The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead (review copy) - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the previous books in the series. Do not read any further if you plan on reading the previous books and don't want things spoilt for you.
Will love lose her everything she knows?
Sydney is an Alchemist. She protects vampire secrets - and human lives.
In hiding at a Californian boarding school, Sydney's life has become irrevocably intertwined with Jill Dragomir, the vampire Moroi princess she has been tasked with protecting. She has grown close to Jill's royal circle - and to someone in particular. Someone that forces her to question everything the alchemisrs believe in. Someone forbidden.
When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world - her new world - apart, Sydney's loyalties are tested more than ever. Should she trust the alchemists - or her heart? From the blurb
Wow! I don't even know what to say! Except that I'm so sad I read this book so quickly and have to now wait ages before I can read the third book!
This review is going to be difficult because there are major things that happen and the hints of them start fairly early on, so I have to be careful about spoilers. I would suggest those who would like things to be a complete surprise stear clear of the product description on Amazon UK. It tells you more than is necessary in my opinion. Back to the review, I will start with the things I can talk about. The relationships in this book - all of them, friendships as well as romantic ones - are effected in this book. Friendships become strengthened, particularly between Sydney and everyone else, which worries her slightly. She's forever questioning her relationships with these people as this is a job ad they are not human! But for people who aren't human... they're not too bad. Because she's a Moroi, and particularly because she's a Moroi princess, Jill's relationship wih Micah becaomes strained. Her life gets more chaotic, and she feels uncomfortable with hiding things constantly, but their relationship also progresses a step, which leads to her worrying about her fangs. She's finally realising how complicated things can be. Sydney gets herself a boyfriend with a fellow knowledge geek, which provides endless amusement, but I will say no more. There's a almost a four way love square (not a triangle!) going on, which sounds complicated, but provides moments of "aww!"
And then there's Adrian Ivashkov. And I am lost for words. This guy... this guy is truely amazing! Behind all his snark and confidence, he is the most caring and protective guy, and at so many times in this book I just wanted to hug him. But not always for being so lovely. He goes through quite a hard time in this book in a number of ways. My heart goes out to him, and I just want to take him away from everything, and bring him home. Ahem. And also slap Sydney a few times, because, GOD, that girl is blind!
Now for the things I can't exactly talk about. What I will say is that the secrets discovered in this book - and the questions they raise for Sydney about everything she has been brought up to believe - are going to effect the rest of the books in the series from this point on. There's no way they couldn't! This is major stuff! Not completely surprising in itself, but a surprise because a whole series and the first book of this series went by with no real hint of anything like this. This will effect everyone, and it's huge! I cannot wait to see where this will lead in the next books!
As I said, things that lead to the major events start on fairly early on, but despite this, I found the pace of the book, to begin with, to be kind of slow. I wasn't really bothered, because there could be no problems at all going on for these characters, and I'd still want to read about their everyday lives. But this book leans more towards firguring things out and discovering and the personal lives on the characters, more than the action and danger. Don't get me wrong, around the second half of the book things pick up, and there is the edge-of-your-seat action we're used to (and woaaah!), it just takes a little longer for us to get excited/anxious about things. It's still a fantastic book, and one I love!
THE ENDING! Oh. My. WORD! How anyone is going to be able to coherently talk about the end is beyond me. All I feel like saying is, "DIKARHGKHFDGAJKGRTEYUG!!!!!!" But that's not really good enough for a review. If you get emotionally involved in the lives of these characters, and you happen to be a particularly big fan of Adrian, well, your jaw will be hanging down on the floor! There are no words to explain how I feel, but I could probably cry! Mead is a horrible, horrible person to her characters - yet, there is absolutely no other way that situation could have gone. Not at this point. But oh, my heart aches!
An amazing book, and for multiple reasons, I AM SO EXCITED to read the third book in the series! Just brilliant! Fans of this and the VA series need this book! Pre-order nooow!
Thank you to Razorbill UK for the review copy.
Published: 12th June 2012
Publisher: Razorbill UK
Buy from Amazon US
Richelle Mead's Website
My other reviews of the series:
Bloodlines (Bloodlines Book 1)
My reviews of the Vampire Academy series:
Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy Book 1)
Frostbite (Vampire Academy Book 2)
Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy Book 3)
Blood Promise (Vampire Academy Book 4)
Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy Book 5)
Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy Book 6)
First off: SQUEE! In a good way and a bad. Good because you have me 12392834 times more excited to read. And bad because you have me 12392834 times more excited to read and it's not next Tuesday yet!! Especially with what you write about Adrian because he has been one of my absolute favourite characters since we first met him in Frosbite. I freaking love the guy and I love that we're seeing those hidden, deeper layers now.
ReplyDeleteAHHH. What is this THING you're talking about that will affect the whole series?! WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! *tries to peek inside your brain*
HOLY CRAP. THIS ENDING. EVERYONE MENTIONS THIS ENDING. ASJHDSFNJSD. What? It involves Adrian? GOD, JO. YOU'RE KILLING ME. *sobs* I am so scared for my Ivashkov <3 Seriously, I am terrified. We all know what Richelle did to Dimitri in Shadow Kiss...
Thanks for ruining me with our AMAZING review. I want to hug you and slap you simultaneously :P But I am SO happy you loved this!!!
Hahaha, oh Brodie, you do make me smile!
DeleteOh Adrian! I love him. I want him for my own! He is just amazing! And the end... well, you'll just have to wait and see :P I so want to respond with something more, but I don't want to spoil it for you. It's best discovered as you read. But oh! :(
THIS THING IS MASSIVE! For the series and the world at large, at least. After you've read it, I think you'll know what I mean by it not being surprising of itself. But ooh, I wonder where things are going to go!
You are more than welcome! :P And thank you! :) I'll take the hug, thanks, loool. Can't wait for you to read it and see what you think! :D
Eeeekkk so excited. I need to squeeze this in before the release. I can't wait fab review always.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Oh, I'm sure you'll love it! It's amazing!
DeleteWow, sounds gooood...! :) "DIKARHGKHFDGAJKGRTEYUG!!!!!!" means a lot! ;)
ReplyDeleteIt is good! And it does! This book is just awesome! THAT ENDING! Oh my god!
DeleteYOU ARE FREAKING ME OUT, JO! On one hand, I'm squeally at Adrian being sweet, then sad that he's going to be ignored by Sydney, then scared because of this ending. ARGH! My poor boy...
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see what happens in this book to change the game!! I haven't read any summaries, really, so I'm going in blind ;) Amazing review! Can't wait to read this!! *hassles Penguin* HURRY WITH THE REVIEW COPIES!!!
Haha, this is a book to be freaked out by! It's awesome! And the endingggg! You are so right! My poor boy! :P
DeleteThank you! going in blind is good! Don't you just hate it when summaries tell you more than you need to know? Ugh! Spoilers, people! Pfft. Can't wait to see what you think of it once you've read it! :)