Do you live in New Orleans, Raleigh, Providence, Salt Lake City, Miami, New York City, Birmingham, or Minneapolis and want to see Richelle Mead in your city for a book signing? Well, she’s putting it to a vote. Click here to vote for your town. The three most popular votes will be added to the tour list.
How far will Rose go to keep her promise?
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?
If there is one thing Rose is good for, it’s a promise. And she made Dimitri – her trainer, mentor, and the love of her life – the promise of a lifetime. When Dimitri is taken by enemy Strigoi at the end of the last book, Rose knows that she owes it to him to make good on her promise, no matter how much it will destroy her to do so. After all, he’d do it for her if the situation were reversed. But what would you do to preserve the honor of someone you loved? How far could you go to carry out their last wish? If it meant destroying a part of yourself, would you be able to follow through?
So Rose sets off on a mission from which she knows she may never return. Fighting Strigoi is deadly stuff – especially when that Strigoi has the man of your dreams. He knows your every move, your every weakness. Rose has no idea what exactly happened to Dimitri, but she knows that whatever it is, it can’t be good. There is no good anywhere where Strigoi are concerned.
Blood Promise finds Rose in Russia, searching for her once beloved – dead, alive, or turned. Russia is everything Dimitri ever said it was, and then some. Its beautiful, crazy, and feels much more like ‘home’ than she ever thought possible. When she stumbles upon Dimitri’s family, though, she doesn’t expect the greeting she’s given. Will they welcome her with open arms as she delivers them the worst news possible, or will they cast her away with cold and darkened eyes? I don’t know about you, but if a strange girl showed up on my doorstep with the same news that Rose has, I know how I’d react…
Interestingly enough, as Rose travels across Russia, it seems that Vladimir Academy is never too far away. Adrian pays Rose a dreamy visit or two, and Rose can’t help but check in on Lissa now and then. It seems that Lissa is a bit lost without Rose and lands herself in all kinds of trouble. Is she woman enough to pull herself together, or will she need her best friend to fix everything once more? My initial feelings towards Lissa were all confirmed three times over in this novel: she’s weak, fragile, and freaking annoying! Again, I disliked reading her through Rose’s thoughts and I thanked my lucky stars that she wasn’t the focalising character.
Meanwhile, back in Russia someone reminds Rose exactly why she came in the first place, and she realises that its time to move on and being her search once more. Just when she thinks she’s never going to find what she came looking for, something off-the-charts kind of crazy happens and Rose’s world is thrown completely and absolutely freaking upside down. Although I’m not going to disclose exactly what this is, I was supremely thrown by these turns of events. I was very uncomfortable as I read through this section of the narrative, always hoping and praying that what was happening would right itself once more. When I realised that this wasn’t going to happen any time soon I became incredibly frustrated. Rose’s character takes an entirely new form in Blood Promise, and I can’t say that I’m altogether happy with her transformation. She loses her edge, and although I understand that the circumstances are pretty much out of her control, I kept waiting for her to get her groove back together. I’m happy to report that she eventually did, but it took way too long for her to shizzle her way back into the Rose Hathaway we all know and love.
Cryptic much? Well, you’re just going to have to read to find out what I’m talking about…
Now I know you’re all wanting to know: Is he, or isn’t he? I could tell you but I’m feeling particularly evil right now and I think I’ll keep that particular spoiler to myself. If you want to find out whether Dimitri is Strigoi, alive, dead, or whatever, then I suggest you run out to your local bookstore as fast as you possibly can and get hold of a copy. I will, however, leave you with this piece of information….
Dimitri DOES make an appearance in this novel. Your questions will be answered and you wont have to wait too long to find out what the hell happened to him. Will you be surprised? Maybe. Maybe not. Depends what you’re hoping for!
While Blood Promise is not my favourite Vampire Academy novel to date, I did read this one in a single sitting. Once I started reading I was desperate to find out what happened. I reckon this one has a little bit of everything for everyone: love, lust, hate, anger, sympathy, empathy, envy, desire, action, skill, and the edge that we’ve all come to expect from the Vampire Academy novels.
I reckon the fans are going to lose it over this one. I can’t wait for the discussion to start.
P.S There’s a new player in town whom I think we’re going to see much more of in the future. While her presence was necessary in Blood Promise, I don’t think we were treated to everything she has to offer. Watch this space…
Rating:: 
Richelle Mead is the author of the ever popular Vampire Academy series. The much anticipated fourth book in the series, Blood Promise, is scheduled for release on August 25 for Americans and August 26 for Australians. As a bit of a teaser, Richelle was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions about herself, and her beloved vampire series to get you ready for Blood Promise. Fear no, there are no spoilers in this interview, so sit back, grab a cuppa, and enjoy the show…
The age difference between Dimitri and Rose is quite big, why/how did you decide to make Rose’s love interest a much older man?
Well, it’s not that big a difference! Questions like this are hard to answer because my response is usually “because it felt right.” That’s just the way their story needed to be told. When I started conceiving the characters and the world, it just came together that Rose and her instructor would fall for each other. And of course, it adds the dangerous and forbidden element that we all love.
Lissa and Rose are an unlikely match, personality wise. If they weren’t bonded, do you think they’d be friends?
Absolutely! They actually were friends years before the bond existed. I think it’s a pretty common phenomenon (the friendship, not the bond!). Sometimes we need to be around people who have different traits to complement our own, and I’ve had a lot of teens write me and say their friendships are just like Lissa and Rose’s.
The Vampire Academy world has three ‘types’ of vampires. Why/how did you decide to separate the good, evil and half breeds into three separate races?
This is actually a concept found in Romanian folklore. I loved the idea of it, especially since it was so different from the usual images of vampires that are out there. So, I used pieces of that myth as the basis for my world and then built my story around it.
All throughout the VA series, there have been references to Russian language and culture, especially in Blood Promise. Do you have any familial ties or previous interest/experience with all things Russian?
I actually have no connections whatsoever to Russian or Romanian culture—and struggle when people ask me to pronounce some of the VA terms! I chose to have both cultures influence the VA world because those regions have such fantastic vampire stories in their folklore. So, it seemed natural that Eastern Europe would be where a lot of my vampires came from. Without having visited, I have to do a lot of research to make things work! I read a lot and am lucky enough to know people who speak the languages.
Do you name your books, or does your publisher have some input, too?
They definitely have input. In fact, I’d say the relationship in selecting titles is 50/50. We can’t go forward until we have a title we all like, and Shadow Kiss is notorious for having taken months. So, we end up constantly swapping suggestions back and forth, and every time, one hits that gets us all excited.
How easy/hard was your rise to publication success?
Publication is never easy for anyone. There are so many variables that affect success: book quality, promotion, timing, and a lot of luck! Any of these can have their own degree of difficulty. Mine were mixed, which is typical of most authors.
Before the Vampire Academy books were released, you wrote adult fiction (and still do). What prompted your move into the YA genre?
I had some extra time (if only I did now!) and wanted to start a new project. Since I was a teacher then, someone suggested YA, and I thought it sounded like a lot of fun. I was also interested in it was because it was so different from my adult books, and writers always looking for new ways to experiment with their creativity!
What is your fave book?
I have a few faves, but let’s go with The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing?
I do a lot of mundane things like reading and watching TV. I also occasionally try my hand at gardening (with varying results) and have been dabbling in genealogy recently. Probably one of my very favourite things is socializing with friends, which gets tough to fit in with books always being due!
For you, what is the best and worst things about being a writer?
The best part is that I absolutely love it, which is so important because even the most wonderful jobs will have hard, stressful, hair-pulling days. It’s hard to get through those days if you aren’t passionate about your work, and I definitely am. I love my characters, their worlds, and their stories. The hardest part is that the job rests on me. I don’t work for anyone. I sell my books to my publishers, and then it’s up to me to make sure I finish them. So, this job requires a lot of discipline and time management to go with the romance and glamour. It’s up to me to make sure I’m putting in the time and giving the books the attention they deserve. It can be very stressful sometimes!
Stay tuned for our review of Blood Promise coming your way on the day of release!
The title of the article says it all, folks. The first chapter of the highly anticipated fourth Vampire Academy novel, Blood Promise (scheduled for release on August 28, 2009) is online! This is an authorised copy and won’t be removed, so you don’t have to worry about feeling guilty about reading it. However, if you’re not into spoilers I’d suggest you stay well away.
Click here if you’re game.
Enjoy!
In case you don’t know, Richelle Mead is the author of the ever popular Vampire Academy series. The fourth book in the series, Blood Promise, is scheduled for release in August 2009. Fans will be happy to know that she’s embarking on a book tour throughout America and Australia. Here are her tour dates and locations:
August 25—Seattle, WA
August 26—Los Angeles, CA (Upland)
August 27—San Francisco, CA
August 28—Denver/Boulder, CO
August 29—Houston and Austin, TX
August 31—Detroit, MI (Birmingham)
September 1—Chicago, IL (Naperville)
September 2—Lexington, KY
September 3—Alpharetta, GA
September 4-7—Atlanta, GA (DragonCon)
September 8—Baltimore, MD (Ellicott City)
September 9—Washington, DC (Fairfax, VA)
September 10—Boston, MA (Burlington)
September 12-19—Australia (Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney) Schedule TBA
This just in! Richelle Mead, author of the popular Vampire Academy novels just published this on her livejournal…
Here’s the scoop, Australian readers. Contest #1: Be the first person in Australia to win an early copy of Blood Promise! To enter, you need to email vampireacademy@au.penguingroup.com and tell them in 25 words or less (pretty short – so be concise!) why you think you should be the winner. This contest runs through June 29 at 4pm (your time).
The second contest is to win a copy of a different VA book. Penguin Australia wants to re-read one of the others in the series as a group and have a discussion a la book club style. The book that’ll be re-read will be chosen by votes. So again, cast your vote to vampireacademy@au.penguingroup.com. The book that gets the most votes will be the winner. As a special bonus, the first 50 people to vote will win a copy of that book. This contest runs through June 20.
So there you have it folks!
