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Vampire Academy:
The Ultimate Guide

Michelle Rowen with
Richelle Mead

Published 2012          305 pages

Reviewed by Georgia

Summary (from the book jacket)

Love and Loyalty Run Deeper than Blood...

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth’s magic. Her best friend Rose Hathaway is a dhampir: a guardian whose blood is a powerful blend of vampire and human. Rose’s life is dedicated to protecting Lissa from the dangerous Strigoi – the fiercest vampires, who will stop at nothing to make Lissa one of them. Over the course of six books, love will blossom, hearts will be broken, and lives will be lost. But through it all, Rose and Lissa’s friendship will never surrender...

This Official Ultimate Guide is the must-have addition to any Vampire Academy collection. Learn everything you ever wanted to know about the totally addictive world Richelle Mead has created:

1. Find out the real history of St. Vladimir’s Academy
2. Explore the dark psychology behind Rose and Lissa’s unusual friendship
3. Discover even more illicit secrets about Rose and Dimitri
4. Quiz yourself to find out how much you really know about Vampire Academy

The Review

This is indeed the Ultimate Guide to the best-selling Vampire Academy Series. It is a fan orientated book, full of spoilers for the six books in the series and a lot of information about the chief characters and events in the story.

This Guide has been written and edited by Michelle Rowen, who deserved a big round of applause for the incredible job she has done. Not only has she invested a lot of time researching for the books, but she has also gone to great pains to make this Guide both informative and entertaining for the fans.

It includes detailed recaps for each book with quotations and a small quiz at the end of each recap, so that the readers can test their knowledge on the spot. Then there is a rich analysis for all chief characters, but also a thorough presentation of all side characters encountered throughout the series. This is followed by blow-by-blow examination of the relationships that shape and define the series. Fans will delight themselves with the things they will find out about Rose and Dimitri. Honestly, I didn’t know at least a third of what Michelle Rowen has put down in the Guide! In addition to the above there is a comprehensive presentation of Moroi, Strigoi, Dhampirs, and the Alchemists. Finally, the Quiz: this is like a video-game: each level requires an elevated dedication to the series. It is both informative and fun to try your hand at it.

Two more things are included in this Guide. Firstly, a Glossary at the end of the book that works as a quick reference to all things important in the series. Secondly, and that is the great bonus a Q&A with Richelle Mead. Indeed, for all those wondering where is the author of Vampire Academy in this Guide and how she has contributed to it, ask no more. Interspersed throughout the Guide you will find fragments of the Q&A, which will please everyone.

Michelle Rowen has done an excellent job; there is no doubt about it. Even the most dedicated fans will be satisfied by this Guide. It is important to remember that it is full of spoilers, so if you haven’t read the VA series in its entirety, leave it until after you’ve read the books to delve into this Guide. Also some bookstores –online or retail– list it under Richelle Mead’s name, so don’t panic, if they say that it’s not available; simply check out under both names.

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