The Golden Lily

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

The Golden Lily is the second book in Mead's new series. It's based on Alchemist Sydney Sage and her time protecting the young vampire Jill from threats to her sister's throne. All the while dealing with the ups and downs of high school. There's a full cast here: a couple of dhampirs including the infamus Dmitri Belikov, a group of crazy vampirie hunters, and a few humans.

While not being perfect, this book was above and beyond most YA series. The male interest, Adrian, is a physically perfect specimen but his romantic interest, Sydney, has no qualms in letting him no his faults. He smokes too much, he drinks too much...he is not some flawless creature. I love that. Since Twilight came onto the scene, YA authors have started writing lead male characters that are just too freakin' spotless.I like these faults.

Speaking of hot heroes, the romance between Adrian and Sydney is really starting to spark. The scenes between those two were some of the best in the book. The first book had the two hovering on friendship and the second book sees the feelings of one change. The other romances in the book weren't as cute. We now have some wierd quadrangle thing going with Eddie, Jill, Angeline, and Micah. We'll see how that plays out.

Mead also handles the evolution of Sydney's beliefs very well. Sydney is an Alchemist who was raised to believe that all vampires are evil. As she interacts more and more with her vampire friends, Sydney is forced to start changing some of those views. Also, Mead has Sydney working more and more with magic, albeit unwillingly. This whole series has had some great character development for Sydney.

Now, for what I didn't like. Action. The series needs more action, more threats, more tension. Jill is at this school in hiding because she fears for her life. We have yet to see any threat to Jill so far. Sure, there have been bad guys but it all relates to some secondary plot line. I better see someone actually threaten Jill in the next book.

I want to address criticism of Sydney's body image. People, she is staying with physically beautiful and perfect vampires. If she didn't have some body image problems, I'd find her character unrealistic. Most of us, speaking as a young woman myself, have some body image issue. And Sydney is given a great reality check by none other than Adrian.

Overall, I liked the whole superpower tattoo idea in the first book better than the vampire hunters in the second book. But The Golden Lily is saved by the interaction of Sydney and Adrian. I would say read this series and you won't regret it. Hopefully, I'll get around to reading the Vampire Academy series to do a comparison of the two series.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5

Bloodlines

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Let me preface this whole review by saying I have not read any of the Vampire Academy books and came into this series with a fresh mind. I know a lot of fans of Mead's Vampire Academy series have voiced their dislike over Sydney being the narrator. I can't judge that because I have no clue what Rose sounded like.

This series follows alchemist Sydney who is forced to babysit vampire princess Jill with a bunch of misfits in sunny California. There is Adrian, Eddie, and a whole cast of vamps to help out the Moroi princess. And one Alchemist that Sydney has some bad blood with. The whole novel is about the Sydney walking the fine line between loyalty to her Alchemist upbringing and her interactions with this group of misfit vampires. The overarching plot is that Jill is in danger because of her connection to the Moroi queen but there is an immediate plot that deals with vamp blood and super tattoos.

Let me just say, I actually enjoyed the book. I really enjoyed Sydney as a narrator and the hints of a relationship with a certain somebody in the series gives the reader something to look forward to. Also, the fact that the word "perfect" was not used to describe the main guy. The book was a nice read. I really enjoyed following Sydney around as she adjusted to some freedom from her father and was forced to face her preconceptions about vampires. There are some great moments between her and Adrian, although the best part was the one scene with Jill and Sydney. Priceless!

I have a few complaints. Mead needs to step up the action a little bit. It can't be all about school and romance. That won't be enough to fill a series. I hope the danger to Jill increases and we see some action in regards to that plotline. A little bit more spice to the romance, more action and the series will get better.
I will definitely recommend this to friends and am moving on to the second book as soon as I can. This is one series I am now hooked on.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5

The Cold Dish

The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson

This is the first book in the Walt Longmire series. I picked this book up after watching a couple of episodes of the new Longmire tv series. It was what I would classify as a Western mystery. It takes place in Wyoming(my neighbors to the West) and it is about Sheriff Walt Longmire and his crew.

It starts with the murder of one kid convicted of sexual assault and the suspect list is high. Lots of people would've wanted to hurt this kid and Walt has to sift through all the bad blood after the trial while dealing with competition for his reelection as sheriff.

I thought this book was good but not great. The secondary characters weren't that fleshed out and the only one I really found interesting was Lucian, the sheriff before Longmire. I found his commentary the best in the book. Vic didn't rub on you very well, coming off as bitter from the move and her attitude and language came off more as abrasive than endearing.

Longmire is an interesting character. He is a sheriff in Wyoming, can identify classical music and literature, and is moving on from the death of his wife several years ago. He is an interesting main character but I thought the author failed to address really the issue of being a widower and moving on to date other women. I thought that really was brushed aside and not addressed as fully as one would expect.

The ending was definitely not what I expected. There were a few hints of a connection between the murder victims now that I think back on the book but not enough to give away the finale.

My final verdict was that the book was good but I don't know if it was good enough for me to continue with the series. I just don't have a lot invested in the characters to keep reading. There was too much of describing the local color and not enough on creating tension from the murders. Normally, when I read a mystery or a thriller, there is that tangible tension when you are racing through the book, just waiting to find out who the killer or bady guy is. Not so much here. It wasn't a bad book, but I'll stick to watching the tv series.

Final Rating: 2.5 out of 5

The To Be Read Pile

I managed to get to the library and pick up a few books for the week and added them to the growing pile of books to read. Since I am moving soon, I gotta get through the library books first. So, the library books go to the top of the pile. And what a juicy list it is.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner is at the top of the pile. I stopped in at the local B&N and saw that the series was pretty much everywhere. I stopped by and read the blurb on the back cover and was intrigued but not enough to drop money on the first book. It looks like it might be along the same lines as Hunger Games so I picked it up.

The Lying Game by Sarah Shepard is also in the pile. I love watching the Pretty Little Liars tv show but didn't like the books. I did things backwards with the series. I started watchinig, got attached to the characters as they were in the tv show and then couldn't stand the series. So, I'm going to read the Lying Game series before starting the tv show.

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead. I never read a Vampire Academy novel but I picked up the first book in this new series and loved it! So I went out and got the second book in the series. I'm hoping to have a review of Bloodlines up tomorrow and then the second book later in the week. I gotta admit, I am excited to see more Sydney-Adrian interaction.

I am super pumped for this week's readings. These will be great breathers from packing. I'm especially looking forward to The Golden Lily.