Title: Vampire Academy
Author: Richelle Mead
Position in Series: Book 1
Publisher: Penguin Group Razorbill
Pages: 332
Release Date: August 16, 2007
Genre: Young adult, Fantasy, Romance
Read Excerpt: Here
Buy: Here
Followed by: Frostbite
Lissa Dragomir is a mortal vampire who shares a special bond with her best friend and guardian Rose Hathaway. Since Lissa lost her parents and her older brother in a fatal car crash, in which Lissa and Rose escaped unharmed, the pair have shared a special connection that allows Rose to have a sense of Lissa’s feelings and sometimes, allows Rose to travel into Lissa’s thoughts. Since their escape they have desperately been avoiding returning to St. Vladimir’s Academy. However after two years of running they are finally found and escorted back to the Academy.
Rose and Lissa are reprimanded for their behavior and Rose is only allowed back on probation; she is banned from all social activities and has to put in extra training time with Dimitri Belikov, Lissa’s sanctioned guardian. The other students whisper and speculate about how Lissa was able to survive without the presence of a feeder but nevertheless the pair are welcomed back by the majority of students. However not everyone is happy to see the beautiful Princess and her fierce guardian back at the school and this becomes apparent when Lissa begins to find dead animals placed in her path. As Lissa’s mood plummets Rose begins to sense some strange darkness within her, and is reminded of the time when she and Lissa came across an injured Raven in the woods. Rose recalls that Lissa had instinctively gone to the animal and touched it – a touch that had instantly healed the animal. Frightened by the show of power, a power that St. Vladimir himself had, the girls vow to never mention it to anyone.
As time at the Academy passes, Lissa becomes close to Christian Ozera, another royal Moroi who’s reputation is tainted by his parents choice to turn Strigoi. Rose begins to enjoy her sessions with Dimitri and the pair develop a mutual respect. Thus Rose is horrified when Dimitri walks in on her and Jesse, making out in one of the lounges. Dimitri threatens Jesse and expresses his disappointment in Rose but she notices something in the way he looks at her and something stirs between the pair. Meanwhile Rose begins to look into St.Vladimir and his guardian Anna who is described as shadow-kissed, something Rose herself has been described as by Mrs Karp, one of the Academy’s teachers who went crazy.
On November 1st, All Saint’s Day, Queen Tatiana visits the Academy and openly snubs Lissa at the royal dinner. Lissa is devastated that she hasn’t been able to continue with her position in the Royal circle as her brother Andre had done so well and things only get worse when she finds a dead rabbit in her room with a note; “I know what you are. You wont survive being here. I’ll make sure of it. It’s the only way you might live through this”. Unable to cope with the stress Lissa resorts to cutting herself. Rose helps her hide her wrists but is worried at the growing darkness she senses around Lissa.
Over the next few weeks Rose notices that she is the object of everyone’s attention. When matters come to a head, Rose learns that the whole school is under the impression that she slept with Jesse Zeklos and Ralf and allowed them to drink her blood. They believe she is a blood whore, the worst thing a female Dhampir could be accused of. Rose is upset by the rumors and cries in front of Lissa for the first time. Concerned for her best friend, Lissa vows to make everything ok and begins to use compulsion on her fellow royal Moroi in an attempt to clear Rose’s name. At a party, Rose is frightened by Lissa’s continued use of compulsion when she attacks Wade, a fellow royal who was abusing a young female feeder.
Prince Victor Dashkov, Lissa’s “Uncle” who is suffering from Sandovskys Syndrome visits the academy and takes his daughter Natalie, Lissa, Rose and Camille off campus for a shopping trip. Rose is assigned guardian duties during the trip, she and Dimitri act as guardian partners, with Rose taking the near guard. The group are impressed with Rose and Victor buys her a diamond rose necklace for her efforts. On returning to the academy Rose breaks her ankle but is quickly and secretly healed by Lissa.
Before the school’s dance, Lissa finds out that Rose lied to Christian about her not wanting to be his friend. The pair have a temporary fall out and at the dance Rose, wearing a knockout black dress and her diamond necklace, breaks her probation by punching Mia Rinaldi after she upsets Lissa. Rose is escorted back to her room where she uses the bond to check up on Lissa. What she see’s shocks her. Lissa and Christian are in the chapel, Christian is lying injured on the floor and Lissa is being bound and gagged by a group of men and women.
Rose immediately thinks of Dimitri however when she gets to his door she is consumed by her desire for him and forgets her original intentions. The pair get very physical and Rose comes close to loosing her virginity however when Dimitri removes Victor’s necklace the pair suddenly become aware of their actions and memories of Lissa’s attack coming flooding back to Rose. Dimitri alerts St. Vladimirs about Lissa’s abduction and they set off to find Lissa. Through their bond Rose finds out that Victor Dashkov is behind the abduction – he knows about Lissa’s healing powers and wants to use her to continually heal him so he can take his place again in the royal Circle.
Using Moroi who have specialized in air, Victor tortures Lissa until she agrees to heal him. Through the bond Rose feels everything that Lissa is going through. When Rose, Dimitri and the other guardians finally reach Lissa Dimitri orders Rose to stay in the car whilst they go and retrieve Lissa but through the bond Rose realizes that Lissa is making her own escape into the woods so Rose takes Christian and they start their search for Lissa. They are soon interrupted by Psi-hounds, Victors psi-hounds, and Christian is badly hurt. Rose battles with the hounds and its saved when Alberta and the other guardians find them. Lissa is unable to heal Christian because she’s too weak so Rose tells her to take her blood so she can heal Christian.
Back at the academy Dimitri tells Rose what happened between them was a mistake and that he is not interested in her in that way. Rose visits Victor in his cell and asks him to break the lust spell he placed on her and Dimitri, Victor tells her that the spell has broken and that it only worked because both she and Dimitri already had feelings for each other. Natalie interrupts their conversation and Rose is horrified to learn that she has turned Strigoi, on Victors instruction. Natalie attacks Rose but Dimitri comes to the rescue and stakes Natalie. Whilst Rose is fighting consciousness Dimitri tells her that he does really want her but they can’t be together because he has to protect Lissa and can’t be worried about her being in danger. Lisa is prescribed anti-depressant drugs which help with the after effects of using spirit and prevent Lissa from using her powers.
