Shadow Kiss

Title - A Vampire Academy Novel : Shadow Kiss
Author - Richelle Mead
ISBN - 9781595141972
Publication Date - 2008

Plot- Its kind of hard to jump in the middle of things, but this novel series is about the tales of Rose and Lissa, two girls who have various amounts of power.  They are part of a larger vampire community that has their own codes that have developed over millennia.  Rose and Lissa are connected by some sort of unbreakable bond that was developed when Lissa ended up bringing Rose back to life.  Rose is now the protector of Lissa as she has a sense for the thoughts of Lissa. Lissa is part of the upper class community of the Vampire community.

With that little background in mind the story of Shadows kiss begins where the story of Frostbite left off.  One of Rose's good friends Mason has just died and she is in a state of shock.  But still they must get on with school and the process of learning their skills at being a Vampire and Vampire protector.  They have lessons where their teachers pose as evil heartless vampires out to kill the main vampire.  They are paired off into groups.  Rose, who it would naturally be paired with Lissa because of their bond, is paired off with Christian instead.  She ends up not being able to fend off the attack by the teacher because she ends up being confronted by Mason's ghost.  Throughout the rest of the novel she is haunted by more and more specters, and her headaches keep increasing. 

Simultaneously the relationship she is developing with her instructor, Dimitri, is getting more intimate until they finally consummate the relationship. They end up being attacked by this evil vampire group.  Eventually her and her classmates prepare to attack a group of these evil vampires as well as the teachers.   A large battle ensues where they fight off this group and everyone is able to free themselves, except Dimitri, who is converted into one of their evil band of vampires.  Rose decides to leave Lissa, despite her protestations, and pursue and kill Dimitri, not out of hatred, but out of love as he has now lost his own so

Critical Review - The Vampire Academy series is kind of walking on the fence between what many consider to be the dark sexual realization of what they believe vampires truly are, and the romantic sensitive brooding types that Stephanie Myers in her Twilight series imagine them to be.  Being in the middle of a Vampire series and trying to write a review strictly on the one novel is difficult because there is a large story arc, and this series is six novels long.  The middle portions of any good series move the novel and the plot along and still have something fresh to give.  This novel effectively further develops the relationships between Rose and Dimitri as well as Rose and Lissa, while adding new angles as a Queen is introduced. She has her own schemings about who is to end up with who how relationships should work themselves out.  Overall the book is a nice quick read.  However, I would recommend do not attempt to try to begin the series in the middle as there is so much going on you will get lost in a sea of names and characters.

Reader's Annotation - At the Vampire Academy, the difference between those who kill for sport, and those who eat for pleasure, may be considered very minuscule; but this major difference separates good and evil in the novel's developed by Richelle Mead.

About the Author - Richelle Mead was born in Michigan.  She ended up getting three separate degrees including a bachelors in general studies, a masters in comparative religion and a masters in education.  After she finished her first novel she quit her job to focus full time on her writing, although she did not seem to want to uncomplicate her life.  A somewhat overzealous individual, Mead has to turn out a novel every three months as she is writing for three fairly popular book series.  While one might question her sanity, one can never question her commitment to her fans and her work.

Genre - Monster/Horror Novel

Curriculum Ties -
Compare and contrast to the classic Horror Genre, i.e. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or Frankenstein.

Booktalking Ideas -
Discuss the idea of the horror/romance genre that appears to be popping up with items like Twilight.  Is this a real genre?  What are its tenants?  What distinguish them from the classic Horror and Romance genres?

Reading Level - Grade 10+

Challenge Issues - There might be complaints about the Romanticism between the undead as well as the issue of sex with instructors that this novelization brings up.

Overcoming Challenges - Have a lot of literature on the fantasy genre.  Compare and contrast much of the fantasy genre with the horror genre.  Describe how there are similarities and what one might accept in one they should accept the same in another, irrespective of who the author of the piece maybe.

Why included - I wanted to include a Monster / Horror Novel in the group of things I reviewed but I really wanted to avoid using Twilight as I have heard and read too much about it recently.