Title: Blood Promise
Author: Richelle Mead
Series: (Vampire Academy #4)
Pages: 503
 

Let me start this post with ‘I didn’t like it.’ Yeah, it was kinda terrible, but I still gave it 3 stars, because I’m sort of lenient when a book came from a series that I like. Me, liking the entire series weigh on the way I rate the book. I know, terrible excuse if you ask me. But I still do it.

Rose dropped out of the academy to pursue Dimitri and free him, when I say free, it means kill him. He is now strigoi and she rather kill him than to know he’s a living dead. She went to Russia, to Dimitri’s town, there she met his family. She almost felt at home, and if she can’t find him she might stay there for good. But there’s a moroi who keep asking her to leave the town, his name is Abe. Aside from Dimitri’s family warm welcome to her, she also met a spirit user just like Adrian and Lissa and another shadow-kissed just like her. She gave her a ring (not sure about it, lol) that will somehow cleanse, heals her dark aura.

When she had slight feud with Dimitri’s sister, she decided to accept the offer of rogue guardians to accompany them on killing strigoi, thinking that it might help her locate Dimitri. And it did, she found him… but he’s different. He’s Dimitri but not. With conflicting things in her mind will she able to kill the person she love the most?

So far, this is my least favorite book from the series. Everything is just so wrong. But let me take you back a little bit. When I first saw this book (yeah, saw not read) scattered in our house I didn’t know that day will come when I’ll actually read it. When I read the summary I wasn’t interested, plus I wasn’t a bookworm then, and reading per se, is tedious task for me (yeah, how ironic speaking it now, lulz). Anyways, my sister lost this book in a hotel in China when she went on vacation there, I know such a waste. Books are expensive you know. I hope she replaced it by now. She’s not living in the country, and besides, Australia have a wider selection than here (it’s either you buy online, that’s where you can actually buy books you can’t find in bookstores here). Moreover, Vampire Academy is a very popular series, I remember seeing The Last Sacrifice available here on the day of its release, and remember we are almost a day ahead.

Anyway, that took a while. I didn’t like the book, at least from a year ago when I first saw it, I still felt the same. And now I can say it with conviction since I actually read it. There’s a lot of things annoyed me, frustrate me to endless pit. First is Dimitri. I’m probably one of the few (based on my baseless assumption) who prefer Dimitri, but why oh why Mead turned him into a very shallow character. I like the way he is then… ugh, he changed… for the worst. I know he’s strigoi now but still. He’s selfish, arrogant, and completely superficial. He’s not the person he is before. He dwells more on money, power and sex. Ugh, the sex. I know there’s no sex in there but frequent mentions might as well be. The frustrating thing is it didn’t clearly explain why the sudden change of heart aside from the obvious he’s now a strigoi. Isn’t it a bit flat if it was? I mean, is being a strigoi give you a complete change of personality. I can buy that, mind you, but I needed a solid explanation as to why. That’s when I’ll believe.

And I already dislike Rose but she annoyed the hell out of me here. I like her a little bit in the third book. She’s strong and fiery, I like how she fights the strigoi (book two and three) but here, three fourth of the book is her explaining how bloody exciting strigoi’s bite is. And for the love of me, I already know, from the very beginning, that sex + bite is the kinkiest, dirtiest of them all. Don’t mention it again please; it’s the fourth book for goodness sake. We get it!

Well, the good thing about this book, there’s a little Lissa. But every time she’s there it annoyed the crap out of me. I don’t know, she rubbed me the wrong way. How she’s too clingy to Rose. How she’s this little miss perfect, little miss innocent when in fact she isn’t. I don’t know, I just don’t like her.

There isn’t much Christian here, and that sucks already without further explanation. I still don’t get the Adrian’s charm, and this is the fourth book already. So aside from occasional meeting in dreams, what other interaction there is that I’ll ship this couple. Because if that’s the case then Rose and Dimitri have a better chemistry. I need something big, like Tod punching Nash on book three of Soul Screamers. That massive, that huge, and if that happen, I’ll be gladly riding the sinking ship with you guys!

I really love it when I get things right. I knew Abe was Ibrahim, Rose’s father. Why, all of sudden this man is very protective with Rose. There’s something in there, and the best explanation for me is that he might be her father. His interest on her is very different, odd, like a father, and I got it right on mark, bull’s eye. Hur!

I was asking before now that Dimitri is a strigoi what will happen to him and Rose. I was kinda feel iffy about it, and was anticlimactic in a way, when Oneska (I think) told Rose about reversing, or healing a person who become a strigoi. And that’s the answer I was looking for. I don’t need to read it (but of course I still will) just to know that’s going to happen, I mean it’ll happen then and there when they told her. I don’t know if there’s a better way for to lay the information, but it was kinda predictable. And hate predictable. No, I’m not saying I don’t like speculating, of course I do, but there’s still a chance that I’m might be wrong. But here, I know that will happen. I’m hundred and one percent sure.

And oh, I almost forget Sydney. She’s the heroine of the new series Bloodline. She’s interesting based on her brief appearances here. But I’m not gonna read Bloodlines, even if I end up liking the entire VA series. I don’t read (or don’t like) spin-off series. I’m particularly loyal to the protagonist, even if I don’t like him/her. Now you know.

I don’t know why I’m suddenly verbose when it comes to this series. But I am. Still, I didn’t like it. Such a waste when I gave the former four stars. So sad.