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The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2) by Richelle Mead | Review

12:46:00 AM

Pages: 418 pages

Publication Date: June 12th 2012 by Penguin Group

ISBN: 1595143181 (ISBN13: 9781595143181)

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. Alchemists protect vampire secrets - and human lives.

Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she's been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California - tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formorly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.

But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age-old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and her sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi - the fiercest vampires, the ones who don't die. But it's her fear of being just that - special, magical, powerful - that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Braydon, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else - someone forbidden to her.

When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney's loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.

Should she trust the Alchemists - or her heart?

Now, What I Thought:

So it seems like the Bloodlines series it going to go the same way as Vampire Academy, in a way. It was pretty predictable but not in a way that I disliked it. It was still super juicy and addicting as always. I LOVED reading this story and the world of Moroi, Dhampir, and Strigoi from Sydney's P.O.V. Something about her inner thoughts and the way she spoke was just such a refreshing start from Rose's in the Vampire Academy. Of course, it was a little annoying how restricted Sydney could be and that she's not that comfortable with herself, let alone others like Adrian.

I liked how they made Sydney more than just a boring Alchemist. Now that she's pretty sure she has this unexplainable magic, she starts to open up, yet she knows the danger if anyone were to find out. I really liked how they incorporated Braydon, a sort of distraction for Sydney. It was cute and sweet and also funny to see how Adrian reacted. The pacing for everything was pretty darn good- the romance, danger, self-realization etc. I was so hooked on how likeable the characters were. Obviously I know Eddie, Jill and Adrian from before but Angeline and Tray were pretty likeable, despite their faults. What made this book even better was definitely Sonya and Dimitri!! Those two are both hilarious and just a great reminder where this whole storyline and world came from.

Adrian was fantastic. Since Vampire Academy, I've been in love with Adrian. I think he has definitely grown and gone through some shit and deserves so much more, a.k.a Sydney :). Now, I don't know where Mead is going with this but it seems that Adrian finally gets to have some happiness in his life. I like that we get to see Sydney change, for the better. Her prejudices from the years and years of being brainwashed are finally breaking down and she's, again, slowly allowing herself to open up and be vulnerable in front of the Moroi and Dhampir.

All in all, this was the perfect sequel and I couldn't ask for a better book! Can't wait for the next one, The Indigo Spell!!! Yay!