Why Sydney and Adrian are the Best Part of Bloodlines
In her Vampire Academy series, Richelle Mead creates a brand new kind of vampire that appeals to young readers. Richelle Mead’s Bloodlines is a supernatural spin-off series filled with vampires and a healthy dose of alchemists, vampire hunters, mysterious human magic and forbidden romance.
Bloodlines feature Sydney Sage, the Alchemist from Vampire Academy, and Adrian Ivaskov, the Moroi who got his heart broken by Rose — the protagonist of the Vampire Academy Series. This is their story, and the curtain is about to unfold on a tale rife with magic, humor, action and suspense!
I love Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy and when I found out about Bloodlines, I didn’t waste time getting to it. It’s a great sequel to the Vampire Academy series but Adrian and Sydney made me love Bloodlines even more than the original series.
The Main Characters Make it so Good!
As I read the series, I fell in love with Sydney, an Alchemist who gets a chance to see vampires in another light. Then there’s Adrian, the playboy royal who turns out to be deeper and more tortured than his facade leads on.
About Sydney
Sydney is an Alchemist from a line of Alchemists. Her father is one while her sister escaped the family business. Her little sister is being groomed as an Alchemist, too. She’s a responsible girl and believes in her mission but isn’t a blind follower. At the start, we see that she’s afraid of the Moroi, too, but far less than Keith since she was around them at their Court.
Despite her allegiance to the Alchemists, Sydney helps Rose Hathaway and is in hot water within her community. Now, she’s sent on a mission to Palm Springs, a hot place with a lot of sun and a small group of vampires in toe. The place is perfect to keep a princess, Jill Dragomir, safe from harm since no vampire could ever think to live in that heat.
Sydney does whatever she can to make the mission a success to get back into the good graces of the Alchemists. Then, while protecting Jill, she lands on the royal secret about Jill and Adrian. It changes things and answers so many questions about the attack on Jill’s life.
“He nodded, a troubled look in his eyes. “When I saw her there, bloody and not moving… I didn’t think about the consequences of what I was doing. I just knew I had to save her. She had to live. I acted without question, not even knowing for sure if I could do it.” — Adrian about saving Jill
While in Palm Springs, she also gets to experience high school life. She was home-schooled by her father, and she always wanted to go to college. Sydney’s not just studious; she is also caring, passionate and brave. She loves finding solutions to problems, too.
Throughout the first book, we see her reluctance to be with vampires and see these feelings mellow out as the story progresses. Even by the end of the book, she is averse to vampire magic. Some things are too ingrained in her to change her views on them.
“Stop it,” I cried, backing away from him. “Make it end. Get me out of here.” — Sydney when Adrian pulls her into a spirit dream.
I love how her character unravels and builds up throughout the series, and her reaction to her human magic is akin to horror at first. But her teacher wears her down and by the end, she’s a human witch! I especially love how she gradually falls in love with Adrian and finds the courage to defy the Alchemist system.
About Adrian
On the other hand, Adrian is a playboy who has never worked for anything in his life. To escape the madness brought on by Spirits, he takes drugs and drinks excessively. The only good point about him is his sense of humor. At the start of the novel, he keeps up his routine of alcohol and girls, but Sydney puts a stop to it when she finds out about Adrian’s bond with Jill.
After Sydney’s outburst at him about wasting her time with his useless job interviews, Adrian decides to attend college to keep himself busy. Sydney’s quick acceptance of this plan stuns Adrian, who isn’t used to anyone believing in him. Sydney gets a flash into his life in this part of the series.
“People didn’t believe in him very often. They had low expectations of him, so he did as well. Even Eddie had sort of written him off: He’s Adrian. As though there was nothing to be done for it.
I also suddenly realized that, as unlikely as it seemed, Adrian and I had a lot in common. Both of us were constantly boxed in by others’ expectations. It didn’t matter that people expected everything of me and nothing of him. We were still the same, both of us constantly trying to break out of the lines that others had defined for us and be our own person.” — Sydney
Adrian’s facade as a selfish party boy is also blown apart in Bloodlines where we see what made him that way, the Ivaskow family dynamics, and him trying to find some purpose in life.
It’s also utterly romantic and exciting to see how he starts to have feelings for Sydney. And their constant bickering is so much fun to read!
“My God, Sage. Your eyes. How have I never noticed them?”
That uncomfortable feeling was spreading over me again. “What about them?”
“The color,” he breathed. “When you stand in the light. They’re amazing… like molten gold. I could paint those…” He reached toward me but then pulled back. “They’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.”
After Vampire Academy, I thought of Adrian as a useless guy with a great sense of humor. I didn’t like him very much. But, in Bloodlines, we see his side of the story and how he found that he could be better after meeting Sydney.
“I tried to be a better person for her– but it was to impress her, to get her to want me. But when I’m around you, I want to be better because… well, because it feels right. Because I want to. You make me want to become something greater than myself. I want to excel. You inspire me in every act, every word, every glance. I look at you, and you’re like… like light made into flesh. […] You have no clue how beautiful you are or how brightly you shine.” — Adrian to Sydney
More Characters
Jill Dragomir, introduced in Vampire Academy, is also a central player in this series since protecting her is Sydney’s first mission and she is shadow-kissed by Adrian. Jill was suddenly thrust into the role of the princess in Last Sacrifice.
Then, in Bloodlines, we see how it affected her emotionally, and her experiences as a Moroi at high school. I love how she becomes more confident in Bloodlines and finds her own happiness with an unlikely dhampir.
Then, there’s Eddie, a friend of Rose who is a constant in Vampire Academy. The other characters are great, too, and make the series an interesting read. Moreover, the side — albeit sometimes forbidden — romances are something to look forward to in Richelle Mead’s Bloodlines series.
Final Thoughts
All in all, Bloodlines is a great series to add to your collection, and I find myself re-reading it every so often. It features the most lovable characters ever! Both Sydney and Adrian aren’t perfect and their strengths, as well as flaws, will make you like them and the series even more.
If you’re looking for fun banter, drama, action, and romance, look no further than your favorite vampire fiction, Bloodlines, which is more than just a forbidden romance!
