Bloodlines (Bloodlines, #1)

by Richelle Mead

[Katie King]

**3 Stars**

Confession time: I don't really remember a lot of what happened in Bloodlines. I read it over a month ago and never wrote a review until now...but I'll try my best.

I loved the Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series. It had its low points, but when it was good, it was great! I became heavily invested in Rose and Dimitri's relationship over the course of those six books, and I wished I could see more of them. I knew Bloodlines had come out a while ago, and that Dimitri shows up, but I wasn't super interested in hearing about Sydney. I couldn't (and still can't) even remember at what point in the VA series she had been. But I figured I might as well give it a shot because, duh, Dimitri!

Well, what I DO remember about Bloodlines isn't much. Sydney's dad was a complete controlling asshole, and some fellow Alchemist of Florida named Keith was super two-faced and semi-evil running a back alley tattoo shop (I guess that's an antagonist?). Adrian is the same old same old from Vampire Academy, but he gets a little more depth here with his spirit problems and especially Rose problems. Jill, the whole premise upon which this series is built, seems about as boring as her name implies, and honestly a bit whiny for someone in her position. She overreacts to everything even though there are like 10 people trying desperately to keep her safe.

Onto the worst part: one of my favorite characters, Dimitri, was one-sided and dull. The horror! Dimitri was honestly just there to rile Adrian up and maybe be like the fatherly voice of reason or something. It's probably a good thing Rose isn't in the story because a) it would ruin Adrian and b) it would just further push readers away from Sydney. Now Rose wasn't perfect, not at all, but she was pretty relatable, which is why tons of Mead's readers love her. Problem is, Sydney is SO different from Rose. She is pretty tough, just like Rose, but it's more out of being obedient and doing her duty. She doesn't have any passion to her - it's like just her job. Rose was fighting against who everyone thought she was and should be and trying to be who she wanted to be. Sydney is exactly who everyone expects her to be, there's no mystery or deep secrets following her around other than ~woo~ she doesn't completely hate vampires like she should. Too bad I never really felt like that was a big deal...

Overall there really wasn't anything that stood out to me. Nothing overly exciting happened that got me hooked. Actually, nothing in general really happened. Sydney also doesn't seem like the right fit for a narrator, but hopefully things will get better. Onto book two...