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.

Othello - Even back then you had to be wary of people with funny names...

If having the main 'bad guy' be named Iago wasn't funny enough, you must also endure what seems like PAGES of 'strumpet', 'villian', and 'fool!' (Evil laughter included). Aside from that, as you can almost expect it from Shakespeare, I found this story to be surprisingly twisted for its 'back-in-the-dayness'. But hey, people were evil then too.

Ok. *deep breath, this will take a little bit to get down* Iago and Roderigo (I know! Poor people, I would be desperate for success too after failing so epically in the name department) break the news to Desdemona's dad about her marrying Othello -the one *African American/Moor* dude working for the government, at two in the morning. Not a happy meeting, but I don't blame him, rage is a common emotion when woken from sound sleep by hoodlems in your street. Iago gets his friend (who wants to marry Desdemona) to bring the father around to Othello's place while he goes to warn Othello. Meanwhile, Turks are planning to attack some city and Othello is about to get orders to leave for a semi-secluded islandy place.

The call to duty overrides crazy dad who thinks Othello bedazzled his daughter with 'Moor Magic' (Tm) and married her before it wore off. Desdemona tells father she isn't retarded or incapacitated, just in love. *cue happy music...or not* So, with love-struck people all around, DD (as we'll call her) simply must go with Othello to this island. Everybody packs up and moves temporarily to the place where, incidentally, they all will die. Iago's wife works for DD as a maid, and despite marrying the devil incarnate, is a fairly nice person. Introduce Cassio: player extrordiaire, expert at kissing his own fingertips (a polite gesture apparently), and a collector of women's hankerchiefs. Cassio got the job Iago wanted, which supposedly sets off this whole plot.

Iago's mastermind plan - 1)Get Cassio in trouble/fired. 2)Tell Othello that DD is sleeping around, particularly with Cassio. 3)Get Cassio to ask DD for help in getting his job back. 4)Get DD's hanky and let Cassio find it. 5)Make Othello think Cassio laughs at both him and DD in his spare time. 6)Get Othello to kill off Cassio and promote Iago. 7)Get rid of Roderigo sometime during or after step 6. 8)Enjoy new job and get rid of everybody nonessential.
Pretty simple actually. Wait, that's a lot of planning for a 'spur of the moment' thing? You didn't think of handkerchiefs either? You don't see the connection between telling Othello to kill DD and yet never wanting to kill her earlier? Well, neither do I. But it's still awesome.

Iago gets Rodrigo to make Cassio attack him, blah blah, riots, fatal injuries, villages in uproar = Cassio fired. Cassio is friends with basically everybody, so he talks to DD and Iago about what to do. Iago hints that DD could help, Cassio asks her, DD declares something along the lines of 'Othello shall never get a moments rest till this conflict is resolved!'. Iago then tells Othello, with fake modesty of course, that he thinks DD and Cassio are secret lovers, and tells him to watch how much DD pleads with him about it. After a scene or two DD drops her hankerchief (apparently its a special gift from Othello) while running after him, trying to fix some problem or another. Emilia (Iago's wife/DD's maid) finds it and, remembering how often her husband had asked her to steal it, decides to give it to Iago. Smart women, eh? I didn't think so.

Upon getting the hanky, Cassio's fate is sealed. Othello threatens to kill Iago if he doesn't give proof, enter Bianca. Bianca is a 'prostitute' who basically stalks Cassio. He makes fun of her all the time though, but still accepts her dinner invite. Iago gets Othello to hide while he talks to Cassio about Bianca -Othello thinks this is about DD. Othello gets all riled up and declares to Iago later that he just wants to kill them all. Bingo! (and all the seniors groaned while muttering about young luck, but still ate their lemon pie...)

Rodrigo is set to kill Cassio on his way to the brothel/Bianca, while Othello is going to kill DD. It's all symbolic and creepy, 'I'll kill her in the same bed she defiled. I'll save her from herself.'. No good. Rodrigo fails...badly...so Iago cuts off one of Cassio's legs from behind. (ooowww!?!?!) Othello sneaks into DD's room and has a little maniac speech before smothering her. He is interrupted by Emilia, who tells him that Rodrigo is dead, and that Cassio isn't much better himself. DD chooses this moment to not be dead and mutter something about being murdered. Emilia calls the others in to keep Othello from escaping. Iago and Cassio comes in (The latter on a stretcher...probably bleeding profusely the whole time) where the plot begins to unravel. Emilia outs Iago, Iago stabs/kills Emilia, Othello eventually stabs/kills himself, and the visitors are pretty confused. I can only imagine -got here three hours ago and already theres a room full of dead people. Questions anyone?

Between all this masterful evilness and the first page are, as I said before, a lot of pages where Othello calls Desdemona a 'strumpet' (basically a whore...nice husband huh?). There is also lots of stabbing, bleeding, yelling, betrayal, drama, confusing meanness, confrontations, and death. Good stuff from my point of view! I never really watched Soap Operas, but I think I got a decade's worth in a few hours with that book. Good Lord, I had to blink a couple times after putting this one down. Just sitting a few seconds to digest all of it.

ENDING POINTS:
+ Iago is one crazy dude, it was also hilarious to hear the people talking about torturing him on the last couple of pages. Like someone as resourceful as Iago wouldn't escape and try this again in Brazil with a fake mustache and a sombrero?
+/- Desdemona is completely clueless this whole time...even after a scene's worth of accusations in the middle of the play between her and Othello. (My husband calling me a prostitute would *kind of* tell me somethings off)
+ Everyone suspects Iago is doing something, but never figures it out, and usually ends up helping in some way.
+ By the end there are three dead people piled up on DD's bed. Just a comical mental picture.
- You never get a clear reason for Iago to ruin all these people's lives.
- If Othello hadn't been so easily swayed, this whole thing would never have happened. One of those 'stories with a moral' things...