Ich habe die Reihe bisher noch nicht gelesen und es schon ewig vor. Deshalb freute ich mich umso mehr über die Neuauflage bei Lyx. Ich muss gestehen, dass ich mit Rose zu Beginn so meine Probleme hatte, denn sie war mir nicht wirklich sympathisch. Das kam aber zum Glück nach einiger Zeit und ich konnte mich mit ihr anfreunden. Auch die anderen Charaktere fand ich sehr gut gelungen und tiefgründig. Das Wordlbuilding hat mir gut gefallen und auch das Setting konnte mich überzeugen. Die Romanze steht hier (noch?) nicht im Vordergrund, dafür eine spannende und fesselnde Handlung. Ich freue mich schon sehr auf die Fortsetzung.

I loved the ending to this amazing series! It was fitting, though i was a little disappointed over the loss of the bond. It's what made Lissa's and Rose's friendship special and i loved that. The book was full of kick-ass scenes, cute moments and witty comments. I feel really bad for Adrian in the end and i'm really excited to start reading bloodlines although i'm going to miss reading from Roses POV a lot. I really like Sydney but she's so different from Rose. Rose became my favourite female character ever. She's inspiring and funny and badass. I admire her and i would love to be like her. This series meant a lot to me and is now one of my favorites.

Da ich in der letzten Woche viele kurze Bücher lesen wollte, ist meine Wahl auch auf Vampire Academy gefallen. Eigentlich hätte ich nicht gedacht, dass ich die Reihe dieses Jahr noch anfange, weil ich nicht nur Positives darüber gehört habe und vor allem, weil ich seit Ewigkeiten kein Buch mehr über Vampire gelesen habe oder überhaupt lesen wollte. Aber ich muss sagen, dass ich schon positiv überrascht bin. Ich wurde von Anfang an in die Story hineingesaugt und musste einfach immer weiter lesen. Die Protagonistin Rose und ihre beste Freundin Lissa sind vor zwei Jahren von der St. Vladimir Academy weggelaufen und dafür hatten sie auch einen guten Grund. Rose ist ein Dhampir, halb Mensch, halb Vampir und es ist ihre Lebensaufgabe, Lissa zu beschützen, denn diese ist eine Moroi, eine königliche Vampirin. Doch dann werden die beiden doch geschnappt und müssen die Schule für Dhampire und Moroi wieder besuchen. Rose hat aufgrund ihrer langen Abwesenheit einiges aufzuholen und bekommt deshalb zusätzliches Training von Dimitri, einem etwas älteren Dhampir, in den sie sich nach und nach verliebt. Kurz nachdem die beiden Freundinnen wieder an der Schule sind, passieren Lissa allerdings schlimme Dinge und Rose muss gut auf ihre beste Freundin aufpassen. Mir gefiel Rose als Charakter ziemlich gut. Sie hat keine Angst und hat ein sehr loses Mundwerk, das mich oft zum Lachen gebracht hat. Es vergeht kaum ein Kapitel, in dem sie nicht in irgendwelche Probleme deswegen gerät. Die Liebesgeschichte zwischen Rose und Dimitri kann man eigentlich fast nicht so nennen, denn was sich zwischen ihnen entwickelt, ist eigentlich sehr langsam und es steht auch nicht im Vordergrund der Geschichte. Die ganze Vampirwelt ist hier wieder anders aufgebaut und ein bisschen russisch angehaucht, aber das war gar nicht so schlimm. So gab es wenigstens keine lästigen Wiederholungen von Dingen, die man schon kennt. Die Moroi-Vampire beherrschen sogar ein Element durch Magie. Ein großer Pluspunkt war auch die unerschütterliche Freundschaft zwischen Rose und Lissa. Das Ende war wirklich überraschend und nochmal sehr actionreich. Nach dem Lesen habe ich leider den großen Fehler gemacht, den Film zu gucken… Oh man, war der schlecht. Und Dimitri war einfach soo hässlich! Fazit: Ich hätte nicht gedacht, dass mir dieser Reihenauftakt so gut gefallen würde. Selbst jemand, der schon unzählige Vampirbücher gelesen hat, wird diese Geschichte wahrscheinlich als Abwechslung empfinden. Besonders gut gefallen hat mir die schlagfertige und temperamentvolle Protagonistin Rose sowie ihre Freundschaft zu Lissa, für die sie wohl wirklich alles tun würde. Eine schöne Mischung aus Vampiren, Internat und einem Hauch Magie.

4.5 Stars The best of the three books in the second story arc. It had some minor parts I didn't like but overall it was great. Very nice ending of the Vampire Academy series. (It made me smile) There also were some events which were clearly some sort of build up for the spinoff Bloodlines.

Back when the movie adaption came out, I had found the trailer interesting, but from my previous experiences with vampire (romance) novels for teens, I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. There are a few things I assumed I wouldn't like, but the execution convinced me otherwise: ~the light sexualization of the blood drinking and drug allegories for the humans. It made me vary between being uncomfortable and shipping Rose and Lissa at first (depending on if the focus is on Lissa drinking Rose's blood and the effect it has on Rose and their relationship or on people calling Rose a blood whore), but actually lend itself to some character development for Rose that I enjoyed ~the age gap and power dynamics between Rose and her love interest. While the power dynamics still make me uncomfortable, I really enjoyed how Dimitri handled it in this first book. It became clear pretty soon that he was aware of Rose's crush on him, as well as his own attraction to her, but did not plan on acting on it for all the right reasons, as well as some in-universe ones that will keep them from being able to give into it even in a few years when neither the age gap nor the power dynamics apply to their relationship anymore. It does make me hope though that the book series as a whole spans multiple years up to a point where they actually get to a point where only the in-universe reasons point against them being in a relationship because while I'm still okay with the current portrayal, I will get uncomfortable if they do get together while Rose is still at school ~the amount of slut-shaming. At some point I realized these instances all fall in two distinct categories though: 1. Embedded in the world building in a realistic way that kind of reminds of attitudes towards sex workers in real life and 2. things teenagers throw at each other to humiliate one another. While the second still makes me uncomfortable and I wish teens didn't do it, it's still up to par for the characters. What I did enjoy though, is the friendship between Rose and Lissa, the way they cared for each other and were protective of each other, the two of them against the world. Lissa's love interest and their dynamic is also right up my lane and towards the end of the book, I became even more fond of the dynamic between Rose and Christian. He came a little short so far, and I can't wait for him to be part of a little trio I assume they're gonna form in the future. Furthermore, I do enjoy the world-building and plot and can't wait to delve more into Strigoi lore as well as whatever Dimitri's backstory is, and as long as Dimitri stays true to his principles in the future, I can really see myself enjoying this book series very much. What a plot twist.

Ich hatte eine ganze Weile überlegt, ob ich mir die Graphic Novel kaufen soll, da mir der Zeichenstil erst nicht zugesagt hat, aber ich habe es nicht bereut. Keine 200 Seiten, der erste Band der Vampire Academy Reihe ist also recht kurz gehalten in der Graphic Novel. Szenen wurden gekürzt oder ganz raus genommen. Wahrscheinlich konnte dadurch die Spannung sich nicht so gut aufbauen. Hier hätte man den Band länger gestalten können oder den ersten Teil der Buchreihe in mehrere Bände in der Graphic Novel verarbeiten können. Das Einzige, was mich jedoch ziemlich an diesem Band stört, was ich ihm nicht verzeihen kann: Wo ist "Roza"?! Wieso wird das komplett außen vorgelassen, dass Dimitri sie Roza in allerlei Situationen nennt?! Dieses "Roza" ist einfach comfort, einfach so sweet und es wurde weggelassen Wenn man Roses, Dimitris, Lissas und Christians Geschichte noch nicht auf Wiedersehen sagen möchte, ist die Graphic Novel eine gute Idee

This is my second Graphic Novel to read! Before that I only read the first 2 "books" of The Walking Dead but absolutely loved them. Vampire Academy is a series very dear to my heart and therefore I just couldn't resist and had to get the Graphic Novel as well! And ... I DON'T REGRET IT! Graphic Novels are such fast reads and because I wanted to be on track with my Goodreads challenge I thought I should finally pick it up! It's a great revision and made me remember the book very good. Ohhh, and I absolutely adored the drawings! I didn't like Lissa a lot but Rose and Dimitri look both really, really hot! For real ... shirtless Dimitri? HELL YES. Of course it's not as detailed as the book itself but I still think they did a pretty good job at summarizing everything. It's lovely to look at, very interesting to read and definitely a great addition to my Vampire Academy collection. I'm really looking forward to starting Frostbite. I mean ... ADRIAN IVASHKOV. I NEED THIS!!! <3 I definitely have to buy it soon ... and I think 10€ is pretty cheap! The TWD graphic novels are a lot more expensive. Sadly. *sigh* www.aworldbetweenfoldedpages.blogspot.com

Eine sehr schöne Buchidee und die Umsetzung ist auch fast perfekt gelungen. Der Schreibstil ist gut und flüssig zu lesen, die Geschichte ist spannend und schön zu lesen. Bis auf die Charaktere gefällt mir das Buch. Die Protagonistin Rose fande ich eigentlich ganz sympathisch,obwohl ich sie manchmal nicht verstand. Lissa hat mir noch weniger gefallen aber im Großen und Ganzen eine super Geschichte. ♡

Das Buch war spannend geschrieben. Der Hauptteil des Buches bestand eher auf die Politik in der Schule, wie die zwei Hauptcharaktere, Rose und Lissa sich gegen die Machenschaften der anderen Schüler wehren müssen und ihren Platz in der Hierarchie halten. Um dieses Thema herum ist das andere Thema, dass Lissa Kräfte hat, die niemand erfahren soll. Der Schreibstil der Autorin war für mich eher im schnelleren Bereich. Es wurde genug beschrieben, sodass man sich die Welt gedanklich vorstellen kann, aber es geht deutlich mehr. Ich mag beide Stile. Ich werde auf jedenfall die nächsten Bände der Reihe lesen. Ich empfehle diese Bücher vorallem Lesern, die Vampire, politische bzw. soziale Hierarchien und Romantik mögen. // The book was written in an exciting way. The main part of the book was more about the politics in the school, how the two main characters, Rose and Lissa have to defend themselves against the machinations of the other students and keep their place in the hierarchy. Around this theme, the other theme is that Lissa has powers that she doesn't want anyone to know about. The author's writing style was more on the fast-paced side for me. There was enough description so that you can mentally visualise the world, but there is clearly more going on. I like both styles. I will definitely read the next volumes in the series. I recommend these books especially to readers who like vampires, political or social hierarchies and romance.

Yes, I'm very late with getting sucked into the awesomesauce that is VA. But hey, I've finally arrived. :D I've had this series on my to-read-list- forever, literally. Once upon a sleepless night (2 days ago), I was browsing Youtube for a movie, to have some kind of background noise to fall asleep to. Surprise, it was VA. Sleep-watching the movie led to listening to the audiobook. SWEET SASSY MOLASSY! The book is about a million times better than the movie, and I already really liked that one (after watching it again the next day, wide awake). On to the next! Need another Dimitri & Rose fix *cough*

I listened to the audiobook and it didn't really catch me. Maybe I'm a bad listener and missed the heart wrenching details, but for me, it was just a nice highschool story with a kidnapping drama... I liked the world building with the different kinds of vampires though, so maybe I'm gonna give the second book another chance. If it stays the same like this book I'm not gonna finish this series.

I really enjoy Richelle Mead's writing, not just in the Vampire Academy series but also in her other books. The writing is why I had to give this book 4 stars. That being said, there were two points I did not enjoy so much. First, it just gets on my nerves when a major character keeps mouthing off without any abilities to support this attitude. Also I have a problem with "sex as weapon" which is used a few times here.

An almost perfect ending to the series. It was such an improvement to Spirit Bound. Last Sacrifice picks up where Spirit Bound picked off. We're starting out by visiting Rose in a holding cell/jail, because of her allegedly murdering Queen Tatiana. She's been excused of killing her with a stake and found guilty enough to deserve a place in jail. But it doesn't stop there, Rose's father Abe tells her, that her trial has been moved up and they don't have much time to prove her innocence. It doesn't come to that however... And starting from there a wild ride begins. Last Sacrifice is an action packed, intense, funny and exciting book, a vast improvement to its prequels Spirit Bound and Blood Promise. I liked Rose maturing over the course of the book (which, let's be honest here, wasn't hard to do after Spirit Bound) but that development was tainted by Rose's behaviour toward Adrian. Which brings me to the biggest issue I had with the book. I'm very disappointed how Richelle Mead handled the love triangle in this book. Don't get me wrong, I'm not angered about the couple we ended up with. What I hated was Rose's behaviour in this whole matter. She doesn't respect Dimitri's decision, pushes, pushes and pushes some more until he finally gives in. Granted, he could've said no but could you hold back when the person you love throws herself (or himself) at you? Another thing that I disliked how she painted Adrian's reaction in the second to last chapter. I think it was out of character and was supposed to make us sympathise with Rose and steer us towards Rose/Dimitri instead of feeling sorry for Adrian. To be honest I wanted Rose to end up by herself, because she doesn't deserve either of the guys, sorry. The way she treated Adrian after everything, when he always stayed by her side and was there when she needed him, I can't get over that. It made me lose a lot of respect for her. My last complaint is the happy-sappy ending of the series. It was too much. Lissa queen, Rose ending up with Dimitri, Rose and Dimitri back to guardian status etc pp. No thanks. Obviously it was a set up for Richelle Mead's new series Bloodline but... I would've liked a harsher ending, as strange as that sounds.