Review: Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

Blood Promise 
(Vampire Academy, #4)
By: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Published: Aug 25, 2009
Genre: YA
Rating:

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Rose Hathaway’s life will never be the same.

The recent attack on St. Vladimir’s Academy devastated the entire Moroi world. Many are dead. And, for the few victims carried off by Strigoi, their fates are even worse. A rare tattoo now adorns Rose’s neck, a mark that says she’s killed far too many Strigoi to count. But only one victim matters . . . Dimitri Belikov. Rose must now choose one of two very different paths: honoring her life’s vow to protect Lissa—her best friend and the last surviving Dragomir princess—or, dropping out of the Academy to strike out on her own and hunt down the man she loves. She’ll have to go to the ends of the earth to find Dimitri and keep the promise he begged her to make. But the question is, when the time comes, will he want to be saved?

Now, with everything at stake—and worlds away from St. Vladimir’s and her unguarded, vulnerable, and newly rebellious best friend—can Rose find the strength to destroy Dimitri? Or, will she sacrifice herself for a chance at eternal love?

**Warning May Contain Spoilers For Previous Books***

This entire book is about Rose on a mission to find and kill Dimitri. Back in the first book they had a talk about what they would want if they were turned Strigoi and that was to be killed. So once Rose turns 18 she leaves school and heads to Russia in hopes of finding him.

While in Russia, Rose meets an Alchemist named Sydney while out killing Strigoi by a nightclub. Alchemists are humans who are there to keep the Vampire existence a secret. They dispose of the Strigoi bodies with a special potion. So when Rose starts leaving mass bodies in her wake Sydney sets out to find who’s making her life difficult, which is how the two meet. When Rose tells Sydney where she’s trying to go they set off to Dimitri’s hometown. Which is where Rose meets his mother, sisters and grandmother. Being in his old home brings up a lot of memories for Rose. So even though Dimitri isn’t in the book a lot, he is brought up a lot. As well as Rose checks in with Lissa through their bond. There is a new girl at the school who appears to be a bad influence for Lissa. Adrian makes appearances in this book both through the bond with Lissa and when he visits Rose in her dreams. So even though it is a book about Rose being out on her own searching for Dimitri we still get updates on the whole crew.

I must say though, the book takes a crazy turn when the Strigoi version of Dimitri does show up. He’s still like the old Dimitri in some ways but he is really short tempered and… well.. for lack of a better word, bad. I wasn’t overly sure if I should root for Rose to kill him or let him go. I loved Dimitri in previous books but in this one he really is creepy. He taunts and threatens Rose but sometimes he seems to revert back to the old Dimitri. This story has so many awesome key points between Rose stumbling around Russia to finding his home and then ultimately finding him, that you were never left bored.

Rose is thinking back to a time when she and Dimitri were on a road trip. There was snow on the ground and she plopped down to make a snow angel. She talked Dimitri into laying in the snow with her to make one.

“Okay,” I said when he did nothing more. “Now you have to move your arms and legs.”
“I know how to make a snow angel.”
“Then do it! Otherwise, you’re more like a chalk outline at a police crime scene.”

Previous reviews from the Vampire Academy series…
Vampire Academy
Frostbite
Shadow Kiss