Product Description

St Vladimir's Academy isn't just any boarding school - hidden away, it's a place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They've been on the run, but now they're being dragged back to St Vladimir's where the girls must survive a world of forbidden romances, a ruthless social scene and terrifying night time rituals. But most of all, staying alive.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1591 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

About the Author
Richelle Mead, the New York Times bestselling author of the Vampire Academy series, lives in Seattle in the USA. She is at work on her next Vampire Academy novel.

Customer Reviews

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Rose and Lissa are best friends who share an unimaginable bond, even by vampire standards. Now, after time spent on the run, they have been returned to the school from which they escaped to face ridicule, speculation, and danger.

Welcome to St. Vladimir's Academy, a private high school for vampires and the half-bloods who are bound to protect them. The Moroi are vampires, and the descendants of Moroi royalty are the social elite of St. Vladimir's. The Moroi are at constant risk, though. The Strigoi, the fiercest vampires, are out to get them, any way they can. The Moroi are protected by Dhampirs, guardians who are sworn to lay down their lives to assure that the Moroi bloodlines continue.

Rose is a Dhampir and Lissa is the last of the Dragomir line of Moroi royalty. Rose and Lissa share a special bond; one that nearly assures that Rose will be Lissa's guardian for life. Returning to school, however, proves to be more difficult than either of them imagined. The social politics have changed during their absence and Rose and Lissa are both the topic of several rumors. Their sudden disappearance, their time on the run, and their return are all subjects for speculation. In some instances, the truth may cause them more harm than rumors ever could.

In addition to the social pressures, Lissa may be in even more danger than anyone could have imagined. In addition to being Moroi and royalty, Lissa seems to have special abilities that haven't been seen among the Moroi in centuries. Abilities that make her an even more tantalizing target to the Strigoi.

VAMPIRE ACADEMY is a thrilling adventure that draws you along and makes you continue to turn the pages. As the danger to Lissa gets closer, it gets more difficult to put the book down. In a world that seems saturated with vampire books, Richelle Mead has created characters and a world that is both unique and believable.

Reviewed by: JodiG.

Fantastic!
This is the first in the Vampire Academy series and it's an amazing start. I was instantly drawn in to Rose's world and her desire to keep Lissa safe and the lengths she'd go to, to acchive it.

Rose is sassy and rebelious, but with an edge that clearly shows she understands a lot more about being an adult than you would iniatially assume, but she doesn't always show it. The world created here is vivid and realistic, something easy to get lost in. All the characters are developed well and you can get a really good sense of them in a short space of time. I love the relationship between Rose and her teacher, Dimitri Belikov and the way it's created. It is a forbidden romance, but it's not all consuming. They grow closer as they train together through discovering more about the other and who they are. Although romance is a big theme here, it's not the main one. It's the major subplot, and becomes a little more in the third book, but it's not the focus of the book, nor does Rose spend all her time mooning after Dimitri.

The plot flows quick and easily, making it a very hard book to put down. The writing is good and with a sharp sense of humor that creates a few laugh out loud moments. You can really feel the ups and downs as Rose does, keeping the tension up until the last moment.

Anyone who's looking at this having read Twilight and looking for another YA vampire book, read this. In my opinion, it's massively better. The characters more interesting and far less annoying with a much bigger, more rounded, and darker story around it. Fantastic work, and the series only gets better. 4.5 stars.

WOOOOP
this book is AMAZING. the title is a little cheesy, and puts a 'lame' sticker on the book, but once you read it, the book is great. some of the characters are a little superficial. a great teenage read. i would know, being a teenager and all. i'd recommend this to all my friends. in fact, i have, and i've turned them all into vampire-novel junkies. this book is a favourite with all of them.