Kat with a K

Book 3: Blood Promise

Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
Genre: YA fantasy
Pages: 503
Grade: 80

Blood Promise is the fourth book in Mead's Vampire Academy series, and I'm hesitant to say anything about the plot, because basically anything I said would give away what happened in the previous books. And I care about that because . . . I think I'm still recommending this series. More or less. This one was a lot weaker than the previous volumes, but I have two more to read, so I won't decide for sure about the series until then. This one had Rose, the main character, going on an Epic Quest that, to be honest, got a little boring at times. The world is less coherent and well-drawn when she leaves the school at the heart of the previous books. And her Epic Quest means that she's away from the other main characters for most of the book; she has a psychic connection with one, but using that to allow the reader to follow what was going on with different groups of characters just started feeling like a lazy device. I wish Mead had dropped her commitment to having this be in the first person and just used an omniscient narrator instead. And Rose herself got really annoying in this one, much as I liked her in the first book. Bleh. I kept wanting to tell her to just get over herself, which isn't really the reaction the reader is supposed to have to an Epic Quest.

Some bright points: Mead revealed more about the way the world works, and the reader got to learn along with Rose, which worked well. Some of the other characters - especially Adrian and Christian - continue to be delightful, even if they weren't in this book enough. And it at least kept me curious enough about where the plot's going to make me want to read the rest. Eventually. I need a break.

If you're curious about the premise of the series, here's what I wrote about the first book.