AUTHOR:

Richelle Mead

COVER ARTIST:

Emilian Gregory,

Fanelie Rosier

COUNTRY:

United States

LANGUAGE:

English

SERIES:

Vampire Academy series

NUMBER:

2

GENRE(S):

young adult, vampire, fiction

PUBLICATION:

Razorbill, April 10, 2008

CHAPTERS:

23

PAGES:

327

ISBN:

978-1-59514-175-0

PRECEDED:

Vampire Academy

FOLLOWED:

Shadow Kiss

Synopsis

Rose Hathaway's got serious guy trouble.  Her gorgeous tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason has a huge crush on her, and she keeps getting stuck in her best friend Lissa's head while she's making out with her boyfriend, Christian.

Plot (sort of...)

The story begins with Rose and Dimitri traveling to meet the legendary guardian Arthur Schoenberg for Rose's Qualifier Exam. Once they arrive at the home of the Moroi family he protects, they discover a bloody massacre of the entire family and their guardians, including Arthur. Rose also discovers a silver stake, a magical device which Strigoi cannot touch, meaning the Strigoi must have had human assistance in their attack. The massacre puts the vampire community on high alert. After that, Dimitri takes Rose to meet a friend of his named Tasha Ozera, who is Christian's aunt. To keep the students at St. Vladimir's Academy safe, a ski trip to a lodge owned by a wealthy Moroi family is required right after Christmas.

During the ski trip, panic sets in when news of another Strigoi attack on a royal Moroi family spreads, where one of the dead was Mia's mother. During her stay at the lodge, Rose talks to her mother and finds out that Tasha is not only a friend of Dimitri, but she also wants him to be her guardian, and even more astonishingly that she wants to have a relationship with him and as it seems Dimitri is all up for it; she also meets a royal Moroi named Adrian Ivashkov, who shows obvious interest in Rose, and later becomes friendly with Lissa after they both discover they are Spirit s. During Adrian's pool party, Mason, his friend Eddie, and Mia begin voicing their opinions about hunting Strigoi. After a heated argument with Dimitri, Rose tells Mason confidential information about the possible whereabouts of the Strigois' hideouts. Using Rose's information, Mia, Mason, and Eddie sneak out of the ski lodge and travel to Spokane, Washington, to hunt down the Strigoi themselves. Rose discovers their plan, and she and Christian run out to stop them.