"Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets--and human lives."
The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead
Book 2 of the Bloodlines series
418 pages
The Golden Lily will leave you desperate for more, or at least that's what I thought when I turned the last page. The characters are intense, sometimes oblivious, but always real.
Sydney Sage is the type of heroine that you just feel for. I mean, it's not everyday that you have to keep an ENORMOUS secret from everyone.
What really made me love the story was the whole amazingness of it. Richelle Mead has created a world that lives right within our own. There are many authors that can pull that off, but hers is just so.. Out there. I can tell that's she thought about this through and through. From the Moroi to the Dhampirs and the Strigoi to the Alchemists, all of this was its own complex creation.
Don't believe me yet?
The Characters:
Every character is different from their favorite activities to how well they can fight-to-the-death!
Sydney Sage: She's the responsible one, the one that has to deal with every little problem. When she gets closer to the vampires that the Alchemists only barely tolerate, will she go against everything she knows and save the day?
Adrian Ivashkov: He's artistic, crazy(literally), thoughtful, outgoing, and I just flat-out LOVE him. To bad he has a thing for a certain badass, red-headed Dhampir...
Jill Dragomir: She's the princess-in-hiding. Literally.
Eddie Castille: He's the Romeo to Jill's Juliet. He's also the one in charge of protecting her from danger, but the only danger here is the line between duty and love.
There are many other characters, but it just wouldn't do for me to reveal them all! Trust me, you'll be completely blown away by them when you start reading it!
The Plot:
There are twists and turns, vampire feedings, new cars, and the occasional boyfriend issue here and there. Mainly, Sydney is just supposed to keep Jill safe and hidden from the Moroi trying to kill her. Why? One of the ways to kick a Moroi queen off her throne is if she has no one left in her family. Jill's older sister, Lissa, is the Moroi queen and they're all they have left of their family. Trying to kill Lissa is impossible, so the people against her are aiming to kill Jill.
As it is, Sydney already has enough to deal with. Obviously, her troubles don't end here.
The Alchemists are, in fact, a very old group of humans. They've been around for centuries! The self-proclaimed "Warriors of Light" used to be a part of them. The Warriors would have been okay, if not for the fact that they were trying to kill a Moroi, Sonya Karp. She used to be a Strigoi, but that was a mistake she deeply regrets. To put it simply, the Warriors kill the evil Strigoi and they're sure that Sonya is making everyone around her believe that she's still a Moroi. The Warriors of Light will stop at nothing to kill Sonya.
Romance:
Sadly for you romance lovers, there is about no romance at all. I mean, the characters are off dating one another, but there's no serious, serious relationship. The only romantic scene you can look forward to is in the last 2 pages.
Pros vs Cons:
This book will pretty much keep you reading until there's nothing left of it to read because you've already finished it.
That is somewhat bad for your health, but who cares. I am 100% sure that it's worth staying up over.
There's barely any romance.
The last 2 pages will be worth it, my friend... Just keep reading!
Vampires, vampires, vampires.. What happened to werewolves?
It's the era of all things immortal. Besides, none of the characters are actually immortal except for the Strigoi.
You'll see characters reappear from Vampire Academy.
It's a whole 'nother different view on everything.
It's not very expense, just about 10 USD.
It's too much things to remember when reading.
Last time I checked, books were meant to be complex and exciting. The Golden Lily definitely is!
With the pros and cons out of the way, will you be reading The Golden Lily next? WAIT. It's the second book of the Bloodlines series, don't forget to read Bloodlines first!
Follow Richelle Mead on Twitter and check out her awesome site!
