The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2) by Richelle MeadPages: 418
Grade: 7+ (some violence and fantasy/horror scenes)
Series: Bloodlines
Publisher: Razorbill
Source: Purchased for Kindle
Amazon | Goodreads
Description: (from Goodreads) Tough, brainy alchemist Sydney Sage and doe-eyed Moroi princess Jill Dragomir are in hiding at a human boarding school in the sunny, glamorous world of Palm Springs, California. The students--children of the wealthy and powerful--carry on with their lives in blissful ignorance, while Sydney, Jill, Eddie, and Adrian must do everything in their power to keep their secret safe. But with forbidden romances, unexpected spirit bonds, and the threat of Strigoi moving ever closer, hiding the truth is harder than anyone thought.
Check out my review of Bloodlines.
Thoughts: Wow, Goodreads, that description is lame. The plot is really about the “fictitious” vampire hunters that supposedly don’t exist and Sydney’s own struggles with her identity and beliefs as an Alchemist as she gets closer to Adrian, Jill, Eddie, and Co.
This book was just “meh” for me. There’s a lot less action and drama than in Bloodlines and 10x less action/drama than any of the VA books. The romance is 5th grade level too. It’s all flirty looks and blushing. Definitely not the Rose/Dimitri heat so many of us have come to love Richelle Mead for.
The Golden Lily focuses on Sydney’s internal struggles as she becomes closer to and more involved with her Mori and Dhampier charges. While I enjoyed being in Sydney’s head (I love a tough smart female lead) and think she’s an awesome character, that’s not what I pick up Richelle Mead’s books for, so I was pretty disappointed. We learn a lot about Sydney’s inner demons and glimpse her fears of disappointing her father, the Alchemists and herself. She’s struggling a lot with her new life and how she feels about being “okay” with the vampires she’s in charge of.
The tension just wasn’t there for me, mostly because it was Sonya who was in danger and while we’ve seen her before, she’s really a side character and one I just don’t feel connected to. The stakes just weren’t very high and ALL of the action happens in 3 chapters towards the end of the book.
This book had a lot of “book 2 syndrome” - despite being able to stand alone (if you didn’t read VA or Bloodlines you won’t be lost) - this really felt like a setup for the rest of the series. We were introduced to a new enemy and had the seeds of doubt planted for Sydney. Basically, not a whole lot happened in this book.
The Alchemists are still a big mystery. Even with the book opening in an underground Alchemist bunker, we still know so little about the organization. I want Sydney to go rouge and totally bust the doors wide open on this creepy underground organization. I love Sydney, but I’m not a fan of her employer.
As the action stalled out I looked to old favorites to hold my interest. I expected something different from Dimitri’s arrival - he wasn’t necessary at all and I wasn’t totally sure why he was even there - which was a bit disappointing. Adrian was the reason I kept turning the pages (and my unwavering love of VA). Of all the characters in the Bloodlines series, he’s the most interesting (so far). He goes through some pretty big changes in this book and I love him even more for it.
This is a book that’s worth reading because it’s part of a larger series that I anticipate to be epic, but as a stand alone book it’s pretty “meh” and will definitely not (I hope) be the high point of the series.
