Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

Series: Vampire Academy, Book Three

Publisher: Penguin

Format: Paperback

Published: UK: 2010 (USA: 2008)

Book: Bought

Number of Pages: 444

Genre: Dark Romance, Action, Fantasy, YA

Warning: Could Contain Spoilers From Previous Books

 

What if following her heart means losing her best friend – forever?

Rose Hathaway knows it is forbidden to love another guardian.  Her best friend, Lissa, must always come first.  Unfortunately, when it comes to the gorgeous Dimitri Belikov, some rules are meant to be broken.

Lying to Lissa about Dimitri is one thing, but suddenly there’s way more than friendship at stake.  The immortal dead are on the prowl and in a heart-stopping battle, Rose will have to choose between life, love and the two people who matter most.

But will her choice mean that only one survives?

 

Review:

This book was so much better than Frostbite.  It had me completely addicted – then again so did the others – but more than that: it made me feel like I had to finish it.  It was just that good.  Richelle Mead has a way of making me feel a rollercoaster of emotions, and again managed to make me laugh one second and want to cry the next.

Once more told from Rose’s point of view, Shadow Kiss takes part during the final test novices have to take before they can become guardians.  But that’s not all that’s going on; the Strigoi are back, and now no one’s safe...

Rose had all the traits I loved: the impulsiveness, the fearlessness and the sweet care over Lissa, but we also get to see a darker side of her.  And, for Rose, it feels like her whole world is changing, like all the points that were a given are suddenly uncertain.  I really felt for her: seeing Mason murdered before her eyes affected her a lot, but there’s also something else going on with her, something I did guess at during the story.  After everything that already happened to her in the previous books, you’d think that her final term would be easy.  Then again: this is Rose.

As for the other characters, Lissa isn’t in it quite as much, but when she is she’s sweet as before and with her element spirit completely under control, not even affecting her in the slightest.  Christian, well: I love him.  Rose may not be his biggest fan, but I like his sense of humour, especially when it’s coupled with Rose’s.  Plus, you get to see more of him and learn more about him, which I really liked. 

And then there’s Dimitri.  I love his and Rose’s bond: the one that lets them almost read one another’s minds, and it’s so real and beautiful it’s untrue.  Also the way they can just stand in silence and be completely blissful is so refreshing after all the noisy declaring-my-love scenes books often have.

Once again there’s the constant battle between good and evil, the living and the un dead, as well as romance, heartbreak, suspense and more than a little violence.  The plot was completely incredible, very unexpected and completely addictive: it just left me wanting more and more.  I’m not going to give away the ending, but this is all I’m going to say: you are going to want the next book in the series at hand when you read Shadow Kiss.

(I’m still not going to give anything away to those who haven’t read this one yet, but Sammee: you were right!)

Star Rating:
5 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Vampire Academy and Vampire Academy: Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine

Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)
Horror and Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

Vampire Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Parajunkee's View)

Off the Shelf Challenge (Hosted by BA Reading Challenges)