"ʺEighteen, and already youʹve been accused of murder, aided felons, and acquired a death count higher than most guardians will ever see.ʺ He paused. ʺI couldnʹt be prouder.""
Based on my memories, Last Sacrifice should have been a five star read. I remember having such a blast the first time I read it. I expected to love Last Sacrifice and I hoped that it would erase the 'meh' feelings towards Spirit Bound. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
I hate saying this, but I don't love Rose as much as I used to. I have such a soft spot for impulsive, snarky, sassy, vulnerable and badass heroines and I loved Rose as a character. However, after reading Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice, I like Rose, but I don't love her. There are two main reasons for this:
♥ In the last two books of the Vampire Academy series, Rose's character development and growth become non-existent. Rose is a frustrating character, but she still acted in character and I could understand the reasoning behind her actions. In Last Sacrifice, I couldn't understand Rose's reasoning and actions as much and felt that she kept on changing to suit the plot direction.
♥ Rose has a tendency to lead people on mainly because she's in denial about her feelings, but after realising and accepting her true feelings in Last Sacrifice, she does something that could have been avoided. I understand that Rose and Dimitri are meant to be together, but that does not give Rose free reign to cheat. There are so many ways that Rose could have ended her relationship with Adrian before having sex with Dimitri. I get angry when I read about cheating, because someone always gets hurt and I've not yet read a book that makes cheating justifiable or understandable to some extent.
I also don't care about Rose's romantic relationships. Rose and Dimitri have a connection and plenty in common, but the drama and angst in their relationship is boring. Adrian has grown on me, but I don't think Rose and Adrian are meant for each other. However, I do not appreciate that Adrian was kicked to the curb and made to seem like a jerk for the sake of the plot. Adrian deserves so much better and I hope that the Bloodlines series delivers.
The Vampire Academy series has always been about the strong bond and friendship between Rose and Lissa. Rose's ability to see the world through Lissa's eyes means that we get to see what's been going on at court from Lissa's perspective. My favourite part of Last Sacrifice is Lissa's rise to queendom and the tests and trials that she has to go through and my favourite scene is Lissa's coronation ceremony. Yes queen!. Lissa's growth and maturity throughout the Vampire Academy series becomes so evident in Last Sacrifice and I always love the little tidbits of information about Spirit.
While the romance in Rose's life leaves much to be desired, I love the relationship between Lissa and Christian and wish that I could have seen more of them being ridiculously in love instead of witnessing the Rose-Adrian-Dimitri train wreck.
I love most of the secondary characters: Christian, Sydney, Eddie, Jill,Sonya, Mikael and plenty others. The secondary characters are interesting and I am excited to see some of them again when I continue with the Bloodlines series.
Since this is a reread, I can't comment about whether or not I was surprised by the mystery aspect, but the mystery aspect is lacking and the 'great reveal' is gimmicky.
I don't love the Vampire Academy series as much after a reread, but it still has some of my favourite characters, friendships, romances and scenes. It's a series that I will always have fond memories of, no matter how much the last two books disappointed me.
A solid finale!
"Sometimes the greatest tests of our strength are situations that don't seem so obviously dangerous. Sometimes surviving is the hardest thing of all."