Ah Adrian, I've missed you.

I really enjoyed this excellent first novel in the spin-off from the Vampire Academy series, and not just because we get more of bad boy Moroi Adrian. Sydney is a surprisingly engaging and likable narrative character (more than I was expecting), offering new issues and new perspectives on the vampire world introduced in the VA series.

She's almost the opposite of Rose: calm, duty-bound, self conscious, conscientious, and repressed. But she's also highly intelligent, empathetic and fair. Like Rose, she doesn't have a lot of control of her destiny, and is already starting to question much of the doctrine she's been fed about Moroi and dhampirs.

In this first instalment, there's a hint of the character growth to come for Sydney and Adrian (and poor Jill - suffering because of her family ties). It's also good to see more of Eddie, and there are plenty of references to (and brief appearances by) Rose and Dimitri.

Richelle Mead shows just how skilled she is as a storyteller with this book. She has cleverly created new plots and character arcs in a world we thought we knew. I like the direction she's heading in.

Readers of the first series have the advantage of knowing more than Sydney about key characters and the Moroi world. But readers unfamiliar with the VA series can still pick this up and enjoy it on its own merits (there's enough explanation of back story to make it work).

There's some good twists, we finally find out what ties Sydney to Abe, and there's a cracker of a final line. Way to make readers even more impatient for the next instalment!