A review by Elizabeth Manthos
The Golden Lily, second in Richelle Mead’s Bloodlines series, follows the adventures of Sydney after the events of the series opening novel. Keith has gone and Sydney finds herself growing closer to Jill, Eddie and Adrian. She finds herself questioning the Alchemist beliefs she has had drilled into her from her very beginning.
Her world gets thrown upside down when magical experiments show Sydney may have no only a gift but the key to prevent anyone becoming Strigoi (evil undead vampires, not the goodies, Moroi like Jill and Adrian).
Sydney shows us how naive she really is when she begins a budding relationship with Brayden, a cute guy who seems to be her perfect match in everyway. But as Sydney steps outside her comfort zone, she finds herself being drawn to someone forbidden.
A secret which threatens to tear the whole vampire world apart is revealed and Sydney’s loyalties are tested as she tries to find a balance. Should Sydney trust the Alchemists and their ways, or her heart?
Richelle Mead never ceases to amaze me with the way she writes her novels. She allows readers to be completely immersed in the world of her characters. She welcomes readers who haven’t read her novels (or haven’t read them back to back), by explaining briefly in the novel the types of vampires and magical beings in the world.
Sydney still annoys me as a character but maybe that’s just her naïveté and the fact that Adrian pays too much attention to her for my liking (yes, I have a crush on a fictional character, it’s completely normal). She has come a long way from her part in the first novel, she has some edge this time around, but still clings to the beliefs of everything that the Alchemists say is scary and wrong.
Adrian, Eddie and Jill develop as characters and I find myself fangirling at moments where Adrian is involved. The characters develop in such a way that I found normal for a teenager in those situations.
Although I found the pacing of the novel slow to begin with, it did pick up and quickly had me hooked. The Golden Lily opened up the characters and situations to accommodate the sequel The Indigo Spell. It sets everything up perfectly for the next novel and you can’t help but want to pick it up and devour it straight away.
I highly recommend this novel to anyone who has read the Vampire Academy series, or any young adult supernatural novels. You’ll love it!
