Review: The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead
Release Date: June 12, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 418 pages
Publisher: Razorbill
Series: Bloodlines #2
Source: Bought!

Description from Goodreads:
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?

I read Bloodlines (the first book in this series) in August. Since then, I have been completely flipping out about this book. And now I finally got it! I must say, it was definitely worth the wait.

Bloodlines was a book that was kind of slow to start. Interesting, but not as great as expected. The Golden Lily, I am glad to say, was so much of an improvement. From page 1, this book had me. It's funny, compelling, and just plain terrific. This book moved along brilliantly, in a way that I'm beginning to learn only Richelle Mead could cook up.

Character Rundown:
Sydney: I kind of like Sydney. There's been a lot of debate about the fact that Sydney isn't as kick-ass as Rose was, but I think she's just as awesome as Rose, if not more. I think I actually like Sydney better. Sydney may not be a literal fighter, but in a battle of wits, there's no one better to put in there. Plus, Sydney is better to the people around her. I'm not saying Rose is a bad person, but, um, Adrian...yeah. But there are certain aspects of Sydney's character that grate on my nerves. I'm not going to go in depth and ruin the book for you if you haven't read it, but she can be so oblivious sometimes. *sigh* And then the ending. And that's all I'm going to say.

Adrian: OH, ADRIAN. As of this moment, Adrian is my second favorite male character. He is so completely deep and he just has so many emotions. He's a good guy, but he just has his issues. I disapprove of his little drinking habit, but other than that, Adrian has done no wrong in my eyes, and I doubt he ever could. Though since I said that, Richelle's probably going to swoop in and make him horrible. I don't think he could be, though. In my opinion, between this series and VA, Adrian is the most tortured. I feel for him. Goodness, I love this boy. He deserves happiness for once. If this series ends without him finding some, I just may lose all hope in humanity.

Everyone else: Yeah, so I just went through the two biggies. The other ones are as great as always. I liked that Jill wasn't as annoying in this one, and more responsible. Until she ruins that with a little stupidity. But still. Eddie...that boy wamrs my heart. And Dimitri. It was a big deal that he was thrown into this series like he was, but I actually loved it. Partly because I was ecstatic to see Dimitri again, and partly because it was great to see him through Sydney's eyes instead of Rose's. I actually laughed at some of her descriptions while he was fighting. Not in a bad way, but...we actually get to see the guardian god we've always heard about. Rose was always analyizing Dimitri's fights and glorifying how he looked and whatnot. Sydney just explained his mad skills. It was amazing. I really hope for more Dimitri in this series.

The plot. The plot did not drag in this book at all. Honestly, I was a little iffy as to what the plot even was until the big moment where the big stuff happened. Then I thought back to the book and was like "OF COURSE! That was the point to everything." Everything has a reason in this book, my friends. Don't second guess it. Not once did I get bored while reading this book, and I was actually insanely sad for it to end. Speaking of...

The ending. I need the next book (The Indigo Spell) NOW. That is all.

Overall, if you read Bloodlines and decided to give up on this series, I suggest you reconsider. It gets so much better. This book was so great!

♥Jessica(: