Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead Review


"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.

Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she’s been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.

But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don’t die. But it’s her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her.

When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney’s loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.

Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart?"

Okay. Okay.

Sydney Sage certainly is keeping a bunch of secrets. She's dating the boy version of herself, Brayden. Unfortunately, it seems to have no chemistry. Well, to me, it was just plain torture. They weren't great with each other. Brayden remains awkward and strange. That just proves it! Especially at the end of The Golden Lily. Adrian is the one!

Anyway, I thought The Golden Lily was golden. It hit right on. I totally love it. It's the perfect amount of drama and insanity. Well, not insanity. That's not the perfect word for it. No, it's actually a perfect amount of charm. Perhaps I should use the word twist. Twisty plot, twisty Golden Lily. Yes, I believe that's perfect. Twisty and dramatic. I totally love it. Gosh, I'm repeating myself like a madwoman. 

The conflict is amazing. Sydney is charged with watching Jill, but she's frequently distracted by Adrian. Adrian, of course, is still drinking like crazy. He doesn't seem to be doing very well with spirit. It appears he could probably take a few good advice from Lissa, who seems to be doing a bit better with spirit than him. And then there's something else. Sydney has to practice witchcraft, because her teacher wants her to. It turns out Sydney is very special indeed. A human witch, who can use magic. It's like the special Moroi vampires who can play with the elements. And then there's some special type of people out there. (Not going to say). Let me just say this: The Golden Lily will always be entertaining and never disappointing. Mead has yet to fail.

I noticed something common among Mead's writing. Yes, I did reread the previous books (series, Vampire Academy) because I wanted to catch up. Go ahead. Start screaming 'nerd' at me. I will be okay. I got called stranger things also. Anyway, Mead frequently uses the word "legitimate" or any variations of it. It's not a big concern, but I just wanted to point that out. It's annoying me to a certain extent. Okay, it's somewhat a big concern. Not too big. It's just legitimately annoying me like crazy.

Adrian is still drinking. That's what I want to point out. Also, he's still an annoying jerk as usual. He will need to work a bit harder if he really wants Sydney. 

On the brighter side, there's Dimitri. Yes, Mr. Hottie is handsome. Guardian Handsome. Agent Handsome. Hmm...I'll just call him Dimitri. Guardian Handsome doesn't have the same ring to his real name. Anyway, I do enjoy the little banter/fight between Adrian and Dimitri. Wouldn't it be funny if I shipped them? Actually, I'm not shipping Dimitri and Adrian, but still. It's kind of funny. Oh, shoot. I better check to see if they exist before I start insulting anyone.

No Rose.

Rating: Five out of Five

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