Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

I missed Vampire Academy when it first came out in 2009.  While I had read Twilight, I generally decided to take a pass on the whole vampire thing.  (Oh!  Major exception - Fledgling by Octavia Butter.  So good.)  Recently, though, I've seen a couple different book vloggers comment favorably on Vampire Academy.  So, I decided to give it a go.  After I'd gotten the book and before I'd gotten around to reading it, I came across Vampire Academy the movie at the library.  I'd not noticed the movie when it came out, either.  Without knowing anything else about it, I picked it up and Anthony, Franziska and I watched it Friday evening.

So, first, about the movie.  I later saw that it had horrible reviews with a Rotten Tomato rating of 13%.  Now, I'm usually quite picky about movies, so you'd think I'd have hated it.  But, I didn't.  I mean, it wasn't awesome or anything, but it was entertaining and humorous.  Anthony and Franziska thought the same.  So...why all the hate?  It wasn't that bad.  Anyway.

The next day I watched a video from a book blogger that mentioned that the movie had been a flop, but people should still read the books because they were good.  Funny.  For a book I hadn't even really known existed, suddenly I was seeing it everywhere.  Anyway, I decided to read it next.

The story.  Well, as I'm the last to this party, it seems, probably most people already know.  A brief summary of the world, though:  We enter the world through the first person narrative of Rose who is a Dhampir.  Dhampirs are hybrid human/Morois.  Morois are, indeed, vampires, but not bad ones.  There are bad ones, the Strigoi who are Morois who've killed a person by drinking them to death.  They are evil and the stereotypical vampire.  Dhampirs aren't vampires at all, but are stronger than humans and act as protectors to the Moroi.  Strigoi particularly like to prey on Moroi.  Dhampirs and Moroi attend school together.  The Vampire Academy.  Rose is not officially a guardian yet, but her best friend is Lissa, a Morois.  They have a bond and Rose is all about protecting Lissa to the extent that when the Academy itself becomes a threat to Lissa, Rose and Lissa run away and manage to stay away for a couple of years.  We join the story just as they're brought back to the Academy.

I found it to be a decent read.  I wouldn't necessarily tell anyone, "You have to read this book!" However, I did like it well enough.  I'm not on pins and needles wanting to read the next one, but I probably will eventually.  The book grew on me the more I read it, so I'm more inclined toward reading the sequel than I was about half way through.  So, not exactly a ringing endorsement, but this is a fine book.