At the conclusion of the third Vampire Academy book, readers felt Rose's pain as her soulmate, mentor, and friend Vladimir was taken and turned by the Strigoi. Now, in Blood Promise, Richelle Mead’s fourth gripping installment, Rose has left the Academy and begun her quest to find Vladimir, so that she can kill him. Leaving Lissa behind is not nearly as difficult a decision for Rose to make as was her decision to destroy the Strigoi that once was Vladimir, but Rose knows that she must do both, killing Dimitri to honor his memory.

The fourth Vampire Academy book does not disappoint, despite the ending cliffhanger so typical of the series. For more vampire romance, try The Silver Kiss, Companions of the Night, Vampire Kisses, or Twilight. ( )

There was SO much potential in this book, so many directions this story could have taken, and yet I feel like someone stuck me on a merry-go-round. For a book with so much happening in it, very little actually happened. I am disappointed to say the least.

There is very little that we learn in Blood Promise. We get insight into Dimitri’s family, as well as a small glimpse into the fact that there are more Spirit capable Moroi, and of course the possibility that a Spirit Moroi MIGHT be able to heal the evil blood sucking crazy out of a Strigoi. Which, at this point, pretty much everyone had guessed that’s what this book would be about anyway. We also get a little more insight on Adrian and just how much he cares about Rose, and at this point I’m voting on Adrian, honestly. But that’s pretty much all this book is useful for. It’s so much filler it drives me insane.

I did in fact, manage to read it in all of six hours, however, that was purely me wanting to know what was going to happen. I mean there had to be some action in there somewhere, right? Ehh… There was, but it was very little, and in fact, very little means: almost none. There were maybe two or three fight scenes throughout the entire book that were actually worth calling ‘fight scenes.’

Also, we can’t forget about Lissa? Right? Blood Promise doesn’t manage to exclude her, she’s well within our grasp, but it’s sort of loosely tied together with the rest of the story. First of all, Rose just ‘pops in’ on her through out the book. Like.. oh say, while sitting out on a curb… where a Strigoi could pop up on her at any time… not too smart right? But, back to Lissa – I get that she’s the last in her family, the last in her line, but oh my goodness. Could we try not to kill her for once? Most of the book seems like a big ploy to get Rose away from the Academy just long enough for someone to try and kill her again. Except this time Rose has to think of another way to save her since she’s not actually at the Academy – and while, I’ll admit this was interestingly done – still it’s grasping at straws and was slightly confusing.

Also, apparently Dimitri is not just a Strigoi, he is a cat-Strigoi, because at this point I’m quite convinced he very well may have nine lives. And just think we’re only through.. three of them?

There is so much that I want to mention but it would give away a great deal of the plot, perhaps I will write another post about it specifically that isn’t included in the reviews. But, Blood Promise? A Merry-go-round. We are right back at the same place we left off in Shadow Kiss: What’s going to happen with Dimitri? Except now there might be a way to SAVE Dimitri… which… couldn’t Richelle had just put that in Shadow Kiss somewhere? As I said before, most people had figured out that this is what Blood Promise was going to be about anyway! It would not have been that hard to include it, and would have made a perfect cliffhanger. 500 pages for one new development seems like a bit of a stretch for me. Blood Promise, to me, felt like the Jacob chapters in Breaking Dawn. Entertaining but mainly just useless. Unless of course you like to know every little thing about a character. In that case, you’ll probably love it. Me, myself, I could go for a little mystery. ( )

i think how she always made it seem that rose would follow him to end of the world made it seem like she would stay with him. When she killed him i was surprised and a little sad. But at the end how he turns out to be alive was well amazing and the letter he left made the air mysterious.

Why? That's what readers of this series all want to know. Again later, while within this book, readers will ask this question yet again. After finishing this book, though, I think I know why. At least, for the second question....Or is it the third?

The books get thicker each time, and each time they get better, as well. You will see a whole new world in this book and may interpret that information however you chose. All I can say while trying to prevent major spoilers is that this series would have been lost without this book and definitely weaker. It really builds onto the series. Readers may also ask, 'What are you doing, Rose?' and I fear a select few may dislike a good deal of this book. It all as very good though, and all of it necessary.

There are quite a few new developments in this book, with many questions answered and more yet to be answered with the next installment. I look forward to April and eagerly await it and the publication it brings of book five in the Richelle Mead's lovely Vampire Academy series. ( )

The book is amazing! You never know what will come next! The whole series is absolutely phenomonal, but this book is especially spellbinding! I will read it again and again. ( )