| Bloodlines | |
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Cover of Bloodlines |
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| Author(s) | Richelle Mead |
| Cover artist | Emilian Gregory Michael Frost |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Bloodlines |
| Genre(s) | Young Adult Urban Fantasy Dark fantasy |
| Publisher | Razorbill |
| Publication date | August 23, 2011 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) Audio CD |
| Pages | 421 |
| ISBN | 978-1-59514-317-4 |
| OCLC Number | 731728988 |
| Preceded by | Vampire Academy: Last Sacrifice |
| Followed by | The Golden Lily |
Bloodlines is the first book in the spin-off series of the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. It follows the story of narrator Sydney Sage, the alchemist who helped Rose in Blood Promise, Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice.[1] Jill Dragomir, Eddie Castile, Sydney, and Adrian Ivashkov are confirmed characters, and the main setting is going to be a California high school .[2][3][4]
The book was released on August 23, 2011.[5]
Contents |
After helping rogue dhampir Rose Hathaway evade justice, Sydney Sage's situation with the alchemists is shaky at best. Her career is jeopardized, to the point where she may have to undergo re-education. Woken in the middle of the night, Sydney given a last chance: to pose as Jill Mastrano’s (illegitimate sister of Queen Vasilisa’s) sister at a boarding school in Palm Springs, California and protect her form Moroi who want to end her sister's rule. Jill is accompanied by Dhampir Eddie, who like Sydney is still is serious trouble from helping friend Rose Hathaway. tagging along is Adrian, who has been bonded to Jill after she died and was brought back by him.
Sydney thrusts herself into a job because she does not want her little sister, Zoe, to be pulled into the Alchemist world (that and she doesn't want her sister to be near a rapist (See Keith)). Her plan backfires, resulting in her sister hating her. Adrian, Eddie, and Sydney accompany Jill to the private school, all of them posing as her siblings. Adrian is stationed in the Donahue's house, which introduces two characters: Clarence (dad) and Lee (son). Clarence is obsessed with 'vampire-hunters', claiming that they killed his niece, Tamara. Using the old man's absurd obsession, Keith gets close to him for his own devices.
The students at the school become infatuated with Sydney's tattoo, keep asking what powers it had and where she got it. This leads her to investigate. During a history class, she meets the teacher's aide, Trey, who is on the football team. All his teammates (excluding him) were all getting tattoos at a place called Nevermore to enhance their sports performance. By asking several students, she gathers information about the 'rare' metallic tattoos and understands why students are so interested in hers. Steel tattoos act as steroids and bronze tattoos give the wearers highs. Because the tattoos only lasted for a few days (weeks at most), they had to be continuously touched-up and lead to addictions. Sydney makes the connection that those tattoos and the gold tattoos used by Alchemist were made using the same procedure (but with different effects, as Sydney's restrains her from telling humans of vampires). Jill has trouble in Gym because of the sun, and a human boy named Micah helps her... which leads Sydney to spot the crush Micah has on Jill. A girl named Laurel sees this, and begins bullying Jill- calling her 'vamp girl' because of her pale complexion. Sydney goes to Eddie and Adrian, respectively, to ask of their opinions. Sydney becomes infuriated when Eddie says 'okay', so she and Adrian 'set' Jill up with Lee (seeing that he was the only Moroi around who is actually romantically interested in her). They go mini-golfing, and Sydney is freaked out when Jill uses her Moroi magic on the waterfall there (Jill being a water-user).
Murders happen near L.A: girls (all Moroi except for 1 human) had their throats slit and their blood partly drunk. Clarence keeps insisting that it was vampire-hunters. Because Sydney already knows all the languages the school offers, she is excused from those classes and decides to help out a teacher. The teacher is writing a book, and Sydney helps her with notes, typing, and coffee runs. The teacher tells Sydney to make a charm that would burst into flame when a certain phrase was chanted. Seeing that the charm was not going to be used, Sydney throws it into her purse- keeping it simply because of all the time and effort she used to create it. Adrian persuades Sydney to help him get job interviews, to which he completely ruined. He then asks her one last time- but it was to get into a college: he gets into an art program. Sydney and Keith keep butting heads throughout the book, due to his efforts trying to get her sent to get 're-educated', aka brainwashed (mostly so he could get into Zoe's pants). She and Adrian combine efforts and finally bring him down by breaking into the tattoo parlor and stealing supplies. It is revealed that Keith had been taking blood and saliva from Clarence Donahue, but lied to him saying that they were being used for the greater good. Sydney lures Keith away from his place and distracts him while Adrian and Alchemists raid the place. They find the illegal things in a cabinet, such as Moroi blood, saliva, and chemicals and such that Alchemists used. Keith is then deported, leaving Sydney as the only Alchemist in Palm Springs.
They go to a fashion show that Jill modeled in, resulting in Adrian and Sydney bickering. Sydney mentions that she was heading to Keith's place, and is ambushed by Lee when she gets there. He reveals that it was him who killed all those girls (along with Tamara) because he was trying to 're-awaken' himself back into a Strigoi- but none of them worked. He was unsuccessful because he had once been a Strigoi, but was brought back by some unnamed spirit-user. Because of that, his body rejected anything that would 're-awaken' him, such as the draining of blood, or Strigoi blood. Adrian comes to Sydney's rescue (kinda) just as Lee cuts her arm with a knife. Lee handcuffs Adrian and ties Sydney's hands together while explaining that he wanted to 'awaken' Jill as well (because he loved her in a really creepy-phsyco way). Lee tries to drink Sydney's blood, but finds it disgusting. He then goes on and calls Strigoi (because they were his last option in 'awakening') and tells them that in exchange for 're-awakening' him, they could have his hostages. Sydney unties herself and almost gets away with Adrian when the Strigoi arrive. One of the Strigoi tries to 're-awaken' Lee, but kills him instead, because his body refused to accept Strigoi blood. They turn on Sydney and Adrian, and give up on Sydney's foul blood, move quickly onto Adrian. As her last hope, Sydney throws the seemingly-useless charm at a Strigoi, and she catches fire. Eddie bursts through the door and take down the Strigoi. Jill was out in the hall, and sees Lee's dead body on the recliner- horrified and traumatized.
Sydney confronts her teacher- and the reader finds out that the teacher had known about vampires all along. Because of Sydney's discoveries of Keith's illegal dealings, her image is restored and is offered Keith's old place. She then turns it to Adrian, to which he is delighted. He redecorates it and they have a weird moment where Adrian becomes infatuated with her eyes, and tells her that she is beautiful. Sydney becomes confused and is saved by the door opening. Sonya Karp enters (Alchemists got her to agree to experiments). The book ends with Adrian's face going pale as he sees Dimitri Belikov.
Sydney Sage - An Alchemist who is chosen to pose as Jill's sister (and roommate) at their private school in Palm Springs. She is the protagonist of this series, and is described with dark blonde hair,brown eyes and always dressed tidily.She is a tough and brainy and tends to over think.She shares a rather "fragile friendship" with Rose Hathaway-the female lead of Vampire Academy. She shares very strained relationships with her father and sister, Zoe. She goes to Palm Spring in place of her sister- her intentions clear on protecting her sister from Keith, her father's 'golden boy' who raped her older sister. She begins to develop feelings towards Adrian throughout the book, despite the Alchemist teachings that were drilled into her head. She helps stop the bullying that Jill receives by replacing Laurel's shampoo with something else she made- therefor calling a truce between the two parties. She and Adrian team up to find out the supplier of the illegal ingredients for the tattoo parlor Nevermore, and her findings redeem her image within the Alchemist society.
Adrian Ivashkov - A Moroi who specializes in Spirit and is bonded to Jill by bringing her back from the dead, this being said, he loves Jill in a brotherly way and looks out for her. He and Sydney team up to find out the supplier of the illegal ingredients for the tattoo parlor Nevermore. It is mentioned that he is partly in Palm Springs to escape the hole left in his heart after he and Rose break up in Last Sacrifice. At the end of the book, he tells Sydney that she is beautiful, which leads to Sydney being confused with her feelings towards him. His finally established peace is shattered when Dimitri Belikov (Rose's (long-term) boyfriend) arrives at the end of the book.
Jillian "Jill" Mastrano Dragomir - A Moroi who specializes in Water and is the illegitimate sister to the queen of the Moroi, Vasilissa Dragomir. She is sent to a high school in Palm Springs, California to go undercover and stay low after an attack that caused her to die and become 'shadow-kissed' -bonded to Adrian. Because of the bond, she receives the same effects of Adrian's alcohol/energy drinks, and often wakes up with a hangover. She and Lee develop feelings for each other and is bullied at the school
Eddie Castile - A dhamphir guardian who was sent along with Jill to go to Palm Springs. It is also revealed that he has a crush on Jill and witnessed her death during an attack prior to the series.
Micah Vallence - A human at the private school in Palm Springs. He mentioned to be the 'dead ringer' for Mason Ashford (Who was killed by a Strigoi in Frostbite). He has a crush on Jill and helps her get out of gym class.
Lee Donahue- Appears to be 19 years old. His father Clarence houses Adrian and helps with the protection of Jill in Palm Springs. He was turned Strigoi against his will 15 years ago, but was turned back 5 years prior to the series starting. He is wiling to do anything to turn back into a Strigoi after being brought back by a unknown spirit user. He also wants to make Jill a Strigoi so they could be together forever. He killed Tamara, his cousin, as well as many other girls (all of them different 'races') and drank their blood, as well as slitting their throats to throw people off, hoping to become Strigoi once more. He is accidentally killed by a Strigoi named Jacqueline when he begs her to change him back, due to his body rejecting Strigoi blood after being turned Moroi again.
Clarence Donahue- A Moroi who fears Vampire hunters, whom he believes killed his niece, Tamara, simply to push away the possibility of his own son being the murderer. Keith becomes friendly with him and extracts his blood and saliva to sell to the tattoo parlor called Nevermore.
Keith Darnell - The alchemist assigned to Palm Springs, California. He and Sydney hate each other, due to him raping her sister Carly years prior to the series and her protecting her younger sister, Zoe, from him. While in Palm Springs, Keith tries to do anything he can to send Sydney to a re-education center, which would make Zoe take her place. Later in the book, Sydney, with the help of Adrian, find out that he was extracting blood and saliva from Clarence and selling it to the tattoo parlor Nevermore.
Laurel- A human girl with long red hair who harasses Jill throughout the book before being stopped by Sydney. She does so because Micah was hanging out with Jill. With this being said, she has a flaming crush on Micah, though he does not return her feelings.
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