Book Review: “Golden Lily” (Bloodlines #2) by Richelle Mead
“Golden Lily” (Bloodlines #2) by Richelle Mead (2012)
Genre: YA, Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal
Page Length: 418 pages (paperback edition)
Synopsis:
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. Formerly 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 the 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 Brayden, 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? (description from Goodreads)
Review:
The next installment in the Bloodline series! This time around we still interact with same main cast of characters in the first novel, with the introduction of a couple of new faces. Dimitri and Sonya are included in this novel as well. In the first Bloodlines book we only get brief mentions of their names, but in The Golden Lily we get to see them in action.
Sydney, slowly starts to let her walls down and becomes more open to the idea of magic as well as vampires. Because of this she starts to doubt everything the Alchemists have told her growing up, and wonders if it’s completely true or if they’re trying to cover something up.
The character relationships also deepen too. Adrian and Sydney become close to one another. And will Eddie finally admit his feelings for Jill?
Overall, the pace of the plot is steady and features lots of action as always. Everything is amped up one step higher from the first novel and the whole overall plot begins to deepen.
Final Verdict:
5 out of 5 stars! Just bought the third novel, The Indigo Spell, and I can’t wait to read it! I really need to start catching up with this series.
