Rose Hathaway, the Dhampir protector of her friend Lissa Dragomir, is still dealing with the complications of taking Lissa on the run to protect her from Victor Dashkov. Victor may be dead, and the daughter he convinced to turn Strigoi dead as well, but her two year absence from the Academy isn't without its price.
And now another one is coming due. She must take her Qualifier, a test which determines if a Dhampir is truly ready to be a guardian. Rose is nervous about the test, but ecstatic about sharing the car with her mentor in being a Guardian, Dmitri. What really freaks her out is when she finds that the man who will be giving her qualifier is Arthur Schoenberg, a legend among Dhampirs and chief Guardian of one of the royal families of the Strigoi, the Badicas.
But when they arrive at the house, they realize something is wrong. The Strigoi have attacked the Badicas and slain not only the Moroi vampires, but all their Guardian Dhampirs as well. Dmitri and Rose notify the other Guardians and the Council of the Moroi and stay to see the site cleaned up, but the images and smells she has seen will continue to haunt Rose for a good while.
News of the attack sends shockwaves through the Moroi, and the Council decide to do something about it. First, they send more accomplished Guardians to the school, including Rose's mother Janine, whom Rose hates because she seems to care more about her job than her daughter. Also, she won't tell Rose anything about her father, except that he is Turkish... or was, because Rose doesn't even know if he is still alive. The two strike sparks off each other wherever they go, until, in a sparring match with her mother, Rose gets punched in the face by Janine, leaving her with a tremendous bruise that won't soon heal.
But her life is lightened by meeting Tasha Ozera, a friendly noble Moroi who just happens to be a friend of Dmitri's. But seeing Dmitri drop his "mentor face" with Tasha makes her wildly jealous, as she wishes that she could have that sort of free and easy relationship with the man she loves. Her jealousy really moves into high gear when she realizes that Tasha wants Dmitri to serve as her Guardian, and wants to bear Dhampir children by him. Despite getting some very nice presents from Christmas from Tasha, Rose starts treating her coldly, unable to bear losing Dmitri. Worse is the fact that she gets stuck in Lissa's head several times when Lissa is with her boyfriend Christian, which makes her even more depressed that she can't share that sort of relationship with Dmitri.
Finally, the council reveal their plans to deal with the Moroi attack: They will bring the Moroi and their children together at a Private Ski Resort, well guarded by humans and Guardians, and allow them to visit there, presumably without interference from the Strigoi. Despite her misery, Rose begins to enjoy herself, and has something of a romance with a fellow Dhampir, Mason. She and Lissa have strange encounters with another Moroi Prince, Adrian Ivashkov, with Rose once meeting him in her dreams. She tries to convince herself it's just a dream, but Adrian appears to have had the same dream, and also remembers it clearly.
But the Ski Resort is not as safe as the Council assumes it was, and another Moroi family, the Zeklos, are murdered in their lodge along with their Guardians, and it throws the Moroi into a panic. They convene a meeting at which some members suggest that there aren't enough Dhampir Guardians to keep all the Moroi safe. They suggest ramping up the training of Guardians, and making those Dhampir who have refused to become Guardians so that they can raise their children be forced into Guardian training so that every Moroi has a better chance of being safe. Some Moroi are against this, because a Dhampir not becoming Guardians until they are 18 was meant to give them a semblance of a normal life before they were forced into a life of service. And how dedicated would a Guardian be if they were forced into a life they didn't choose?
Tanya, Dmitri's friend, rises with an idea of her own. She has been without a Guardian for years, but runs a martial arts school and protects herself. Why not teach the Moroi to fight, so that they aren't completely dependent on the Guardians? The other Moroi object strenuously to this idea, but some of the younger ones like the idea, and begin asking Rose how they can use their inborn Moroi magic to fight the Strigoi. Rose helps them as best she can, but when her friend Mason decides to go with some other Dhampir and take on the Strigoi said to be haunting the tunnels under a mall in Portland, Rose and Lissa's lover Christian go to rescue them from themselves.
Mason and the others are disappointed, having found no Strigoi, but Rose finds grafitti that indicates the Strigoi are closer than anyone thinks. Captured by two Strigoi, Isaiah and Elena, Rose finds she must protect Christian and her former Enemy, Mia, while trying to get them all out of it alive. But how can she when Strigoi are even stronger and more powerful than Dhampir?
This was an excellent follow-up to "Vampire Academy", which I read earlier this year. Rose is slowly catching up on all the training she missed, with Dmitri as her mentor, but new responsibilities crash down on her head. We also get to see that Lissa is not the only Moroi with power over the Element of Spirit, even though they are still very very rare.
In this book, Rose faces off against a number of external enemies: Mia, The Strigoi, and her mother, and manages to triumph over or make peace with them all. The writing is crisp and professional, and the story follows Rose as she makes her choices and never makes you think that she's making the wrong choices, save for once or twice. We get to learn more about Rose's mother, and even find some sympathy for her and the choices she made, which she is trying to save her daughter from.
Secrets and more secrets cover the Strigoi and Moroi, and as this series continues, we get to find and learn more about them, and the role of the Dhampir and the Guardians. I will continue to read this series, as I want to find out more, and I enjoy reading about Rose and Lissa and their friends and classmates. I'll definitely read any other books in this series.
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