Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4) – Richelle Mead

Title: Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4) by Richelle Mead
Publishing Info: August 25, 2009 by Penguin
Source: Library
Genres: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: October 14, 2012
Related Posts: Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2), Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy #3), Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy #5), Bloodlines (Bloodlines #1), The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2), The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3), Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy #6), Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X #1), The Glittering Court (The Glittering Court #1)

    The recent Strigoi attack at St. Vladimir’s Academy was the deadliest ever in the school’s history, claiming the lives of Moroi students, teachers, and guardians alike. Even worse, the Strigoi took some of their victims with them . . . including Dimitri. He’d rather die than be one of them, and now Rose must abandon her best friend, Lissa—the one she has sworn to protect no matter what—and keep the promise Dimitri begged her to make long ago. But with everything at stake, how can she possibly destroy the person she loves most?

I was slightly disappointed in the beginning, I must say. I felt like it was pretty slow to start. Yes, there was a lot of necessary set up, but after the way book three ended I was DYING to know what happened to Dimitri. Weren’t we all!? So we know that Rose is wandering about in Russia, but I was just like, “Come on, already! I’m dying here!”

Finally it start to get REALLY good. We finally get to know what happened to Dimitri, where he went, what his life has become now that he’s a Strigoi. And agh, it’s just so hard to review this book without saying anything about when Rose and Dimitri finally encounter each other since that would be like spoiler after spoiler. I guess the best thing I can say is that even as that part of the story was progressing, I still really didn’t know how it was going to end up. All the while I kept hoping for redemption for Dimitri, but we know there’s not way to “turn a Strigoi back”. So how could it end any other way except Rose killing him? It was quite the interesting situation to say the least!

In true Mead fashion, there were a few nice twists at the end!! Nothing quite as shocking as previous books, but still left me with a lot of questions that I NEED answered. Needless to say, I’m definitely going to pick up book 5 soon!!

Avery: I always got a bad vibe from Avery, but it looks like there was a lot more to her character than we really know.
Abe: I was with Rose on this one — I figured Abe for a vampire gangster-type person. But he was a tough one to figure out. He seemed vile and threatening, but then again never really acted to live up to those expectations. For those who haven’t read the book, I won’t give it away, but we do find out there’s more to Abe than anyone lets on (or maybe just knows since our characters are in the dark too).
Dimitri: Oh, Dimitri. It was heartbreaking to read about him as a Strigoi. His and Rose’s relationship is one of my favorites so I had no idea how the series could continue on with him as the undead. I guess we do get some answers to this, but even still, it was so weird to read!