Yuqiong Liu Liu itibaren Veghel, Netherlands
LOVED IT! Was my first thought when I closed the book. Well, actually that was after I jumped around screaming that I wanted to read the sequel. My second was: Dimitri. Hahah, yup. Tall dimitri with his dark hair and deep dark eyes. This book is a spin-off from the VA series. Mead is now telling the story from Sydney's view. An Alchemist. Sydney is not the same girl as Rose. Their personalities are totally different. For example: When Lauren would have done all those things to Vasilissa, Rose would have just beat Lauren up, while Sydney takes the sneaky, full with patiente way to get back at Lauren. The Alchemist way. But then you can also see the stamp of Mead in it. All her female heroines are fiercefull, young ladies. Who fight for what they want. Only they manage this in other ways. The beginning of the book was very good. All those Alchemist matters and Sydney being afraid for going to a re-education center. But then, the story became a bit less. Not boring. But less. I get it, though. Mead had to introduce us to the situation the characters lived in, but a bit more action could have been very nice. But like I said, I get it. I just hope that in the sequel (have you seen the title? AAAAAHHH!! LOVE IT!!, just like BLOODLINES) there will be more action. The rest is just what we always expect and get from Mead: her great writing.
Very disappointing. In Stephen King's own words 'it was, frankly, rather difficult to read' with 'a high degree of pretension'. He then encourages us to persevere and the story will really find its voice in The Drawing of the Three. Will it really Stephen? I'm not sure whether to risk it or not. I feel like I have been cheated out of a small part of my life, a part that I will never be able to get back. But at least it was short.