Blood Promise

Vampire Academy, Book 4

By: Richelle Mead

Narrated by: Emily Shaffer

Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

The recent Strigoi attack at St. Vladimir's Academy was the deadliest ever in the school’s history, claiming the lives of Moroi students, teachers, and guardians alike. Even worse, the Strigoi took some of their victims with them . . . including Dimitri.

He’d rather die than be one of them, and now Rose must abandon her best friend, Lissa—the one she has sworn to protect no matter what—and keep the promise Dimitri begged her to make long ago. But with everything at stake, how can she possibly destroy the person she loves most?

Back to school! Listen to more titles in the Vampire Academy series.

©2009 Richelle Mead (P)2010 Penguin

Critic reviews

"The most exciting yet.... Mead’s storytelling improves with each installment, as she keeps readers on the edge of their seats while adding a few unexpected twists." (Associated Press)

Surprise after surprise

Loved this book! Took me a little bit to get through it but I’m so glad I did. This may be my fav of the series!

OK if you are not annoyed by details

I made it this far, so the book series has some merit. I am glad we have passed the disturbing student-teacher romance - or have we? Get over it and just kill him. But more annoying to me are: A) travelog stories that gloss over the extreme sense of disorientation one experiences when going unprepared and solo to countries with radically different customs and languages [we expect that kind naivety in 39 Clues and Carmen Sandiego] ; B) name-dropping "alchemy" when the story component bears no resemblance at all to historical alchemy. The choice of first person narrative can (and does here) bog down in inner-dialog morass; Hunger Games was much better. The Russian diction seems artificial, but tolerable. On the positive side, the series has driven me to binge on Buffy, having missed it in its original broadcast era.

Narration was great!

Such a great book, way better narrator. Grab the tissues, there's no way your not shedding some tears.

Best Narrator out of the 3 for this series

Finally, a narrator who rendered all the characters in the right accents and persona. Helped the story a great deal.
I really enjoyed Sydney's character and loved Adian's renewed accent. The story keeps a good pace and suspense.

Had me hooked

His book had me laughing, crying and laughing so much. It was amazing. The narration was great, the characters really grew into there character.

The Narrator Makes This Book Work.

What did you love best about Blood Promise?

This book really opened up the world of Vampire Academy. Readers get a glimpse into the world of Miroi and Strigoi outside the walls of St. Vladimir's. Until this point, Richelle Mead hadn't spent a lot of time world building, but this problem is resolved as Blood Promise introduces new characters, institutions, locales, and conflicts.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I always love Rose and Christian, but Sydney Sage definitely stole the show this time. Like the rest of the Vampire Academy cast, Sydney is a very complex character with a lot of baggage, but she's always fun to read. Not only is she a great character, but she introduces readers to a whole new side of the VA world: the Alchemists. She's an all-around great addition to the series.

Any additional comments?

Khristine Hvam was a wonderful narrator for the 2nd and 3rd books in the series. She brought a light-hearted innocence to the books that suited Rose's voice at that time. But everything changed at the end of Shadow Kiss. Blood Promise has a darker tone than the previous books and Rose, forced to mature, is not the same carefree girl she used to be.

Changing the narrator to Emily Shaffer was the perfect choice for this audiobook. The reader is immediately confronted with the change in Rose's character and what this will mean for the rest of the series. It's a bit jarring at first, but the change makes for a deeper, more enjoyable experience.

Great Story

I love the story. All the books have intertwined beautifully. The story telling was great until it got to Russian accents. They were so bad and sesame street the count sounding it would ruin the entire scene for me.

Narrator

Annoyed that the narrator changed again but she did a good job. I enjoyed the little music/sound additions through out the story. It added more drama to it.

5 star

I loved it! Made me cry and happy dance. I can't wait to read the next one

I want the original Narrator.

Emily is a great narrator and I love her work, but not for this series. Stephanie Wolf is the best for this series and it would be better if she could redo the narrations and I would totally buy them again no problem. I mean Stephanie is where it’s at and completely made it for me! STEPHANIE, please REDO the last 3 books please!!!