Bloodlines_NovelI enjoyed The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead and Bloodlines Series is more of the same. The world where the these books takes place is the same and some of the main characters appear here again. If you haven’t read the first series, the world and the story may be a bit hard to follow. Three books have appeared so far in the Bloodlines Series with the fourth coming out this month and supposedly one more book after that.

The main character is alchemist Sydney Sage. Alchemists are humans who help keep the vampire world a secret. After helping Rose and Dimitri in the last novel of the Vampire Academy Series, Sydney is closely watched by her peers and has to deal with mistrust. She does get the assignment to protect the queen’s sister and prevent her from being assassinated however.

It results in her getting more and more involved in the daily lives of the vampires. Slowly but surely Sydney who was once so ‘against’ vampires, is drawn into their world and learns to see more grey nuances in her once so black-and-white world. Her growing affection for Moroi (the ‘good’ sort of vampire) Adrian plays an important role in that.

Like I said, I liked both series though there is plenty to object against. Sex is ever present, as it was in the first series. Adrian especially is a bit of a playboy, though he experiences a remarkable and well-described character growth. There’s also magic and witchcraft, so that’s a good reason not to recommend these books to teens.

Sydney herself is an interesting and complex character with lots of internal conflict. Het story shows that right and wrong isn’t always so easy to determine and that what you think is wrong, could end up being the right thing to do. Certainly something teens will relate to.

My conclusion is that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the Bloodlines Series to teens (there are certainly better books in the top 100 of teen fiction), but if the girls have read them (because most of the readers will be girls), themes like truth, changing your opinion, and knowing what’s true and right could be a topic for conversation.