Forever Obsession: Vampire Academy: Graphic Novel

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Graphic Novel by Leigh Dragoon/Emma Vieceli

ISBN: 978-1-59514-429-4

Pages: 144

Appearance:

Summary:

ONLY A TRUE BEST FRIEND CAN PROTECT YOU FROM YOUR IMMORTAL ENEMIES...

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from the Strigoi, the fiercest vampires - the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood flows through Rose Hathaway, Liss'a best friends, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

Hey guys! First graphic novel review on the blog! Wow. I have actually never read any of the Vampire Acadmey stories before so I don't know if reading a graphic novel is a good start. In 8th grade, Claudz and I took a section from Shadow Kissed for our Forensics Duo piece and that is pretty much all the Vampire Academy I was exposed to. Claudz has been bugging me forever to read the series since the movie is coming out soon and she really wants to go. So, I decided to take the slightly lazy way out and picked up the graphic novel. >.< Yeah, sorry, but this gave me a good idea of what is going on which I guess is good. So I have a short-ish review on the book, let's go!

The drawings...I've read a bunch of reviews on Goodreads and many all agree that Lissa looks always ghost like. I remember Claudz saying that she was beautiful and golden and perfect. The Lissa that was drawn is tall and thin with a ghost-like appearance and eyes that look almost a transparent green. From that image, she looks more haunted than beautiful. I would say that Rose was really well drawn? I don't know much about her, but she looks 10x better than Lissa. Not that I can be the one to judge, I have zilch drawing abilities. Dimitri is well...buff, manly...you get the point. Christian is very pale, very Goth looking, but I kind of like him better than Dimitri...which I don't know, but character wise based on the book.

The story line was definitely not what I expected. One of the main reasons I always avoided Vampire Academy was because I am not a vampire genre loving person. I mean, I like the genre and read a lot of vamp books on Wattpad, but when it comes to more known books dealing with vampires, I tend to shy away. Richelle Mead definitely did a whole new spin on the vampire system which I thought was really creative and different. Hey, they didn't sparkle...though Lissa is pale enough. (Sorry Twilight fans, that was kind of mean...) I really liked the whole dhampir idea of guardianship and protection which in some sense, made the Moroi the "weak" ones instead of being all mighty and powerful.

The romance? First of all, Mia is a b....won't finish that word, but she really is. I think she was probably one the most well drawn characters. Her very flaxen looking curls and snobby fashion is perfect to her personality, boring and obnoxious. I really wanted to punch her in the face. Lissa did Aaron a huge favor by compulsing him to break up with her in my opinion. Rose and Dimitri? Like the electricity and hot chemistry, was not expecting almost inapropro scenes (sorry, I like that word) to be drawn, but that's cool. From my Shadow Kiss knowledge, their relationship certainly does "advance." Lissa and Christian. I ship. I don't know why, but it's probably because of my liking to Christian. Plus, at the end when they're a "thing" Lissa looks a lot happier and more "alive" compared to her ghostly self in the beginning which is an improvement to her features.

One thing I wish was mentioned a bit more is Rose's mother. Maybe in the actual novel, she's barely mentioned at all, but in the graphic novel Rose gets an email from her mom and mentions her once to Dimitri. Obviously they don't have a great relationship, but I want to know a bit more.

Okay, so that's my first ever graphic novel review. How did I do? Sorry if I was a tad bit awkward in the writing and all. I've read the Twilight adaption which I believe is by the same artist and I have to say it was definitely drawn better than Vampire Academy in my point of view. This wasn't bad, just the pictures weren't what I expected. Other than that, gave me a good idea of what the story/series is about and I can't wait to see the movie when it comes out.