Customer Reviews

Shadow Kiss: A Vampire Academy Novel: 3

5 star:		(159)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A little background... I am in my mid 20's and a high school teacher who loves to read when I can but doesn't get much time to do it in. I picked up the twilight series a year ago at a students request and was pleasantly surprised. Once the series was finished I needed another one! Before Twilight I had not been into teen romance/ fantasy books especially with vampires and such. I saw a book-list of recommendations by Twilight followers and picked up the "House of Night" series by PC Cast. This was worth reading and I am waiting for the next book to come. My husband now calls me addicted to Vamps since I started looking for a new series to pick up. I was strongly recommended to pick up the Vampire Academy series by my 20 year old sister who has always been a fan of this genre of books.
Wow! I loved this series, I know I might get some backlash on this from serious twilighters out there but I would say this is a close second to twilight though it has a very different storyline/plot. I love the background Richelle Mead gives her characters even ones that don't seem to significant at first. Rose is an amazing self conflicted character to read about. A young but amazing heroine conflicted between her life duty/purpose to protect her best friend Lissa, a last in her family royal, or choose another "alluring" path. Rose is a woman coming into her own through the series having to deal with self conflictions while those around her often idolize her more than she likes. Oh, and the fact that there is a gorgeous & lethal male "mentor" named Dimitri in it doesn't hurt! In this latest installment things heat up between a few characters and hard decisions are made that will touch everyone in the long run.
I have enjoyed each of the books but "Shadow Kiss" is what I would call the best in series so far. It is longer, which is great for how fast I read, and for those of you who like a little adult content this book alludes to some in a tasteful way. This is the most "mature" book and has lots of action and some new characters who I find very interesting. I couldn't put this book down. I bought it the day it was released and finished it one day (reading in between classes and my lunch break). I love it when a book can grab me and by the end of the book make the story seem complete but at the same time still agonizing that the next book doesn't come out until late next year!

I hope this helps anyone looking into the series and if you already have read the first two there is no way you should pass this one up (as I said it's the best so far). Anyone out there who enjoyed the The Twilight Saga: Slipcased or Untamed (House of Night, Book 4) then I would highly recommend picking up the Vampire Academy series. I am not guaranteeing anything because as I tell my students "everyone has and is entitled to there own opinion", however I have run across students and adults alike who liked this genre and were not to impressed with Twilight but still found this series a great read. As I said before great for the teen as well as the adult in the family.
Best of Luck Book Hunting!

I didn't want the book to end. But by the time I got to the end I was so drained, emotionally and physically (pacing around reading) I collapsed in a heap.

First of all is a change in Rose. Not only does she view her relationship with Lissa differently, she starts to question her purpose in life and the choices that have been thrust upon her. The life of a dhampir is one of duty and hardship. She'd always thought the only other choice was to be be a blood whore, so of course, being a guardian for her best friend, the Dragomir Princess was a better life.

But all that is turned on it's head when she discovers the true meaning of what it means to be Shadow Kissed. That it wasn't just a name given to St. Vladimir's friend and help mate, Shadow Kissed Anna, there was a more relevant meaning behind it.

With this knowledge and the disturbing presence of a lost friend, her life is in turmoil when it should have been smooth sailing with Victor Dashkov in prison and the trials going swimmingly for her.

Then comes tragedy. I can't write about it. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, I will say this though, I spent over half the book cringing at each page I turned, hoping that I was wrong, that Ms. Mead wouldn't do what I was terrified she would do in the end. So by the time it happened I was a mess; weepy and depressed.

I hate and love this book.

I can't wait for the next one, so addicted.

Shadow Kiss completely wrapped its every last word around me and choked me silent with anticipation every turn of a page. Rose has finally realized that there is a bigger meaning to being "shadow kissed" then just sharing a powerful bond with her best friend. In this realization, changes start to surround her in a negative way.
She starts to question her life, her relationships, and her supposed delusions. In conclusion, even without having all the answers, one thing is unquestionably certain, her unconditional love and devotion to Dimitri and later she learns that the feeling is utterly mutual. Two halves to make the most beautiful and perfect whole.
Protecting Moroi always comes first, as is the dhampir motto. During the heat of battle and finding the whereabouts of the enemy by way of a dear friend who had since past. Things spiral downward and never stop until it reaches complete darkness.
I have been weeping for a few days every so often I ponder about the book. Always thinking of how things could have been different if only they may have taken the opposed approach; but since Rose's maturity and discipline has risen way beyond her years, it seems the only explanation is that it was just meant to be the way it proceeded, how ever morbidly devastating it was. Anxiety and depression has set in as the wait for what Ms Mead will throw at us next. Bleedingly heavy on the heart, yet I could never get enough. The series gets better and better.

I have mixed feelings about this book. As a fan of Mead's previous two books in this series, I was excited to see that this one was thicker...yay, more story! Well, it didn't take long to figure out why the book was thicker. It was filled with an excess of telling rather than showing. I also had a problem with the over use of the word 'had'. It really made for a lot of passive sentences...and passive sentences make for a slow moving book.

I got frustrated with the over-explainations of everything. I know this is a series so sometimes we need to be reminded of things that happened in previous books, but this is the third, we didn't need a recap on why Strigoi are bad and how some Moroi use spirit OR what Spirit actually is. Those are just two of many examples of where the story goes into
"telling" right in the middle of "showing". The action was often broken up with Rose's thoughts or memory or something else that didn't move the action along.

I found myself skimming through chunks of rehashing and I didn't miss anything important. I didn't find any of this in the first two books, or if I did, it wasn't in the excess that it was in Shadow Kiss.

Mild Spoiler below*****




The love scene between Rose and Dimitri was kinda disapointing. On one hand, I was very happy that they got together, but it was all very bland. I didn't feel any passion, despite being told it was passionate and loving and wonderful...but that's just it, we were TOLD that it was passionate instead of describing how Rose was unable to control herself, how she may have moaned or how Dimitri may have goaned. Things like that let us understand the passion. It's like this line sums it up perfectly: "I wish I had the words to describe sex, but nothing I can say would really capture how amazing it was."
Well, I wish she would have found the words. I didn't want it to be erotica. I understand that this is YA, but it could have had more passion. Maybe Mead isn't comfortable writing that kind of stuff and that's fine, it just left me wanting more.

I did like the book, despite what it sounds like. I just felt like Mead got in her own way of telling a tight story. I loved the end, even though it was sad. I get the feeling that Rose is on her way to an awesome adventure and I'll surely be there for it. I just hope that before Mead sends her manuscript off to her editor, she takes an axe to all the, 'he had, she had, we had, I'd had, and had been's' that took over Shadow Kiss.

Shadow Kiss is the third in the Vampire Academy series that focuses on Rose Hathaway, future guardian to Lissa, the last in a line of Dragomir royalty. Rose is dhampir, the offspring of a human and vampire. Lissa is Moroi, a mortal vampire with magical powers (the Strigoi are evil immortal vampires that kill to survive). Rose is Lissa's Guardian, sworn to protect her at any cost. Her wants and needs come second to Lissa's. Rose and Lissa have been best friends since childhood, and she'd never questioned the cost of giving up her personal life to protect Lissa, but now she's haunted by a growing sense of resentment. After the death of a friend, Rose is troubled by dark thoughts and impulses and her crush on the handsome teacher Dimitri spirals out of control.

I hadn't read any of the previous novels in the series before picking up Shadow Kiss, but even so, Mead makes the backstory accessible to new readers. Rose is a captivating narrator, strong-willed and impulsive. Her blossoming relationship with Dimitri is handled tactfully, and provides a sweet counterpoint to the violence that is unleashed upon St. Vladimir's. In many ways, St. Vladimir's presents all of the typical high school drama: cliques, catty remarks, annoying teachers, drunken parties, but with the element of magic and vampiric royalty. It's much more three-dimensional than some other recent vampire young adult fiction. The story is gripping and kept me reading until the last heart-wrenching page, and I rushed out to discover the continuing story in Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, Book 4).

The third book in the Vampire Academy series has everything and more that a reader expects in a Paranormal Young Adult series. In Shadow Kiss, characters develop, relationships are tested, and the plot is fleshed-out and brings out the brilliancy of Mead's careful planning from the previous two novels, and we also see clues and foreshadowing for whatever's next in the series. I can truthfully say that this is perhaps the most developed and well-structured book of the series.

To begin, the protagonist Rose is dealing with the events that happened only a few weeks back with the Strigoi. Though time has helped heal some of the wounds, she is clearly still affected by events of the past, which leads to a darker change in her personality that we have never seen before, along with new features that seem to come with her being "shadow-kissed". As usual, she is snarky and portrays some immature qualities of a teen, but has already grasped some important aspects of adulthood.

Her relationship with Lissa begins to change slightly as well, and we see less of her in this book as Rose is not guarding her for her field training. We get to see more development and rise of Christian and Adrian as main characters, as well as Eddie and the queen as secondary ones. Lissa's bond with Rose is beginning to show more negative aspects, and Rose carries an even larger weight with being Lissa's guardian, something that she is beginning to resent. And of course, there is Rose's relationship with Dimitri, which expands even further in this novel after steadily increasing in the first two books. Whether they can resist each other and stay on the `right' path will be determined in this book.

The plot builds up quietly, steadily gaining speed until the climax, which will leave readers clutching their books with tension and speed through the pages with eagerness to see what happens next. The ending is heart wrenching and emotionally draining, yet the emotions of the scene are so powerful that it will leave everyone feeling Rose's loss and impatient to get their hands on the next book.

Vampire Academy should probably be suffering from some kind of mid-series slump by its third book, Shadow Kiss. However, I guess someone failed to tell author Richelle Mead. Because there is nothing "filler" about this incredible, fast-paced continuation.

In Shadow Kiss, Mead does answer many of the questions readers have puzzled over throughout the series. She provides some satisfying progress in the central romantic relationships in the novel, and gives her characters lots of opportunities for (painful) growth. If anything, I think Vampire Academy is ramping up -- this is by far my favorite book in the series thus far.

Rose and her friends are still recovering from the loss they were dealt at the end of Frostbite, and Rose, especially is having a hard time recovering. She feels guilt and regret over her choices and their consequences, and some of those feelings seem to be playing out in hallucinations. Either that, or Rose really is seeing ghosts.

She doesn't have much time to ponder the issue, though, because Rose and her fellow senior dhampirs have just begun their in-field training exercise. For the next six weeks, they will shadow their assigned Moroi and gain a glimpse of what their lives will be like in the future, protecting and guarding the lives of others at all times. However, Rose is most looking forward to the excuse to hang out with her best friend, Dragomir princess, Lissa, in the name of the exercise.

However, nothings is as easy as it could be at Vampire Academy. Rose is assigned another Moroi to guard - not one of her favorite classmates. Royals on campus are showing up in classes with strange signs of violence that none will talk about. And Adrian, the older, royal Spirit-user that's set his sights on Rose, is making life complicated for both her and Lissa.

The book's plot covers a lot of territory, but Mead makes each section of the story significant and interesting to readers. Every time I thought, "Wow, this has to be the high point," Ms. Mead would take the story in a new (devastating) direction. To say the end was unexpected would be an understatement -- I absolutely didn't see it coming, and wouldn't dream of spoiling the twist here. However, it's a good thing I have Blood Promise sitting on my shelf waiting for me. I don't think I can stand the suspense much longer.

Since reading the twilight series, I have been on a huge kick of vampire books. I am in my late 20's and I can honestly say, in about a months time, I've read between 15-20 books, and this comes in as my 3rd favorite. I enjoyed the characters and I couldn't put the book down. I was up to 2am because I didn't want to put the book down. It's a great read, I love the characters and the way you can just imagine everything in your head. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

...so I have tried to read a couple of series to put a stop to my twilight craziness/yearning and I finally found one! Vampire Academy is a great series, and the 3rd book is the best out of the three. I can't wait for the 4th and 5th to come out. what a great storyline, I can really see this book being made into a good movie(s) with sequels; the plot and characters are interesting and innovative. Reminds me of buffy the vampire slayer a bit, a show i loved it's first season. twilight fans-start reading this series!

Superior. Having a hard time waiting to find out what happens next in Book 4 in August 2009