Take a photo of a barcode or cover
tshepiso 's review for:
Vampire Academy
by Richelle Mead
Read 2: July 25th, 2022
Intellectually I understand that a lot of my affection for the Vampire Academy series stems from nostalgia. These books were a foundational piece of media that defined my taste. But another part of me, though biased, genuinely believes these books are legit good. Vampire Academy isn't perfect. In many ways, it's an artifact of its time, but I love it anyway.
The most irreconcilably poor aspect of this novel is its prominent mentor-student relationship at its centre. Rose and Dimitri's romance is problematic, to say the least. While I was able to slip on nostalgic rose-coloured glasses for most of the novel I couldn’t recreate my pre-teen affection for these two's romance. The lengths Richelle Mead went to minimize how inappropriate Dimitri’s returned affections for Rose were a little horrifying, to be honest.
My biggest surprise upon reread was the richness of Richelle Mead's worldbuilding and its thematic implications. Vampire society in this novel is fascinating. From the sexual politics of blood-drinking, to the intricacies of the vampire cast system, and the conservative Christianity of it all, there was a lot to chew on throughout. I especially loved how Mead integrated the ideas of Dhampir’s moral obligation to serve the Moroi into Rose’s character arc. Her conflict between duty to her people and Lissa especially and her desire to be a normal teenager with the freedom to choose her future was something I misremembered as only playing a role in later novels but is well incorporated here. I will say Mead's world-building while fascinating is often clunky. She doesn't do the best job of smoothly integrating details of her world throughout the narrative so large dumps of exposition are seen often throughout the text.
Mead also crafts a fascinating portrait of what it means to be a Dhampir woman for Rose. Rose is frequently fetishized by Moroi boys. Her exotic features like a curvier figure and racial ambiguity make her more appealing to them than the thin pale Moroi girls. This in turn makes her hated by Moroi girls. This is further complicated by Rose's genuine desire to be sexual. She's a teen going through puberty and wants to explore her sexuality but is consistently shamed for it. I was stunned by the nuance of this dynamic and how honestly it reflects what being a teenage girl feels like.
One aspect of the story I didn’t appreciate was the ever-present misogyny and slut shaming throughout the story. On the one hand, Rose's experience of constant sexual harassment does a lot to flesh out just how sexualized she is because she's a Dhampir. But the narrative doesn't do enough to push back against the inherent unfairness of that. By the end of the novel, Rose’s ultimate lesson is that she shouldn’t be “the type of girl” who gets herself into those situations by becoming more "responsible". A sentiment told to her infuriatingly by Dimitri, someone who has no business involving himself in the sex lives of teenage girls. I also found Rose’s lack of reflection about the harm spreading misogynistic rumours had on her disappointing. Her willingness to continue that cycle was a sad conclusion to that arc.
I would have liked to see more Dhampir women in the story act as mentors to Rose. The novel focuses a lot on Rose’s anxieties about what it means to be a Dhampir woman. She expresses a lot of internalized misogyny as a result of those anxieties. This is incredibly relatable. Teen girlhood is mired in a lot of misogyny as you attempt to figure out what being a woman means to you. However, the fact that Rose only had Dimitri to talk through those feelings with felt like a major missed opportunity.
Vampire Academy is a flawed but fascinating story that wound its way into my heart almost a decade ago and still manages to move me to this day. This review is filled with a lot of criticism of this book but its criticism that comes from a place of deep love for this story. I can see why his narrative connected with me so deeply as a kid despite its flaws. Vampire Academy’s characters and story are so well rendered that they jumped off the page and into my heart and I don't think they're going anywhere anytime soon.
Read 1: March 10th, 2014
better than I expected
Intellectually I understand that a lot of my affection for the Vampire Academy series stems from nostalgia. These books were a foundational piece of media that defined my taste. But another part of me, though biased, genuinely believes these books are legit good. Vampire Academy isn't perfect. In many ways, it's an artifact of its time, but I love it anyway.
The most irreconcilably poor aspect of this novel is its prominent mentor-student relationship at its centre. Rose and Dimitri's romance is problematic, to say the least. While I was able to slip on nostalgic rose-coloured glasses for most of the novel I couldn’t recreate my pre-teen affection for these two's romance. The lengths Richelle Mead went to minimize how inappropriate Dimitri’s returned affections for Rose were a little horrifying, to be honest.
My biggest surprise upon reread was the richness of Richelle Mead's worldbuilding and its thematic implications. Vampire society in this novel is fascinating. From the sexual politics of blood-drinking, to the intricacies of the vampire cast system, and the conservative Christianity of it all, there was a lot to chew on throughout. I especially loved how Mead integrated the ideas of Dhampir’s moral obligation to serve the Moroi into Rose’s character arc. Her conflict between duty to her people and Lissa especially and her desire to be a normal teenager with the freedom to choose her future was something I misremembered as only playing a role in later novels but is well incorporated here. I will say Mead's world-building while fascinating is often clunky. She doesn't do the best job of smoothly integrating details of her world throughout the narrative so large dumps of exposition are seen often throughout the text.
Mead also crafts a fascinating portrait of what it means to be a Dhampir woman for Rose. Rose is frequently fetishized by Moroi boys. Her exotic features like a curvier figure and racial ambiguity make her more appealing to them than the thin pale Moroi girls. This in turn makes her hated by Moroi girls. This is further complicated by Rose's genuine desire to be sexual. She's a teen going through puberty and wants to explore her sexuality but is consistently shamed for it. I was stunned by the nuance of this dynamic and how honestly it reflects what being a teenage girl feels like.
One aspect of the story I didn’t appreciate was the ever-present misogyny and slut shaming throughout the story. On the one hand, Rose's experience of constant sexual harassment does a lot to flesh out just how sexualized she is because she's a Dhampir. But the narrative doesn't do enough to push back against the inherent unfairness of that. By the end of the novel, Rose’s ultimate lesson is that she shouldn’t be “the type of girl” who gets herself into those situations by becoming more "responsible". A sentiment told to her infuriatingly by Dimitri, someone who has no business involving himself in the sex lives of teenage girls. I also found Rose’s lack of reflection about the harm spreading misogynistic rumours had on her disappointing. Her willingness to continue that cycle was a sad conclusion to that arc.
I would have liked to see more Dhampir women in the story act as mentors to Rose. The novel focuses a lot on Rose’s anxieties about what it means to be a Dhampir woman. She expresses a lot of internalized misogyny as a result of those anxieties. This is incredibly relatable. Teen girlhood is mired in a lot of misogyny as you attempt to figure out what being a woman means to you. However, the fact that Rose only had Dimitri to talk through those feelings with felt like a major missed opportunity.
Vampire Academy is a flawed but fascinating story that wound its way into my heart almost a decade ago and still manages to move me to this day. This review is filled with a lot of criticism of this book but its criticism that comes from a place of deep love for this story. I can see why his narrative connected with me so deeply as a kid despite its flaws. Vampire Academy’s characters and story are so well rendered that they jumped off the page and into my heart and I don't think they're going anywhere anytime soon.
Read 1: March 10th, 2014
better than I expected