death eaters are almost extinct by the time the story wraps up.) This would be four. But then, here unlike the Harry potter series, a mega-sorta- villain was not really developed, you know, to bring about a finale of sorts.
For the above reasons I can’t give the series a full five star rating.
But if we focus on Rose and Dimitri, I can live with that. The tension between them is brought up to high intensities. And so much more time these two spend around each other, unlike the previous books. In that way, the series leaves me completely satisfied!!!
So Imma go back to gushing about DIMITRIIIIIIIIII <3 <3 <3