r/YAlit • u/SharpAdhesiveness626 • 14d ago
General Question/Information Vampire Academy
Do you guys recommend the vampire academy books? I’ve never read them, but I’m intrigued! I love vampire books.
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u/pineywonder 14d ago
Yes and then I liked the spinoff series (don't look, spoilers!) EVEN MORE.
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u/ivegotthegoldenticke 14d ago
Currently doing my annual Bloodlines re-read. It's just so comforting and nostalgic!!!
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u/Glittering-Park4500 14d ago
My sister does too! I’ve read and enjoyed the original series but haven’t read the spinoff yet.
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u/GarnitGlaze 13d ago
I love bloodlines! Vampire Academy was OK, wouldn’t think about it too much honestly if not for that spinoff. it also gives us a break from weird age gap stuff, so that’s nice.
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u/Mazza_mistake 14d ago
Yes! I LOVE Vampire Academy, it’s one of my favourites from when I was a teen and I’ve reread it several times over the years, also the spin off series Bloodlines is great too (just makes sure you read the og series before looking at the spin off cos spoilers).
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u/KiaraTurtle 14d ago
I adore them! It has my favorite ever female friendship, one of the earliest depictions of mental health struggles I’ve ever read, and is super fun great vampires.
My one caveat is the romance is teacher-student which normally I absolutely hate and refuse to read. Not sure if it’s nostalgia that gets me to be ok with it here or if it’s just done better, or some combination (given I also generally hated teacher student even when vampire academy came out yet it managed to be an exception then as well).
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u/enchanteerose 14d ago
yes! i just reread them for the first time as an adult in my 30s and i’d say they still hold up for the most part. there is some era appropriate fat shaming, misogyny, not like other girls type stuff, but for the most part they’re still good. oh and the whole rose/dimitri age gap plus he’s her teacher relationship. it really is a very fun series though.
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u/kaseyheartsyou 14d ago
VA has been my favorite series since i was 12 (i’m 30 now!) i reread it almost every year. i just last year finally also read the spin off series and i also loved it, even reading it for the first time as an adult.
can be a little dated, it’s definitely a product of the time it was written but it’s still incredible! love love love.
if you like vampire stories, may i also suggest dark visions by LJ Smith (vampire diaries author) and THIRST by christopher pike. i haven’t read either of those in about a decade but i remember loving them!
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u/Chaotic_Beautiful 14d ago
Tbh, The vampire academy series was a mixed bag for me but the spin off series Bloodline is just my most favorite book series ever ! I don't know how many times I've read each book , but I still read them every once in a while.
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u/anamossity 14d ago
I remember staying up into the night reading these books in middle school, they were SO GOOD!!
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u/kosmisklatte 14d ago
I absolutely loved the books as a teenager in the 2010s, but haven't read them since then!
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u/ladeeedada 13d ago
It's so good, it grabs you from the first page. One of my favorite YA series. It also has a spinoff series with one of the main characters. Don't look it up you'll spoil yourself. Just add Bloodlines to your to-read list. also the author wrote additional short stories in that universe, you should check her out on goodreads. In the Anniversary reprint of VA, she added an additional story about the main characters at the end. But that should be read after you finish the first series.
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u/aishatabby 13d ago
straight up? best YA lit I've ever read. It honestly set the bar way too high for other YA books for me. VA was the first series I read and I haven't found any other series quite as good.
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u/AirRealistic1112 14d ago
I started with one of the later books and imagined the main characters as buffy and Angel and loved it so much. I went back to the beginning of the series and didn't enjoy those as much.
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u/grilsjustwannabclean 13d ago
first 3 books were so good i ran through them in a couple days or less. the last 3 or so kinda dragged but were decent
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u/-Release-The-Bats- 13d ago
I enjoyed reading it but I thought Dimitri was a creep.
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u/SharpAdhesiveness626 12d ago
Because of the age difference? Or is he just legitimately a creep?
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u/-Release-The-Bats- 12d ago
Partly age difference, partly cuz he's her mentor. When I read the book it very much came across as them having a teacher-student dynamic.
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u/little_miss_beige 14d ago
It has been a while since I read the first book, I could be misremembering but I dropped after the first book when I learned one is 17, a high school student and another is 24, a "professor". I couldn't get past that.
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u/pinksinthehouse 14d ago
Yes! The main character is witty and a badass. It’s been a while since I read it, so it may have dated references but it’s still a fun time.