Vampire Academy

I’ll be the first to admit I’ve been biased against the vampire genre ever since seeing Twilight. I tried to keep an open mind when starting Vampire Academy and while I still found the characters predictable and the drama a little tiresome, the book’s vampire lore actually had me hooked. I found the complex social structure of the vampire world interesting. Not only was there conflict between living vampires and dead vampires, there was conflict between full vampires and half vampires and royals and lower class families. I can see why a high school was a successful setting to fully expose the society’s social inequalities and the personal insecurities linked. For instance, I thought the blood whore concept was very interesting. Throughout the novel- as well as the entire genre- it’s generally agreed that having your blood sucked by a vampire is practically orgasmic. But there is a stigma around morois drinking from a dhampir during sex. In the book it’s suggested that often moroi men search for female dhampir blood, which would probably just enhance the sexual experience, but for some reason it’s taboo. In my opinion, this speaks to “slut-shaming” in our own society. If a woman chooses to embrace her sexuality, she becomes a slut. Meanwhile it’s generally accepted that men can have as much free sex as they want with no labels or blame. While this might not have been Richelle Mead’s intention, I understood the blood whore concept to sort of exploit that.

This also brings me to the relationship between Rose and Lissa which is one I enjoyed seeing in a young adult novel. Their friendship throughout the entire book takes precedence over romantic interests and endured the obstacles thrown their way. Rose dedicated her life to protect her friend, and Lissa loved Rose so much she chipped away at her own spirit in order to bring Rose back from the dead. The concept of wielding the spirit element was another intriguing point for me. To heal others meant to damage herself, and I think that would feel relatable to many people, especially young adults. I think the way Mead handled self-harm was important. Rose wanted to comply with Lissa’s wish of secrecy, but there comes a time when that’s no longer acceptable. The loved ones of someone who self-harms needs to step in and help them regain self-control.