Vampire Academy By Richelle Mead

I have just finished reading Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead and if I do say so myself, this book was a very interesting read. I have to praise Miss. Mead for keeping the suspense alive throughout the novel and toying with the idea of what a vampire is, which I created in my gothic novel, Dracula. I also admire her addition of “Dhamphirs” to the vampire genre and the names that she endowed these mystical creatures, like “Moroi” and “Strigoi”. I commend her various additions to the history of vampires that Van Helsing touched on when he was explaining the powers of a vampire to Jonathan and Mina Harker, Quincey Morris, Dr. Seward, and Lord Godalming. By adding the idea of a school for young vampires and their guardians, Miss. Mead opens the
They are stronger and faster than the vampires they protect, and their strengths are made evident to the reader through similes used by Miss. Mead. This includes when she says, “.... they could move and strike like cobras. He knocked me off as though brushing away a fly, and his hands slammed into me and sent me backwards.” (Mead 10) By saying that the guardian could move like a cobra, it exhibits to the reader how strong and quick they are, like snakes, and creates a threatening image. The comparison to the protagonist, Rose, being swatted away at like, “a fly,” gives the reader the image of a very powerful hand that would be able to exhibit such force. Another enticing fact is that the Moroi vampires in this novel are mortal, which is extremely different to my novel because Dracula is supposed to be the most powerful “undead” creature walking the earth. Thus, this creates a large plot difference in our two novels, being that in Dracula, humans are attempting to stop the “undead” from causing havoc. In Vampire Academy, mortal vampires are the prey of the immortal “Strigoi” vampires. Miss.Mead is also able to successfully create a suspenseful atmosphere throughout the entirety of the book, similar to what I did by keeping the suspense alive using imagery and figurative language. One example of a suspenseful atmosphere is magnified through her use of the
what are we going to do if they catch us?” she whispered. “They won’t,” I said fiercely. “I won’t let them.” “But if they’ve found us--” “They found us before. They didn’t catch us then. We’ll just drive over to the train station and go to L.A. They’ll lose the trail.” (7)
In this way, Miss. Mead is able to successfully create a suspenseful atmosphere in this passage because the reader is unaware of who the “they” is that the characters are speaking of. This then builds tension for the reader and creates a sense of mystery. This is similar to the suspense I created when Jonathan Harker was trying to figure out what type of creature Dracula was and when also the reader did not know what was happening to