Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Okay, hear me out about this. I have never rated a book below four stars, so this is quite new to me too. I really wanted to like this book, but there were a few things that irked and bothered me as I was reading it.

Bloodlines started amazingly with a whole cast of characters I was introduced to for the first time and the start of a story which was intriguing from the get-go. However, as I continued reading and becoming familiar with everyone, I noticed a lack of consistency in the pacing of the narrative and the development of the characters.

The pacing felt really off a quarter of the way in: it began quite fast-paced and strong but then slowed down and got stuck a little towards the middle. It picked up with so much intensity towards the end and in the final 100 pages, but by then I just wanted to finish the book as soon as possible.

I don’t know if it’s because the book is directed towards young adults, but many of the characters were bothersome or did things that were pretty problematic (cough Keith, especially—if you know then you know). The main character, Sydney, is often depicted and regarded as the smartest out of everyone, yet she doesn’t come across as such. You have no idea how many times I’ve shouted at her out loud because of a decision she makes that isn’t true to her character. Then you have Jill, a minor Vampire girl who always, always, somehow gets herself into trouble and doesn’t learn from it. 80% of the book is about her needing to be saved, and it grew tiresome very quickly.

I have the biggest issue with Adrian and him being Sydney’s romantic interest. Maybe this is just the introductory book, and we’ll get more of them together in the rest of the series, but I couldn’t feel anything at all between them. If this was a slow-burn then it is the slowest slow-burn I have ever come across because I felt like there wasn’t even a slow-burn to slow-burn in the first place! Their lack of connection really bothered me :(

I think the one thing that saved everything was the narrative itself. It was interesting and definitely gave off ‘The Vampire Diaries’ vibes. It also turned into a mystery/thriller halfway in, and I wanted to know as much as the characters who were murdering all the victims. Was it a vampire, dhampir, human, or vampire hunter? We get the answer at the end, but it was fun to use the clues and play detective. I had a sneaky suspicion about one of them and I was right!

Overall, I have to painfully give Bloodlines 3.5 stars. I had such high expectations about it given that it is a spin-off of the ‘Vampire Academy’ Series and I’ve heard such positive things about it. It could just be that I’ve grown out of my supernatural YA books phase (I will always be a YA dystopian girlie at heart), or I haven’t read the best supernatural YA books, but I genuinely couldn’t connect with this one and feel so heartbroken.

Please don’t let my review put you off from reading the book or enjoying the series though! It just wasn’t it for me.