Review: The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead

The Ruby Circle

Richelle Mead

(Bloodlines #6)

Publication Date: February 10, 2015

Hardcover, 348 pages, Razorbill

Genres: YA, Paranormal

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

THEY WILL BE TESTED

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.

Their forbidden romance exposed, Sydney and Adrian find themselves facing the wrath of both the Alchemists and the Moroi in this electrifying conclusion to Richelle Mead’s bestselling Bloodlines series.

When the life of someone they both love is put on the line, Sydney risks everything to hunt down a deadly former nemesis. Meanwhile, she and Adrian becomes enmeshed in a puzzle that could hold the key to a shocking secret about spirit magic, a secret that could shake the entire Moroi world and alter their lives forever.

Don't miss their unforgettable final chapter...

LOVE WILL CONQUER ALL

My Review

This review will probably contain some SPOILERS, just because it’s about the sixth book in a long series. So don’t read this review if you don’t want to be SPOILED.

I put off reading this book simply because I didn’t want the series to be over. I’ve been reading Richelle Mead’s young adult books since I was in high school and now I’m not going to be reading any Vampire Academy books for the first time ever again. I also didn’t want to read this book because I haven’t had the best of luck when it comes to reading series’ enders. I was hoping this book wouldn’t fall into the “Okay-ish Last Book of a Series” category, but it did. Boo…

After Sydney and Adrian got together, I just didn’t feel the magic of their relationship anymore. I missed the spark and banter that was present before and during the very beginning of their relationship. Also, this book is extremely short compared to the other books in the series. I almost felt like Mead was getting tired of writing in the Vampire Academy world, so she just quickly threw out a last book.

That brings me to the plot of the book. Every book in the series has some sort of connection to the previous books plot-wise, but generally the big bad thing that’s happened doesn’t really interconnect with the previous books. In other words, you can read the second book without reading the first book and still sort of know what’s going on. With this book, I felt like the big bad thing that happened was just “meh” compared to some of the other books in the series. I wasn’t really sitting on the edge of my seat wondering how Adrian and Sydney would fix this problem. And the side dilemma they had going on, the one involving Olive, was interesting, but I felt that it took away from the magic of Sydrian’s relationship. I completely understand why Richelle Mead put it in, though. She wanted to make sure her characters could have a happy ending.

I enjoyed the characters and the fun dialog, but I feel like the book needed to slow down and flush some stuff out.

All in all, this book didn’t blow me away like the first three or so in the series. Will I still be reading Mead’s upcoming YA books? Abso-freakin’-lutely.

*Note: I purchased this book myself.