Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead

Trapped, by her own people, struggling to survive and keep her own sanity: this is what Sydney's life has become. Re-education isn't really as bad as everyone said it would be. It's worse. The only thing she can do is keep fighting and repeat to herself that the center will hold and that Adrian will come for her. But even here, in a place fraught with danger and enemies, Sydney can't help but push the lines in a quest to do what's right.

Outside, Adrian is doing everything he can think of to find and save Sydney, but with no results. How can the center hold when he is helpless? Spirit is rising within him and it feels good, but Aunt Tatiana is growing louder. Not even partying himself senseless can get rid of her, or fill the hole Sydney left behind.

As Adrian teeters closer to the edge than ever before, it's clear that both of them are reaching their darkest hour. Their love is strong, but can it bring them back together and into the light?

This novel is the fifth installment of the action packed Bloodlines series, add on to the already established world created for Mead's Vampire Academy. For those who haven't read these series, go do now! If you want to hear what I had to say about the previous two books in the series, click the titles to find my reviews of The Indigo Spell and The Fiery Heart. Yes, yes I can already hear you Pleeeeeeeaase not another teenage vampire book. However, I can assure this one is worth your time. Witty and fast paced, Mead's writing has the reader holding on from page one, on point from beginning to end.

To say I am a fan of Richelle Mead's writing is, at best, an understatement. I don't think there is a thing I've read by her that I haven't loved. There is just something about her style that just gets me as a reader. She develops characters that are beautifully mutli-faceted and real. Her plot is a roller-coaster half part mystery and full part intense. Best of all, the cadence of her narration, no matter who it is, is unique and interesting. Silver Shadows is no exception. In fact I'd say Mead's writing and story telling only get better with each new book. Sydney has become one of my all-time favorite fictional characters. Strong, intelligent, and kick ass and that's only scraping the surface. I've become so invested in her character that reading each new book in this series is a heart-in-the-mouth experience as I fly through the pages praying everything turns out alright.

I don't want to give too much away about the plot, so I'm just going to say that I was very VERY pleased with how things turned out. I suppose some might not be as enraptured by it all, but that opinion is not mine. I will definitely warn it is emotionally trying. There were tears of pain and joy shed throughout. Yeah, that's a thing I forgot to mention. Read her books, get attached, then prepare to cry. Mead is a great writer. She's also great at torturing her own creations and the readers as a result. It's still worth it, because as Ron Weasley once said, "You're gonna suffer, but you're gonna be happy about it.'

Prepare to go from this:

to this:

and back again.

A note on the end [don't proceed if you don't want to know]

The fact that they made it through what they did could be accused of being convenient at the very least. However, I maintain, IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. ANJSKABFDJASHJ. That is all.

The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

I rate this YA novel 5 out of 5

Sydney has always been logical, practical, and a slave to her cause. But her life has changed and she experiences a life that for the first time include love and passion and freewill. Her whole life she followed the rules and now she can't seem to stop breaking them, and nothing seems to stop her. Not her the presence of her sulky and vindictive younger sister Zoe, not the the wrath of her father, not even the ever looming presence of the Alchemists, the order she used to live by but now works against. Now Sydney is putting everything on the line, but will she make it through it or will this house of cards collapse around her? There's only one way to find out and that is by reading The Fiery Heart.

All I have to say about this most recent installment of the Bloodlines series is that Richelle Mead has done it again.

There is so much I love about her writing: the amazing characterization that connects you to all her characters on such a deep level it is a bit mind blowing, her rich narration style that keeps a fast paced adventure story flowing through even the slowest bits, plot that is both complex and pulled off well. All in all every time I read one of Mead's novels I think again that she is just an exceptional writer, and it just gets better with each new book.

Those invested in the Bloodlines series will not be disappointed in this fourth book. I highly recommend this series and pretty much anything Mead writes to all readers, especially those interested in urban fantasy. I love the unique lore she uses in her stories, building a perfectly structured and enthralling world within the novels, one that feels very real and very plausible, despite the genre. It is something I feel many writers endeavor to implement and never succeed in actually pulling off.

I will warn the dedicated reader of this series however. Those not new to Mead's storytelling know better than most her wicked ways. These ways of course include not a little pain and agony over the ill fate of the characters we have come to know and love. This book is no exception. However the agony is of the exquisite kind, and in my opinion, well worth it, if only for the story that I can't get enough of. I absolutely can't wait until the next book in the series come out and I can devour that one too.

The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

 

I would like to start this review by saying that I am a huge fan of Richelle Mead’s writing, reading both the entirety of her Vampire Academy series, its spin off the Bloodlines series, as well as her adult fiction with the Succubus series. Unsurprisingly, my expectation for this third Bloodlines book was rather high.

Happily, with a rating of 5 out of 5, I can affirm it stood that test. True to Mead’s usual narration style, the story was gripping and easy to get into, every chapter leading into the next with a cliffhanger-esque feel at each stop. With three active plots intertwining, The Indigo Spell was possibly one of the more complex of her novels, the plots interweaving well and with precision. At no time was my belief at a circumstance suspended or was I wearied by the story.

I also applaud Mead at her ability to continue to introduce complicated ‘forbidden love’ stories that are still fresh and convincing, using the hierarchy she has constructed in this version of the vampire and human world to work against the characters. It’s something that is hard to do in modern fictional stories today without sounding archaic or unrealistic. However, with the strict rules and social customs of each of the three groups introduced in this world (vampire, alchemist, and standard human) she still has a lot to work with.

Of her novels, possibly the only critique was that it took a little longer to hit the point of no stopping. Usually with her books this catch is delivered within the first few chapters of the novel, if not the first few pages. I am reduced to carry the book around wherever and whatever I am doing, unable to tear myself away. However, though still engrossing, this time around it took a few days of reading to get there. Of course once I did hit that catch I was up until 3 am finishing it in one sit in.

Overall my faith in Mead hasn’t waivered, especially in her continued ability to get the reader to love very flawed characters. I really wasn’t sure this time around when starting Bloodlines that Sydney as a narrator would do it for me but it only took a few hours of reading that first book to know I was hooked just as fast as I was with Rose’s narration.

Of the ending I will only say that it was A+ and gives the next book a great start off to pick up on. 

-Alissa Tsaparikos