Blood Promise (Vampire Academy Book #4) - Yay! A modern title : )

Ok. I personally *love* Richelle Mead's VA series. It's so much amazingly better than, say, Twilight, or most other vamp stories, for one big reason -This story has action. Sword fights, beheadings, true love, rebellion, magical powers that don't suck (or say "I'm totally gay. Watch me sparkle and be amazed!"), staking, death, etc. etc. etc.

Technically this *is* book four, so I can't spill too many beans here or the story is basically ruined, but oh well. VA (Vampire Academy) follows Rose, a guardian, who is 'half' vampire. She is shadow kissed (awesome right?) which basically means she died and her friend brought her back. That is soooo much better than sparkling, am I right? If all my friends could heal me I would probably hurt myself much more though, so maybe it's good that they all content themselves to get roll-on body glitter and stay out of the sun : ) Sorry, can't let that one go...

Rose's friend Lisa, also called Vasilisa, but that's too freaky for everyday conversation, is a 'real' vampire. There are three kinds is this series: Moroi (good [not evil in most ways] vampires), Strigoi (evil, dead, murdering, awesome vampires), and Dhampirs (the half-breeds who become guardians because of their strength). They kind of had a falling out, but I'll expalin that in a second, so half of the story is about Rose, and the other half is seen when Rose looks through the 'shadow kissed bond thing' and checks in on Lisa. Confusing? Not really, it's introduced early on in the story line and takes very little time to get used to.

Quick Catch Up: Rose and Lisa had run away from school awhile back to protect Lisa, but they get stopped by the school guardians and are forced to return after two (?) years on their own. Lisa is slightly caught up in typical school drama ("That's *my* boyfriend!" "Well, then *your* boyfriend just asked me to dance and I really like dancing..." "Oh, we are SO not friends anymore!!"), but Rose is more badass. I imagine her punching people in her dreams more often then not. She gets into fights, yada yada, basic truant stuff. Dimitri, the guard that caught her and lisa, starts training her again for guardianship when she graduates, but in about the first book or so you can easily see a 'my true love!' thing will happen. Sure enough, Dimitri and Rose have a whole big romance going on, but for the sake of pedophilia charges they usually try to call it off. (he's about 6/7 years older than her...don't judge) So Lisa is more into the whole 'Royal Vamp' scene, while Rose is training to be her guardian while trying to manage her feelings for Dimitri. Oh the drama. Lisa is kidnapped and tortured to heal an old and diseased Moroi Royal, but Rose (thanks to Mr. Shadow Kiss Bond) and Dimitri save that day and end it with a Kumbayah around the camp fire...presumably with S'mores and guitars. Lisa eventually falls for Christan (a fire using Moroi...told you these things were awesome, he could cook for hours when camping! No stove needed! Not even a match!!! Talk about a useful ability.), but Strigoi attack the school and turn Dimitri into one of them. Apparently they do that -if you've ever watched 'Interview with the Vampire' than you know how this is done- so Rose decides to leave Lisa and go on a journey to kill Dimitri. (In the first book she and Dimitri had talked about what they wanted if this ever occured and both agreed to kill the other if such a monstrocity ever really did happen)

Which is where this book picks up. Rose has left on her quest to find and kill her 'one true love, destined to be but never can be' Dimitri, and goes to Russia, as he was Russian. The scary person 'Abe' or Zmey (fun nickname) tries to convince her to leave for America, but she only goes to a different city after angering one of Dimitri's sisters and basically getting semi-kicked out. She leaves with Strigoi hunters who don't do anything but randomly stalk and kill the evil vamps, and forces her leadership on them to find Dimitri. Eventually she indeed finds him but, "forgot my first lesson. Never hesitate", as he put it before knocking her unconscious.

She wakes up in a human-proof (^_^) room (human proof? lol...rofl...*sighs* ah, that shouldn't really be that funny but it is...) and tries to fight Dimitri off, but after awhile ends up high off his bite -long story made short: vamp bites are like drugs...just with bite marks- and making her few remaining friends (adrian and lisa) mad at her. Before this, and yes I know I'm backtracking, she met another Shadow Kissed bond friendship/marraige/whatever and learns quite a bit from them. Among these good things gleaned from the other shadow kissed people is a ring 'infused with spirit' -another long story...just read the books- that might just hold the key to our next installment of VA! *happy dancing while ticking off months till its release* For about a month she is continuously asked to, in effect, join the dark side (Light sabres humm in the distance and mechanic breathing echoes through the staticy air), but never says yes. After finally breaking away from Dimitri by stabbing him with a chair leg...brutal right?...she escapes from the Strigoi hideout. He easily survives and chases her for a mile or so where she stabs him with a stolen stake and is deemed dead as he falls from the side of a bridge. Pretty final I would say. Rose gets back to the school, everything is buddy buddy again with Lisa after some big showdowny scene earlier, when she gets a package. In it is the stake she supposedly killed Dimitri with, and a note "You forgot my other lesson: Never turn your back until your sure your enermy is dead.". So friendly, don't you think?

So after being kidnapped, drinking Russian vodka that she suggests be used for jet fuel, meeting her father, and killing (for a few days) Dimitri, Rose had a reprieve from action. Thankfully for fans everywhere Richelle destroyed the irony of a sad ending by giving hope that A) Dimitri might be saved from his evil ways or B) That he'll come back and pwn Rose like he did before. Oh well, it says that after the next book there's another one, so I must assume nothing *too* dramatic and life changing happens there either. I can dream though.

For some reason Richelle Mead makes VA the one vamp series I can get completely into without feeling stupid for reading it. A few 'questionable' scenes are about the only thing between me and shouting to everyone passing by to read the book, but even those are mild and spaced out. Like I said, no whimps allowed in this one, because everyone fight for what they believe in, people actually die (except apparently Dimitri), and twists are usually surprising. When I was done I just turned to my friend and said, "Wow, I would never think of *half* that stuff! God, I'm really not that creative compared to *that*!". Take my word for it, or don't, THIS IS AWESOME! If you like or hate vampires and don't mind the teeny drama plaguing some chapters, then you will thoroughly enjoy this series.

ENDING POINTS:
+ Interesting new characters inroduced
+ Really random plot twists...that I probably just ruined by telling the whole story...but oh well
+ *love* the action
+ Realistic characters that rarely infuriate you
- Sometimes it all seems to revolve around Dimitri, but at least it keeps the story going
- The cliffhanger endings may have some throwing books against the wall. To prevent serious danger to your budget I suggest wall insurance. Just in case.