Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy #6) by Richelle Mead

This review contains spoilers for the previous volumes in this series.

Last Sacrifice is the last novel in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. The series is set in a world where vampires exist and are kept secret from the rest of the world. There are two kinds of vampires: Strigoi, which are the immortal, evil, bloodthirsty vampires that we are all so familiar with, and Moroi, “good” mortal vampires that are focused on living in peace with human life. There are also dhampirs, half vampires that have the best of both races in them and are used as guardians for the Moroi to protect them from any danger.

The story takes off immediately where the previous volume, Spirit Bound, left off. Rose Hathaway is in jail, accused of murdering Queen Tatiana and facing immediate execution as soon as the late Queen is buried and a formal trial can be set. The only thing in her prison cell is the note that Tatiana wrote prior to her death which states that Lissa, the Moroi vampire that Rose is bound to, has a sibling that can give Lissa the chance to be the new Queen. After taking a chance to break out of prison with a few of her comrades, she sets off on a journey to find the illegitimate sibling and give Lissa the chance that she deserves.

A very fast-paced story

I call these types of novels ‘book porn’ simply because they’re enjoyable and don’t take a lot of effort on your part. They don’t have to be perfectly written, but they do all have one thing in common – they’re quick reads. The story is enjoyable, although not something that you have to think a whole lot about, and it’s a fun page-turner. It was hard for me to put this book down. I loved how quickly it flowed from one scene to the next and didn’t waste any time with a lot of narratives or long-winded description.

Not so great storytelling

This series has always been told from Rose’s point of view, and has primarily been about her relationship with Lissa. They share a bond, created when Lissa saved Rose from death, that gives Rose the ability to look into Lissa’s life through her eyes. Now, while I enjoy the idea of this and it’s originality, it’s basically an easy way of giving the story two points of view without having to actually develop the second character. I think that while it was a good idea to include it, it could have been developed a bit more instead of just having random moments where Rose ‘slips in’ to Lissa’s life so we can see her point of view.

A slightly disappointing end to the series

Previous volumes in this series have had a lot of action and generally a whole lot going on throughout the story. This one… didn’t. There was the main plot point of finding out who Lissa’s relative was, and who actually killed the previous Queen, but that was it. There was no giant epic battle as there was in several of the previous volumes, and generally speaking, the story just wasn’t all that interesting or appealing to me. There were a couple of “Oh, wow.” moments, but they just weren’t enough to make up for the fact that the story was lacking overall.

Why should you read this book?

Despite all of the things I pointed out, this is still an enjoyable read, and it does give closure to the series. It’s a quick page-turner and something that I did enjoy reading. Obviously, you shouldn’t jump right into the series by reading its last volume, but if the premise sounds interesting, I encourage you to read the previous volumes leading up to this one.

Reviews of the previous books in the series will be coming to The Ranting Dragon soon.

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