Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Published: June 12th 2012
Format: Paperback | Pages: 418
Genres: YA, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy
Source: Amazon
★★★★★ (5/5) Stars!!!
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Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.
Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she's been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.
But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don't die. But it's her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her.
When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney's loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.
Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart?
Though I absolutely loved Bloodlines, I feel like The Golden Lily was so much...more. More action, more intensity, more feelings, more...everything. While the first book was sort of easy to figure out what was going to happen next in a lot of ways, this one was less obvious. It took me almost as long to piece things together as it did the characters. I spent a lot more time on the edge of my seat and quite literally couldn't put it down until I was finished. By 1 a.m. I noticed I only had about 100 pages left and was at a point in the story where I knew there was no way I'd be getting any sleep until I reached the end. I'll be paying for it later today but it was totally worth it!
I couldn't stand disorder.I am loving Sydney's character. She's brilliant in a book-smart kind of way, in every other area of her life she's absolutely clueless. If she can't learn it from a book she doesn't have the slightest idea how to read a situation or people. It's actually very endearing to me and all of the friends she's made. It's funny to watch them react to social queues going way over her head and trying to get her to understand whatever it is she's missing. Even her very logical, organized and orderly manner and approach to things were endearing to me. Those types of characters usually drive me crazy (*cough*Brayden*cough*) but not with Sydney.
I hated to admit it, but he was more good-looking than he had any right to be.I feel like out of all the books set in this world, both the Vampire Academy series and the two I've read from this one up to this point, The Golden Lily is my favorite book with Adrian Ivashkov. The best and sometimes it was also the hardest so far where he's concerned. On more than one occasion my heart was absolutely aching for him. When I wasn't in pain his humor had me cracking up and his artistic and passionate sides left me in awe and maybe a little breathless. If there was any piece of my heart left that he hadn't owned at this point, and that's a very big if, he stole it here.
For one second, her words inspired me―that I might somehow play a greater role in the fight against evil and possibly even stop it.But it's not just the Sydrian feels that kept me up until the crack of dawn trying to finish this book. I found myself drawn to everyone's story. Jill and her trying to find a place and blend in to the human world and her issues with her self worth and how she viewed her worth to others. Eddie and his fierce protectiveness and internal struggles especially the unworthiness of his feelings in his eyes. Angeline and her crazy, rebellious, outspoken ways and trying to adjust to a more civilized world. Along with a couple of other staples from the VA series, Sonya Karp and Dimitri Belikov, they all made for an interesting group dynamic.
"Nothing's ever as harmless as it seems."Things have really built up with this book. It's not just Strigoi or rebel Moroi to be afraid of anymore. There's a new big bad and I can feel the war brewing. It's thrilling and exciting, and also quite a bit scary. I often wonder, as I'm turning the pages, will everyone that I've grown to love come out of this in the end? There's been plenty of close calls already and the series has barely begun, things don't look to hopeful in that area. How many more betrayals do I have to look forward to? And how will everyone's loyalties lie? So many questions! The Golden Lily was even better than Bloodlines and I hope that, for me at least, they continue to get better as I go.
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