Bloodlines is Richelle Mead’s new series following main character the Alchemist Sydney Sage. Bloodlines is a spin-off of Mead’s New York Times Bestselling young adult series Vampire Academy. This Vampire Academy series has a world of the Moroi, Dhampirs and Strigoi vampires and half breeds alike. Sydney first appears in Vampire Academy in the 4th book Blood Promise helping Rose find Dimitri . Soon the Alchemist appears to help with other problems that arise.
In Bloodlines we are exposed to more of the Alchemist culture. Alchemist are humans who use the chemistry to keep normal humans from finding out about the existence of vampires, they are basically the cleanup crew, covering up mistakes and tracking vampires behaviors.
Sydney is sent undercover as a high school student to protect the new vampire queen, Lissa’s, half sister, Jill, from any attacks against her in trying to dethrone Lissa. We meet new characters and come across some familiar characters (second rate cast) of Vampire Academy. There of course is the normal high school drama that no good young adult book can go without and a couple of main plots and conflicts involving stolen vampire blood, an alchemist gone haywire, and dark family secret that Sydney is carrying. Couple that with Sydney’s culture clashing with that of the vampires, the Alchemist are raised to think that vampires are monstrosities that humans should not mingle with, when she is cast into this role that has her sharing a room with a vampire.
The start of this series was entertaining and the character development of Sydney is rather strong, she goes from uptight and Naïve to learning a lot about life in short time. We get to see familiar characters, among the cast Adrian, Jill and Eddie are the main characters of this story and a very unlikely bunch from Vampire Academy to be cast together. We also see brief appearances of Rose, Abe and Dimitri which makes diving into a series that has more to do with chemistry (the science kind) and less to do with love triangles and sexy vampires, a little easier to handle.
Mead’s way of incorporating new characters, plots and cultures into one world that is so well established was exciting to read. I personally miss Rose’s quick wit and knack for getting herself into situations that she never belonged in, but something tells me that Sydney is going to learn a whole lot from Rose. All in all I recommend the read if you don’t fall in love with the Alchemist world, at least there’s a chance that Dimitri might pop up, and Adrian is just always entertaining.
The next installment The Golden Lily is slated for release on June 12th, 2012.
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