Ah yes what a surprise, I'm back with a review of another Vampire Academy book. I honestly had great intentions of reading a book off my December TBR after I finished Frostbite, but well, that really wasn't going to happen was it? I picked this book up on Tuesday night, and finished it the next day. Yes, it took me less than 24 hours to finish this book, and within that time I had school and other commitments. To say I was engrossed is an understatement.
In Shadow Kiss, Rose is suffering the trauma of the Spokane incident and Mason’s death. On the heels of the death of her friend, Rose finds out that she's going to start six weeks of field exercise along with the other senior novices. The problem is though, Rose is seeing ghosts and feeling a terrible rage whenever angered or cornered. Rose had her temper before but something is different about these feelings. And being visited by the dead isn't helping her in going back to living any sort of normal life. Rose has grown up since the incident from the previous book and the people around her take notice. Rose isn't the only one changing though and she has to deal with these circumstances as a new threat from the Strigoi looms.
These books...oh man these books, they just keep getting better and better. I loved Frostbite. Absolutely loved it, but Mead somehow managed to step it up another level with the third installment in the series.Like always, Richelle Mead accomplishes something I rarely see done successfully- recapping the previous books. Here are what other authors do as alternatives:
- Recaps, failing by info dumping instead
- Recaps things that never happened in the previous books- Doesn't recap Mead recaps alright, with style. She doesn't bombard if all in one shot, hoping we don't feel like it's killing our brains, but slowly and smoothly unravels previous events as they are reissued in the book. Even near the end, she was still reminding us of past events.
I am a real sucker for character development, it is honestly something that just makes me want to jump up and down and clap my hands like a 12 year old girl, and when it is done well, by gosh do I get excited. Mead does character development perfectly. Many authors would just act as though death doesn't effect a character who has been training to kill her whole life, but Rose's teenage vulnerability was tapped into with such impeccability. In this book you can really feel the change in Rose's maturity, not only physically but emotionally.
Lets face it, I have to tackle the issue of Rose and Dimitri's relationship don't I? I truly enjoy the development of their relationship in this series, and FINALLY Dimitri seems to be letting his walls down a little here. The feels between the two of them flow so beautifully and I am desperate to read more! I have to be honest, while their relationship was great in this book, I wasn't as invested in it. Whether that's to do with the fact I had a suspicion about the ending, or Adrian is getting to me.
I truly admire Mead's ability to write teenagers. Many authors can end up writing young adults as either much too young, floating around without a care in the world blabbering about boys and happily ever afters, not completely the opposite and having 30 year old characters and slapping an Under-18 label on them. Mead writes characters that are realistic and raw. She tackles many issues that teenagers are having to battle, but she doesn't make them the center focus of the book, they are merely side-plots, just like they are in real life. She doesn't let these define the characters.
I have two levels of admiration when it comes to books: the beautifully and eloquently written, and the ones that make me FEEL something. Really feel, I'm talking squealing into my pillow, tears and anger so furious I could throw the book against the wall. To me, this book did all of those things.
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