Blood Promise by Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy #4)

After the horrific attack on St. Vladmir's Academy, aspiring guardian Rose leaves her school and best friend, Lissa, behind to hunt Strigoi. There's someone in particular Rose wants dead. Dimitri, the man she loves, was turned in the attack and is now on eof the undead vampires. He wouldn't have wanted such a fate, and Rose considers it her duty to take him down. Her trip takes to the other side of the world, exploring Dimitri's native Russia and diggering into his past. Meanwhile, back at the academy, Lissa becomes friends with a visiting royal, Avery Lazar. Despite the warmth she holds for the girl, Lissa's other friends are wary of the royal, and Lissa isn't being herself. Rose wants badly to avenge Dimitri, but she also has a duty to her best friend. She longs to keep Lissa safe.

First off, I loved Rose. More than before, anyway. Once she has something else to focus on, she knows there's more to life than being a guardian as she gets a taste of what life as an unpromised dhampir is like. It's very refreshing. She doesn't see that her needs to become a guardian is out of sync with her personality and that she should hate parts of it, - see here for more on what I mean - but the topic isn't all that important, which is a nice change. I think that Dimitri's loss also made her more mature. She still cracks a joke or has a snappy comeback every now and then, but she's also more respectful and maybe a bit more quiet.

I still hate Lissa. She's depressed and angry, lashing out at people around her for no reason. I know that it's not her fault this time - I don't want to give too much away - but she's not being her normal generous, reasonable self. She ignores Jill when the younger girl is around and fights with Christian. Kissing another boy? Totally fine. I get that she can't help it, but it's not improving my opinion of her regardless. Anyway, she still has the same attitude about Rose that I can't stand. When talking to Mia, she says that there's no way she would drop out because Rose did and that she's not being a good friend by leaving. Lissa is the one who, in some ways, isn't such a great friend. As a guardian, Rose would give up everything for her, and that's not being a good friend? I almost expect that she would have at least tried to go with Rose! Rose is making much bigger sacrifices for Lissa.

One new character I came across is Avery Lazar. She's one of those characters in the books who comes and goes, here one book and gone the next. She's wild and rebellious, always with a supply of alcohol, to Adrian's delight, and Avery is always coming up with more crazy parties and ideas. From little things like dancing on tabletops to breaking into pools, the girl always comes up with something. She's out of control. Avery's also sympathetic with Lissa, defending her when she has an argument with Christian and confiding in her. I think she's a bad influence. Lissa is so crazy and wild whens he's with Avery, and the two of them end up getting into trouble.

Overall, I was pleased with this read. The new, more mature Rose was refreshing and she was still able to make me smile with a well-placed joke in an otherwisetense situation. I loved exploring rural Siberia, visiting the cties as well as small vilages and seeing the day to day life of moroi and dhampirs outside of Court or the academy. The plot was fast-paced with intense fighting scenes and plenty of suspense as Rose continued her hunt across Russia, first for Dimitri's family and then for the man himself. Even though Rose wasn't really with Dimitri, there was an aspect of romance as she tracks him across the globe to kill him the way he would have wanted and avenge him. This might be my favorite book yet in the series! It's also the frst to pull off 4/5 stars! As always, I enjoyed Mead's creative writing and the new take on vampires.

#richellemead #vampires #assassinsspieshuntersandbodyguards #supernatural