Review: Silver Shadows

Silver Shadows

By Richelle Mead

Published: July 29, 2014

My review:

This is the fifth book in the Bloodlines series and after the shocking ending to The Fiery Heart, Sydney and Adrian face their hardest challenges yet. The book is told through both Sydney and Adrian's perspectives and it moves the action away from the school at Palm Springs and the drama that usually surrounds Jill, the dhampirs and her classmates. This allows the story to focus specifically on Sydney and Adrian with only occasional appearances by Jill, Eddie, and the others.

I've enjoyed seeing Sydney grow and gain confidence from the first book in this series. Here she takes a beating but she still has faith in herself and in Adrian. She may not have supernatural physical strength but she is very intelligent and caring even towards those that may not deserve it. It is not fun to read about her struggles in this book but I couldn't help but admire her. 

Adrian still has some growing up to do as he temporarily slides back into bad habits but he still finds the strength to pull himself out of his downward spiral if only to help Sydney. Something I appreciate about this series is how flawed and real Adrian and Sydney are compared to Rose and Dimitri from Vampire Academy. Rose wasn't perfect but sometimes she (and Dimitri) seemed so badass and larger than life. 

Silver Shadows is action packed but also thoughtful and romantic. There are some definitely happy moments which helped make up for the depressing stuff. The final twist at the end left me wishing that we didn't have to wait so long for The Ruby Circle, the last book in the series. Thankfully it is supposed to be out in February so I have something to look forward next winter! I love this series so in a way it will be sad when it is over. This is the only vampire series I still read and if you like paranormal romance with good world building, I'd recommend both the Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series. Ignore the movie and pretend it was never made...