AUTHOR:

Richelle Mead

COVER ARTIST:

Emilian Gregory,

Fanelie Rosier

COUNTRY:

United States

LANGUAGE:

English

SERIES:

Vampire Academy series

NUMBER:

1

GENRE(S):

young adult, vampire, fiction

PUBLICATION:

Razorbill, August 16, 2007

CHAPTERS:

24

PAGES:

332

ISBN:

978-1-59514-174-3

PRECEDED:

N/A

FOLLOWED:

Frostbite

Synopsis

St. Vladimir's Academy isn't just any boarding school – it's a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a dhampir, a bodyguard in-training for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi vampire princess. They've been on the run, but now they're being dragged back to St. Vladimir's – the very place where they're most in danger.

Plot (part of it)

Guardian-in-training, Rosemarie "Rose" Hathaway, and royal-Moroi-princess, Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir, are forced back to their school, St. Vladimir's Academy, after running away two years ago. Upon their return, Guardian Dimitri Belikov, the leader of the guardians sent to track them down, is assigned to be Lissa's guardian. He offers to mentor Rose in extra classes, as he feels that she has potential and by working hard she can make up for the years she has lost. He also believes that Rose can be the ideal guardian for Lissa due to a rare, one-sided bond to Lissa which allows her to tap into the latter's emotions, thoughts and most importantly, her whereabouts. Rose agrees, conceding to the reality that this is the only way she will even have a chance to be appointed, on graduation, as Lissa's guardian.

Though they quickly fall into Academy life, they discover that Lissa has lost her social place among the elite Moroi, a consequence of Rose and Lissa running away. They decide to keep company with Lissa's "cousin," Natalie Dashkov, who is the daughter of the frail and dying Victor Dashkov. On the very first day back, they find that another Moroi student, Mia Rinaldi, is dating Lissa's ex-boyfriend, Aaron, and that she holds a grudge against Lissa. By default, she also dislikes Rose. Mia uses every opportunity to taunt Lissa, and is in turn insulted and threatened by Rose.