You can also read this review on my blog 
 In short: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead ain't nothing special. 
 Vampire Academy is the kind of book that, had I read it as a young teen, I would have loved it. Unfortunately, I feel like my tastes have changed greatly and have perhaps matured beyond what Vampire Academy had to offer me. It doesn't help that at this point, the market has become way over-saturated with teen paranormal romance and - even if Vampire Academy was actually at the beginning of that trend - me reading it so late in the game didn't do it any favours, as it came across as incredibly cliched and overdone. 
 I will say though that I was quite impressed with Richelle Mead's take on vampires and the guardian system, as it was completely new to me. I always say that I am burnt out on vampires and am entirely bored by how repetitive vampire mythology seems to be these days, but Richelle Mead has created an entirely original concept and a very intriguing one, at that. That's not to say that the set-up of the concept was executed well though: the first section of Vampire Academy was info-dump-central and not at all subtle. 
 Actually, I was all around disappointed with the amateurish writing and execution of the plot. The exposition was clumsy and the plot was largely fruitless. Here we have a really cool concept and the introduction to these intriguing Strigoi beings. And for what? Almost the entirety of the story was spent on high school drama with characters I could care less about. I can only assume the sequels will introduce story lines that are more directed and less trivial, but Vampire Academy left much to be desired, with only the very ending piquing my interest. 
 And I'm afraid I wasn't entirely taken with Rose's character. I found her a bit too obnoxious to be likeable. I do at least appreciate that she wasn't your typical clumsy and modest paranormal romance heroine though. And I have a feeling Rose will grow on me more and more as the books progress. And the romance: now THAT is the one thing in which I can totally understand the squeals and swoons of readers. It excites me to think about how that enticing chemistry between Rose and Dimitry is going to play out. 
 So overall, Vampire Academy ain't nothing special. But I had been warned by several people that that would be the case, so I wasn't disappointed. As I understand it, it is the sequels to Vampire Academy that really shine, so never fear: I will be reading them all! If nothing else, Vampire Academy was a somewhat entertaining read, despite its amateurish writing, poor execution, and trivial plot.