But then there’s a human and dhampir (the half human, half Moroi hybrids) relationship between Angeline and Trey. There is a lot of forbidden love in Bloodlines. There is just one thing that I picked up on while I was re-reading the series. And there is a lot of YA with flat, boring characters that have absolutely no substance (read: Stephenie Meyer and Lauren Oliver). Characters are so three-dimensional that they essentially leap off of the page at you. Firstly because if you haven’t read Bloodlines (and shame on you if that’s the case) they won’t make any sense anyway and secondly because, as per usual, I want you to read this. That at any moment the couple could be discovered. So whenever the two are together, there is an underlying feeling of unease. And Sydney could end up basically being tortured by her Alchemist higher-ups. Because relationships between humans and vampires are strictly verboten. Sydney finally admits her feelings for Adrian to herself at the end of Indigo Spell and, so, this book basically smoulders with sexiness and intrigue. This all changes in The Fiery Heart, however. Which is difficult to pull off, seeing as Sydney has to miss certain looks and actions from other characters – namely Adrian Ivashkov – that we as readers understand straight away. Nothing Sydney says ever feels contrived or forced.
And Mead absolutely knocks it out of the park. She’s analytical, misses social cues, and has a complicated set of beliefs that is constantly changing throughout the series. We see everything through the eyes of Sydney Sage. Not so much in third person, but Mead writes in the first person.
I don’t know how many of you read book reviews or are writers yourselves, but the voice is the hardest thing to nail down. I had those three books finished in about a week and a half. I re-read the first three books in the series so that I could refresh my mind as to whereabouts our beloved characters were at the end of Indigo Spell. I thought the re-read would take forever, but I’d forgotten how easily you can slip into Richelle Mead’s prose. It’s fast-paced, sexy (most of the time), and the characters are amazing. Here’s the thing about YA fiction: it’s addictive.
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