** spoiler alert ** 
 Bloodlines is technically a new series which is set in the Vampire Academy universe, however I honestly would not recommend anyone read it without having read the VA series first; Mead doesn't stop to world-build as much as she did in the original series, and also several question marks from the VA series are picked up in this book. That said - this book was every bit as amazing as the rest of Mead's work. 
 Personally, I was a little worried about this series, in part because I knew Adrian would play a huge role and unlike most my friends (okay all of my friends) I am not a huge Adrian fan. However I was always intrigued by Sydney's character, which is good considering that she is our narrator this time around. 
 We start out the book with Sydney back at home (after all the meddling she did in vampire affairs she was told to take a break from her alchemist duties), and we get to learn about her home and family and how she because who she is. 
 We soon find out that the vampires are in trouble, Jill Dragomir has been under attack by anti-monarchy people and must be protected - the end of vampire government would be bad for the alchemists so they agree to help protect her. Sydney volunteers for the mission in order to protect her little sister from the danger of going. Of course we couldn't have such an important mission going on without some of our favorite characters from the original series, including Adrian (of course), Eddie, and a quick cameo appearance from Rose. 
 The mission takes the gang off to the west coast where Sydney, Jill, and Eddie have to masquerade as high school students. Sydney soon realizes that everything is not what it seems at the school, and that someone is taking advantage of alchemist techniques to create problems, but because of her lack of status amongst the alchemists she must figure out the mystery herself - with the help of her new friends (as uncomfortable as she is referring to vampires as friends). 
 I don't want to give away more of the story than that, but I will say that Mead does not disappoint. I love that this is the beginning of a new series but the story has a complete beginning, middle, and end (unlike many series that I have read where several books really ought to all be pushed into one book in order to tell a complete story). I was honestly satisfied with the way things ended, until the very last line of the book which made me desperately want to scream and demand the next installment right then and there - too bad we won't see the next book until March 2012 (as of right now). 
 Fans of the original series won't be disappointed - Mead's writing is as strong as ever and she manages to create great new characters in addition to adding development to familiar ones, and Adrian fans will probably be ecstatic with the amount of face time he gets in this series (in comparison to the last one).