jmills01

I really thought that the high rating of this series meant that I would at least find it tolerable - but then I should have remembered that plenty of people recommended Twilight, and I thought it was terrible.

VA is better than Twilight, which is damning with faint praise, but it's all I've got! The main character, Rose, is simply not sympathetic in any way. I didn't like being in her head - hey, I was a teenaged girl, and I don't remember that level of obsessing about "hotness." She's also mean, selfish, conceited, and not above ruining her best friend's life "for her own good." The other characters are mostly sketchy - Dmitri, the main love interest, has no personality at all beyond a desire to protect the Moroi.

Speaking of that, the entire arrangement seemed a bit sketchy to me. Why exactly would the Dhampir give up their lives? For some kids? That you then have to either give away or turn to blood prostitution to support? Uh-uh. Didn't work.

90% of this book consists of typical "mean girl" tactics from the female characters. I have no patience for this, as it took up the room allowed for any actual character or plot development. It was only in the last 50 pages that we got any plot at all, and most characters ended the novel in the same place they started.

So no, I'm not recommending this. My search for decent YA lit continues...