AUTHOR:

Richelle Mead

COVER ARTIST:

Emilian Gregory,

Michael Frost

COUNTRY:

United States

LANGUAGE:

English

SERIES:

Vampire Academy series

NUMBER:

3

GENRE(S):

young adult, vampire, fiction

PUBLICATION:

Razorbill, November 13, 2008

CHAPTERS:

29

PAGES:

448

ISBN:

978-1-59514-197-2

PRECEDED:

Frostbite

FOLLOWED:

Blood Promise

Summary: After her friend Mason is killed by Strigoi, Rose Hathaway is reacting in atypical ways. It feels as if a darkness has begun to grow within her mind. When Rose thinks she sees Mason's ghost, she fears for her sanity. All her life Rose has prepared to become a Guardian to her best friend, Lissa, the last Dragomir vampire princess, even if that means sacrificing her life and happiness. That commitment is now being put to the test as Rose chooses between the two people she loves the most.

Plot

Rose, still in shock over Mason's death, prepares with the other novices for the Field Experience, in which the novices defend the Moroi they are partnered with for six weeks from attacks by "Strigoi", their instructors playing the part as Strigoi. Rose is positive that she will be paired with Lissa, but is unpleasantly surprised when she is paired with Lissa's boyfriend, Christian Ozera, while Eddie Castile, Mason's best friend, is paired up with Lissa. Rose openly voices her negative views on this to her teachers, but ultimately resigns herself to protecting Christian. During the first attack on Christian, Rose sees Mason's ghost and freezes, failing to save the Moroi she was protecting from the 'Strigoi'. As a result, she is regarded as a sore loser by her teachers, who believe that she froze on purpose because she was unhappy with the Moroi she was paired with for the Field Experience. To her intense surprise, Christian is the only person who truly believes that Rose didn't freeze up on purpose.

Meanwhile, Rose learns from Dimitri that Victor Dashkov's trial is coming soon - and that she and Lissa aren't going to be called to testify. She begs Dimitri to find a way to get them into the trial, and he promises to see what he can do. Adrian and Lissa are growing closer (in a teacher-student sense) while practicing their Spirit use, making Christian jealous. After Rose settles a fight between Lissa and Christian, she begins to sense changes in herself - mainly feelings of intense and irrational anger (even more than is usual). Christian is also approached by Jesse Zeklos to a secret "club" he and Ralf have started, though Christian turns them down. Rose becomes suspicious, and tries to learn more about this club, which she later learns is called "Mână".