Review Detail

Taking place two months after the events of Bloodlines, our protagonist, Sydney Sage sees in person the consequences all Alchemists face if they are suspected of being friendly with vampires; not just the malevolent Strigoi but the Moroi and Dhampirs the Alchemists unwillingly ally themselves with. At the end of Bloodlines it was discovered that an associated alchemist, Keith, had been using Moroi blood to make enhanced tattoos and were selling it to the local teens for profit. Unfortunately for Keith his black market business was translated as him having friendly feelings towards Moroi and because of this he was sent to The Re-Education Centre. In Sydney’s mind The Re-Education Centre is like the stories parents tell their children to make them behave, except it’s a real place. Almost, no one knows what goes on there but you know it’s the last place you want to be and after seeing the effects the place has on Keith someone she knows has no benevolent thoughts towards vampires and is only suspected by the Alchemists as such, Sydney definitely has cause to be worried about her own actions towards her vampire charges since she does consider them her friends.

From my experience with reading the Vampire Academy series and Bloodlines, this first scene in The Golden Lily is obviously some heavy handed foreshadowing of things to come and will not be the last we hear of The Re-Education centre in the series. Lucky for Sydney though it’s the last she has any sort of connection with it for the rest of the book because after her visit with the Alchemists she heads back to Palm Springs. Not only to where Jill, Eddie, and Adrian are but also Jill’s new guardian Angeline and Spirit researchers Sonya Karp and Dimitri, Adrian’s former romantic rival.

There wasn’t a lot of action in The Golden Lily, just like there wasn’t a lot of action in Bloodlines which at first I thought I was going to have a problem with because if there isn’t much action how interesting could the story possibly be? Very, this may not be an action or plot oriented novel but the characters definitely keep it interesting. Just like Sydney developed as a character in Bloodlines she continues to do so here and not only her but Adrian our rich, witty, laidback playboy. While Sydney learns to shed her rigid upbringing, Adrian, who may still resorts to his old vices, also continues to show growth and maturity while still dishing out hilarious one liners.

The witch storyline that was introduced near the end of Bloodline continues strong in this second instalment of the series, and not only that but the initially dismissed notion of their being vampire hunters is also disproved. Many members of the group could be in danger but they are distracted by their own agendas. Jill may be a Moroi princess in hiding but she is still a teenager distracted by boys and her own low self-esteem, Eddie is a guardian but he still can’t ignore his feelings for Jill, Angeline is a dhampir with raw talent but her own upbringing is causing the group problems at school, and Sonya and Dimitri are determined to find a way to use Spirit to put an end to strigoi but their determination constantly puts Sydney in an awkward position.

The Golden Lily was a completely predictable read, which is why I could not give it five stars but the characters and the romance almost make up for it. I am not much for romance in books but it was definitely my favourite part of this novel, it was subtle and the build-up is gradual and very realistic and because of it, the last chapter of this book was definitely my favourite part. I have re-read it about four times already and think it’s perfect. I definitely need to get my hands on The Indigo Spell.