Review: The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3) by Richelle Mead

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date:  February 12th 2013

Genre: YA Paranormal/Romance

Source: Bought

Format: Hardcover

Goodreads Summary:

In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch--a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood--or else she might be next.


Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, the Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles, and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive—this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone’s out for blood.

My Review: 

This series. This series. THIS SERIES. I am just so in love with the bloodlines books. The Indigo Spell would be the third installment in the bloodlines series. A spin-off series of the very popular Vampire Academy books -that, by the way- got a film deal, so if you haven't read the Vampire Academy books, know that a movie of book 1 is currently being made and you will soon be able to see it on screen. But enough of my Vampire Academy gushing. Lets focus on The Indigo Spell, shall we. This book was full of romance, action, humour, and most of all, excellent character development and world building.

What makes The Indigo Spell shine? I would say that the character development of the main characters: Adrian and Sydney. These are characters that we met originally in the Vampire Academy series. Adrian is a royal vampire, while Sydney is an Alchemist - a human in charge of hiding the existence of vampires to the world. Both groups are very different from each other, but despite differences, Adrian and Sydney have developed romantic feels for each other. Being that their races do not get a along AT ALL. We have a forbidden romance on our hands, y'all. And what does this equate to? Literary gold and lots of drama. Oh, and that's not the only thing, not only are Adrian and Sydney from different races but they couldn't be any more different - personality wise - even if they tried, which makes their relationship even MORE intricate than it already is. And I just love it all.

Often, people feel that the person they fall in love with needs to be very similar to them. Who wants drama in their life, right? It's totally understandable. It's not always easy to get along with people who are different to you. However, life is not as neat as that. What makes the world complex is that is filled with lots of different people. In relationships, I think that two different people can help balance each other out. They can show each other different ways of viewing or doing things that otherwise they may not have thought of on their own because their mode of thinking doesn't let them go there. This is what I think we have in Sydney and Adrian. They are two very different people who on paper do not seem to belong together, but who in fact, are perfect for each other because of their differences. They balance each other out. They help each other grow.

Sydney is a the type of character who is governed by reason. She doesn't stray from rules. She is responsible and very dedicated to her work and what she needs to do. Always trying to keep things in check. Her whole life you can say is about control, which I think has a lot do with strict Alchemist upbringing. Adrian on the other hand is a more loose character. He is fun, more artsy than logical, full of charisma, and very okay with straying from the ordinary. But as different as these characters are, they do have one thing in common. People always expect the same from them, they are judged on their personalities a bit too much. Sydney is the responsible one, while Adrian is looked at as the irresponsible one. Thing is, these characters are much more than they seem and in The Indigo Spell  we get to see more layers to them. Adrian can be very responsible and fierce, while Sydney is not a robot, she feels and can let loose more. 

These characters learn that about themselves through their relationship with each other. Well, their interactions, because in the book Sydney is struggling with admitting her feelings for Adrian, while Adrian is set on knowing that he loves Sydney, and on fighting for. It was a fun journey to read about because it was full of angst with Sydney questioning whether she can love Adrian. There is also a lot of humour in the unraveling of their relationship because of Adrian trying to teach Sydney to break out of her shell. And ultimately, there is a lot of adventure in this relationship because of both characters trying to fight off witches and hiding their relationship from their respective groups, the vamps and alchemists.

Besides this, I don't think I can go more in depth about what happened between both characters because that would reveal some major plot points and spoil the books for some who may read this review but haven't read the first two books yet. Know this though, besides a really intricate relationship, we also have the secondary characters battling their feelings and trying to love who they want and be who they want to be. There is also amazing world building in this book. Not only does Richelle Mead expand on the vampire world in the book, but she gets more into detail about the alchemist world and witches. Yes, there is magic in this book! And lots of it. Just when you think you know everything about the Vampire Academy world, Mead throws more info about how intricate both worlds are and it is astounding. I just always get lost in these books when I read them. They feel so real because of how detailed the author is about everything.

I would definitely say that this book has a lot of humour. Lots of it, thanks to the always amazing Adrian Ivashkov. Prince of everything, in my eyes. Not only did this character get romantic with his words, but his actions, but he always had something witty to say and it just makes his character shine. So much charisma with this character. Sydney also is very funny in the book because she doesn't always pick of up little social or romantic things/interactions because she is just so logical. So there is always a certain innocence to her even though she is so intelligent. It's quite an interesting mix and she is very sarcastic. She has seen and done it all so it's hard to one up her. I cannot wait for the fourth installment in this series in order to see see how Adrian and Sydney's relationship continues to grow.

My rating: 4/5

Dreamcasting (6): From books to film

I am a very visual person and when I read a book I like to envision in my head what each book character would look like in actuality and who could play their roles if they ever adapted that particular book into a film.

What is a dreamcast? Well, it's the cast of actors that you think would be perfect to interpret a character on screen. Today I will dreamcast a popular book character and explain why I think the actor I chose for this dreamcast would be perfect for the role of said character.

Dreamcast for Dimitri Belikov & Abe Mazur

Jon Kortajarena as Dimitri Belikov from Vampire Academy

So, I know, I do, I know that everybody and their pet hamster tends to dream cast Ben Barnes as Dimitri Belikov. But I decided to go rogue on the Vampire Academy fandom and switch things up a little bit because I haven't always been quite sold on Ben to be honest, Ben is lovely and an awesome actor (Prince Caspian, anyone?) but I feel that he lacks the edge for a character such as Dimitri. Speaking of --> Dimitri Belikov, is the male lead in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. He is in his mid twenties, he is Russian, longish brown hair, tall, handsome and a dhampir. A dhampir in the lore of Vampire Academy is like a mix of a vampire and a human. He is not technically a vampire (no fangs, no feeding on blood) BUT does have slightly enhanced abilities (agility, vision etc). And in the Vampire Academy series, dhampirs have the job of being guardians for the royal vamps, the moroi, so therefore they train in fighting and Dimitri is an instructor and top guardian.

Jon Kortajarena is a top male model in the fashion world from Spain. The first time I saw him, was in the Tom Ford film, A Single Man, an incredibly thought provoking and visually stunning film, in my opinion. Minimalism at its finest. And Jon had a small part opposite Colin Firth, and even though his appearance in the film was brief, he made quite the impression. Not only was he incredibly beautiful in that film (Bless your heart Tom, for casting him) - it has to be said, the man is super handsome, but he had quite an intense energy about him, almost predatorial in nature because of how aesthetically beautiful he is as a man, but at the same time, with, like, a certain wistful and good energy about him. And that is SO Dimitri Belikov to me. Dimitri is always described as being fierce in battle and as being focused and determined but at the same time, Dimitri is also described as having a certain 'zen master wisdom' vibe to him because he is always calm, collected, and thoughtful as a person. Jon not only has the fierceness to him because he has such a strong presence on film and on camera but he also has the zen master wisdom thing going on too. As research for this post (that is my story and I am sticking to it) - I decided to look up as many Jon Kortajarena interviews that I could find and you guys, he just seems to be so down to earth, thoughtful, light hearted, with an almost bohemian/ world peace vibe to him. It's almost hard to reconcile the Jon in A Single Man or on the runway, to Jon in real life. Again, that is so Dimitri to me. Fierce in his job, yet gentle as a person. And Jon actually had long dark hair at the beginning of his modeling career, he is super handsome, tall and he has the allure that I think Dimtri possesses as well. Jon Kortajarena = Dimitri Belikov!

Johnny Depp as Abe Mazur in Vampire Academy

Abe Mazur is the father of the female lead (Rose Hathaway) in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. He is the epitome of badassery and he is in his 40s and moroi vampire, who is often called a zmey by many other characters in the Vampire Academy books, which means snake in Russian, because of how slick he is as a man. Abe is the epitome of street smarts and even though he is a lawyer, he doesn't follow the rules of moroi court or rules. He has connections in all places and bends the rules like it's going out of style. Not a person to mess with and is characterized as being charming with the ladies, as being a very unique dresser (scarves, emerald green & purple suits), and as being very sarcastic but savvy when it comes to solving problems. Why do I think Johnny Depp would be the perfect Abe? Well, Johnny is kinda like Abe in real life, already. He doesn't follow trends, has a unique and fun bohemian/punk rock style in his dressing, and is beloved by a lot of women in the world. He also has that charisma as an actor (Captain Jack Sparrow, anyone?) that is needed for a character with such a presence and style like Abe Mazur (who might be the coolest dad in book history) and also has the physical look of Abe (Abe is described as having tanned skin, dark hair, being handsome).

 Have you ever dreamcasted your favorite book characters? If you have, let me know about it. Also, if any of you have a different dreamcasting idea for the character I mentioned in this post, I would love to hear about it, as well. Thanks for reading :)