Blood Promise

Blood Promise is the fourth book of the Vampire Academy series, and is, truthfully, one of the most amazing books I have ever read.

"Happy birthday to me." Is Rose Hathaway's thought as she walks through the gates of St. Vladimir's Academy for the last time. It is her eighteenth birthday, and she decided to leave the life that she knew, with Lissa, with her own expectations. She charges headfirst, without thinking, into a journey to find the love of her life, Dimitri, and kill him.

Long ago, Dimitri and Rose had told each other that they would rather die than become strigoi, vampires who feed from unwilling humans, and kill. At the time, both of them were dhampirs: crosses between moroi (vampires who feed from willing victims and never kill their prey), and humans. They have the strength of a human, but the reflexes and sharp senses of the moroi.

During an invasion of a strigoi encampment, Dimitri is turned into a strigoi, and Rose had made it her mission to kill him, and fulfill their unsaid promise, hence the title Blood Promise.

Throughout the book, it shows Rose making her way through many obstacles, and finding things about herself that she'd never known before. Will she be able to fulfill her end of the promise, or will she fall before the fangs of strigoi?

I believed that this book was pretty good. It starts out slow, but after a while, the pace picks up. However, somewhere in the middle of the book, it starts to slow down again, and the plot, for a while, bored me to tears. But the book didn't fail to make a comeback with an amazing ending.

The story is overall very sad, but beautifully written. Richelle Mead has manipulated words to perfectly convey Rose's feelings, and her thoughts at the time of an event.

Oh, how the end surprised me. It made me want to jump around and start screaming, "Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh!" I predicted the ending before it happened, but I kind of brushed it off just thinking that I was wrong. Well, I wasn't, and that really made my eyes widen in pure shock.

The book has its ups and downs, but I must say, Richelle Mead has done a beautiful job of creating a thrilling story that will at times make your eyes widen with anticipation, but sometimes tugs at your heart.