Review for Blood Promise, by Richelle Mead

Blood Promise is the fourth book of a series, and the other titles can be found here. Richelle Mead specializes in writing stories that keep their upbeat attitude and slightly sarcastic sense of humor, despite putting her characters through excruciating danger. The plot progresses quickly, and the summarization for previous books, as well as character development, happens so lightly that it's hard to notice. For this reason, these books make for very light reading - I finished this one book within less than two days. A real page turner, very entertaining.

Having a strong main character seems to affect more aspects of a story than I imagined. The plot cannot move as fast without someone who is very determined. If Rose didn't have a strong and defiant will, she might have fallen in some battles before this, or worse, decided to stay and become Dimitri's pet blood whore. Or even stayed with the Belikovs, to live out a quiet life as a suburban dhampir. That's not nearly as likely though, because someone named Abe kept seeking her out when she was in that town.

While Richelle Mead is very good at plot twists, the tone of the story made it clear that things were on the upturn since Rose's decision to leave St. Vladimir and seek out Dimitri again. At the end of the previous book, because of Dimitri's depart and Rose's leaving Lissa behind, it was a sort of a sour note. However, when this book began, Rose seemed impatient, but not despairing. Having Dimitri find her and confine her was a definite plot twist, though. There's something about the fantasy action romance genre books that I've been reading lately - these authors love their hot male characters. I suppose it's because males in reality aren't up to par; which woman wouldn't want a physically strong and emotionally devoted man by her side?

The science of spirit becomes more and more interesting, as it is the main difference between Moroi and Strigoi. Spirit users seem to have almost schizophrenic tendencies. Because these are fantasy novels, such things aren't very clearly explained, lending to their mystique. The way that Rose couldn't resist using her mind to keep checking in on Lissa almost made sure that Lissa would be back in Rose's life too. It was a bit of an obvious foreshadowing, but one that I didn't mind, because it made Rose's journey less lonely, more eventful, and was even helpful in passing the time when she was confined by Dimitri. But it also served the second plot of Avery's designs on Lissa. Not many authors can juggle two plots, so applause to Richelle Mead.

Her style is such that a lot of attention is given to character interaction, so that her descriptions of settings are just enough that they hold up to the future events in the plot. When Dimitri took Rose for that walk, I already knew that she would have a chance to escape - both because the plot needed to move along, and also because most of the time this author didn't bother with descriptions of the setting in much detail unless the character would need to use it within a few chapters. Those chapters may also serve to emphasize the fates of blood whores, the disgust for which most of that world holds these blood whores, Dimitri's feelings (or lack thereof, in this case) for Rose, and to illustrate more of the differences between Moroi and Strigoi.

Given what readers already knew of Dimitri's original character, his actions here speak volumes about the physical and psychic transition of a being turned into a Strigoi. The Strigoi seem to be the werewolves of that vampire world, because of their sense of fierce competition, which is so absolute that two Strigoi are hard put to work together. They also seem to operate mainly through the senses, very animal-like, with no real comprehension of feelings and higher reasoning. It is as Dimitri said, "Predator and prey." If this were more a sci fi novel than a fantasy one, one of them would be captured and taken in for physical and psychological analyses. Readers' beloved Dimitri has become the most interesting anti-hero/villain for the next few books.

Another intriguing character was Abe. I wonder for what purpose he thought Rose really had come to Russia. And while dangerous, this arc struck me as a peculiar study-abroad type of experience for Rose, only it was for love and funded by Adrian's family money. If Dimitri didn't come back, I can see Rose getting together with Adrian, now that she developed some respect for him because of his protective nature of Lissa. I also wonder what Queen Tatiana's powers were, and wouldn't mind Lissa becoming as powerful as Avery is. Intricate friendships require all sorts of emotions, and the guilty aspect of Rose's leaving Lissa when she was searching for Dimitri was very touching and real to me. I thought it was something that everyone must experience after they leave school.

Review for Thorn Queen, by Richelle Mead

This title is the second book of this series. I must say that I started reading this series with a bit of skepticism. A young woman in Tucson, AZ banishing spirits into other worlds? Well, at first it just seems like a cheap gimmick that a mediocre television station would come up with - for a quick and dirty action drama. Throw in a little sex with pretty people, and the show's got itself made, right? So I wasn't impressed that much by the first book, even if the protagonist Eugenie seems to be my kind of sensible girl and her magical powers are blossoming. But Richelle Mead's compelling voice and descriptive characterization kept me going, and I gave the spiel a second try.

The voice and point of view are unwaveringly first person, which is great in terms of hiding other characters' intentions until the action comes to the fore. The author also demonstrates great characterization when readers remember who does what and why. While the fox Kiyo is still a main player this round, his motivations seem to be getting more vague. He claims to be looking out for Eugenie's bests interests, but there is this complication where he has to bring up a child he had with another woman other than the protagonist. I will be waiting to see how his feelings and motivations change during the third book, as well. But it's not as simple as that - Richelle Mead impressively uses the almost dead technique of allegory.

Eugenie's confusion and feelings for both Kiyo and Dorian come to be attached with her emotions for both worlds, human and gentry. While the fox-man has come to represent the more human and democratically oriented worldview, the fairy king now speaks for the city-state and feudally oriented medieval worldview. At the risk of reading too much into this one piece of fiction, one would think that Richelle Mead may be referring to the respective First World/Third World conundrum, or even the East West cultural clash. I favor the latter, obviously because I am what they call American Born Chinese.

There are other issues that she discusses as well, and I couldn't help but feel as I continued reading that this may be one of the most blatantly (and satirically?) political works of fiction that I've read in a long time. The first book had already touched on racism, when Eugenie's attitude towards the gentry started changing for the better. Maybe classism, as well, considering that there is no such thing as middle class among the gentry - someone is either nobility, or he is a peasant. I correct myself, the closest thing to middle class in the Otherworld consists of artisans and craftmen, who came embodied in the blacksmith Girald, only in this book.

To me, the villains here symbolized the medieval way of thinking, in which women are merely vassals to their parents and then their husbands - no matter their overall station in life. Beneath all the layers, that was the central conflict of the plot: the disagreeing opinions on the nature of love and the way a woman should be wooed, which also speaks of her self-value in a relationship as well. So Richelle Mead also discusses women's rights and feminism here, in Eugenie's sorting out her feelings in terms of which kind of man she prefers between Dorian and Kiyo. The only complaint I have involves how soon Eugenie returned to relatively normal after her traumatic experience. However, this is a fantasy fiction book with a high level of romance, and being more realistic about the emotional aftermath here would dampen that selling point by quite a bit.

Politics, human interactions, and Eugenie's having to figure all of this out with the help of her advisors who Dorian provided - all of these things make the Otherworld seem more real. In this book, the Otherworld seems to feel more substantial than the human world, if simply because Eugenie is both emotionally closer to her advisors than her parents and Kiyo at this point, which is complicated by her magical (read, soul-link) to her Thorn Land. This may also be because being a monarch, the ultimate decision maker, is far more challenging than being an anonymous spirit banisher. A challenge like that is bound to engage Eugenie, who has more of an ambitious and restless personality than she realizes, her righteousness aside.

Usually, I don't buy much into the New York Times' bestseller list, preferring to leaf through shelves by myself, but it seems as though their high ratings of her are correct. I still did have one serious complaint, though, for all my oohs-and-ahs over her writing, so personally, I'd give her 4.5 stars out of 5.