The recent Strigoi attack at St. Vladimir’s Academy was the deadliest ever in the school’s history, claiming the lives of Moroi students, teachers, and guardians alike. Even worse, the Strigoi took some of their victims with them . . . including Dimitri.He’d rather die than be one of them, and now Rose must abandon her best friend, Lissa—the one she has sworn to protect no matter what—and keep … what—and keep the promise Dimitri begged her to make long ago. But with everything at stake, how can she possibly destroy the person she loves most?
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This book was hard. Im so sad about Dimitri. I loved getting to see Rose and Dimitri at school in the flashbacks. I nees to know what is going to happen. I will be continuing the series.
Reread: 4/2021 – Pretty much stick by my earlier review. I do want to add though, I loved the flashbacks to scenes with Rose and Dimitri at the school, that show how their relationship grew when the reader wasn’t watching and that it wasn’t just instalove in earlier books. I love that she finds out more about spirit, her relationship with Lissa and her mental health, and that there are more spirit users than they ever believed.
This just tore my heart out. I love that we get to see Dimitri’s family, and that we see Rose mature a little more and even show some hesitation (sometimes for good and sometimes for bad) Richelle Mead is amazing at twists. Too often in YA novels we see a lot of really convenient twists (like, say Shatter Me) and I feel like in VA they are done soooo well with so much subtle foreshadowing that left me like “ohhhh that’s where this was heading all along”
Rose has to set out to free Dimitri from his undead state. Alone, she has to face many obstacles in the way of her goal. Can she truly kill the man she loves – even if he’s an undead monster?
She encounters different people on her travels and learns to deal with her grief.
Skip the prologue – it’s just another info-dump about what had happened in the previous books.
It’s a good book. it reminds me a bit of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” when Angel loses his soul… It’s an emotional roller-coaster. But this one cannot be read as a stand-alone.
Spoilers!!!
RECAP:
Book 4, Blood Promise, starts with Rose trekking around Russia looking for Dimitri , to kill him. In Russia Rose meets up with a human named Sydney Sage and a Moroi named Abe. Sydney is an Alchemist who helps Rose find Dimitri’s family. Rose starts living with Dimitri’s mom, grandma, and 3 sisters. They didn’t know Dimitri was turned Strigoi. Rose of course tells them. They hold an memorial in his honor, and treat Rose like his widow. Rose ends up staying longer with the Belikovs than she planned because she loves them and feels closer to Dimitri being in his childhood home. Abe tries to get her to go back home, lying and telling her he was hired to find her and get her home. Really he is her father and he wants her safe. She doesn’t find that out until the end of the book. Rose gets in a fight with Dimitri’s youngest sister and ends up leaving. She hunts Dimitri down. Dimitri knocks Rose out and holds her prisoner telling her that he wants to turn her Strigoi by choice. Dimitri trying to talk Rose into becoming Strigoi by keeps Rose high on vampire bites and making out with her telling her they could be together forever.
Rose ends up staking Dimitri with a chair leg, escaping the compound he was holding her at. Dimitri catches up with her and she ends up staking him with a silver stake. He falls off a bridge into a river. She believes him dead. She gets ahold of Abe, who picks her up and gets her help as she was badly hurt fighting Dimitri and other Strigoi that lived at the compound. The woman that Abe gets to heal Rose is also a spirit user. Her name is Oksana and her bonded husband is Mark. When getting healed, Rose slips into Lissa’s head and realizes that Lissa is in trouble from another Spirit user name Avery. Avery is trying to kill Lissa and bond her to her. Rose with the help of Oksana and Adrian are able to save Lissa from where she is in Russia. Also while getting healed she learns there are rumors that a Stigoi can be healed by a spirit user. She is sad that Dimitri is dead and can’t be healed if the rumors are even true. Rose with the help of Abe goes back to the Academy. She re-enrolls in school and promises her mom and Lissa she will finish this time. She also tells Adrian that she will start dating him. At the very end of the book Rose gets a letter from Russia. It’s from Dimitri telling Rose she forgot the lesson of making sure the Strigoi is dead. In the letter he sends her the stake she staked him with and tells her he is coming for her.
This book is so good. My heart hurts for Rose so much. Rose does a lot of remembering of the good ol days in this book, so I got to get a deeper look at Rose and Dimitri’s relationship. I loved Dimitri’s family I could see why Rose would want to stay with them. A big part of the book was Rose while being held captive by Dimitri and my heart broke with Rose’s. I too felt like Dimitri still had good in him and I don’t know if I could have staked the man I loved. I felt bad for Lissa and Christian. When Christian broke up with Lissa I almost cried. I know Lissa couldn’t help the things she was doing because Avery was controlling her with spirit but I hurt more for Christian. I really like Adrian too but I don’t want him with Rose. Sorry I just think it’s too soon, especially after finding out Dimitri is still alive and can be saved. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next Book!!!
It’s Richelle Mead no review required shes great.
**I try not to spoil the book**
This book is amazing but also aggravating. Rose has left the academy to go and hunt for Dimitri. Remember back either a book or two, Rose and Dimitri basically promised each other that if the other was turn Strigori, the other would hunt them down and kill them. Well that’s what Rose’s plan is, but doesn’t go as smoothly. There are problems that come up and she has to deal with them accordingly. This shows how much Rose truly loves Dimitri. She is willing to risk her life and her love to kill the man she loves. She ends up following her heart in the end.