It was really lackluster. I loved the storyline itself, but didn’t like a lot of the characters, especially the 2 main characters, Rose and Lissa.

Lissa is a Morai princess, and is a mortal vampire with a very strong bond to the earth’s magic. She needs to be protected from the Strigoi, who are your stereotypical vampire. This is where Rose steps in. She has both human and vampire blood, which makes her a Dhampir.

The Morai seemed more like glorified witches than actual vampires, because heaven forbid they become like the all-evil Strigoi. I felt like Mead didn’t think through the Morai/Strigoi/Dhampir very well at all. For a book set in a vampire school, you forget about the students being vampires (or the Dhampir, who protect the Morai). I like the idea of different kinds of vampires, and one group being more powerful. I also like the idea of the Strigoi hunting the Morai. However, the execution of it fell flat for me- almost like Mead didn’t think it all the way through.

As for the actual characters, Rose isn’t likeable at all, and seems to be more interested in getting drunk and making out with random guys. Plus, she has a tendency to get into fights, and seems to be very petty. I wasn’t impressed with the other characters either.

The writing was horrible! The transitions were horrible, and Mead kept alluding to some event that led Lissa and Rose leaving school, which we didn’t find out about until the last third of the book. The book was more telling then showing. An accurate description would be that it’s like a teen telling you a story, which, in a way, is true.

Then there’s the fact that it was really boring…there really wasn’t enough action to keep me interested, and sadly, the last 30 to 40 pages were the most interesting of the whole book. It’s too bad that it took nearly 300 pages to get so interesting…only for it to end.

Rating: 2 out of 5. It seriously sounds like a teen wrote it, and it definitely could have used a lot of work before being published.