Vampire Academy

Written in 2007 by Richelle Mead, Vampire Academy is the first of six novels in the Vampire Academy series, which follows the coming-of-age journey of Rosemarie “Rose” Hathaway, a dhampir (half vampire) who is training to become a guardian for her best friend, Vasilisa “Lissa” Dragomir. Lissa is a royal Moroi (or full vampire) with mysterious powers. The novel addresses themes of friendship, forbidden romance, and personal responsibility within a school setting.

In 2014, Vampire Academy was adapted into a film starring Zoey Deutch, but the endeavor was considered to be a failure both critically and financially. In 2022, the streaming service Peacock developed the novel as a television series that was cancelled after one season.

This guide refers to the 2007 Razorbill e-book edition.

Content Warning: Both the source text and this guide include graphic descriptions of blood, violence, the deaths of family members, self-harm, violence against animals, sexist rhetoric, attempted sexual assault, and bias against sex workers. Additionally, the source text includes implicit elements of anti-gay bias and describes a romantic relationship between an adult and a minor.

Plot Summary

The novel begins with 17-year-old Rose Hathaway allowing her vampiric best friend, Lissa Dragomir, to feed on her blood. The two have been on the run from vampire authorities in Portland for the last two years; they fled from their school, St. Vladimir’s Academy, because of a perceived threat against Lissa’s life that will be revealed later in the novel. Now, Rose frets over her enjoyment of the pleasurable side effects of Lissa’s bite and contemplates the social taboo of a half-vampire dhampir like Rose giving blood to a full-vampire Moroi like Lissa. Suddenly, Rose notices someone watching them. They flee but are cornered by Dimitri Belikov and other dhampir guardians who have been sent to return the girls to St. Vladimir’s Academy.

On the way back to the school, Rose senses Lissa’s fear via their psychic connection, which she sees as an invasion of privacy. (The girls will later learn that this connection was established when Lissa resurrected Rose from death in the aftermath of a car crash. This was accomplished using her rare “spirit” powers. Lissa’s family died in this accident.) Now, upon their arrival at the school, they are met by Headmistress Kirova and Prince Victor Dashkov, Lissa’s uncle. Because Lissa is a princess and holds a higher social status as a Moroi royal, Kirova wants to allow Lissa to continue her education, but she blames Rose for the girls’ two-year absence and wishes to expel Rose. Dimitri argues for Rose’s continued schooling, citing the psychic bond between Rose and Lissa. Although Rose is permitted to stay, she is put on probation.

Rose and Lissa reacclimatize to school life. Lissa spends time with her cousin, Natalie Dashkov, and grows closer to a Moroi student named Christian Ozera despite Rose’s concerns. Christian’s parents willingly turned into evil vampires, or Strigoi, and were subsequently killed by dhampir guardians. (Guardians are charged with protecting the Moroi from the more physically capable Strigoi.) The widespread knowledge about Christian’s parents has led to Christian’s social ostracism at school. Meanwhile, Rose’s time is spent training with Dimitri, whom she reluctantly admires. At church, Rose hears a lecture about St. Vladimir and his guardian, who is known as “shadow-kissed Anna.” Rose begins to wonder about the long-dead saint and researches St. Vladimir to learn the definition of being “shadow-kissed” but finds only vague answers. However, the information she finds reminds her of the bond she shares with Lissa, whose powers resemble that of a former teacher, Ms. Karp. Like Lissa, Ms. Karp had problems maintaining her mental health.

Life proceeds calmly for a while, until someone inexplicably leaves a dead fox in Lissa’s bed. Rose fears that Lissa will attempt to resurrect the fox using her special powers, but she doesn’t. Instead, Lissa uses her forbidden compulsion powers to smooth the social path for her and Rose. Only Christian notices. Rose’s romantic feelings for Dimitri intensify, and she laments that she cannot return the affection of her classmate, Mason, as this would be a much simpler relationship.

One day, the Moroi queen, Tatiana, visits St. Vladimir’s and shames Lissa for running away from school. Both Christian and Rose seek to comfort Lissa, but Rose lies and tells Christian that Lissa is only spending time with him out of pity. Later that night, Rose is awakened when she feels a sense of stress through her psychic connection to Lissa. She calls Dimitri, and the two visit Lissa’s dorm to find Lissa covered in blood, partly from a dead rabbit left in her room, and partly from self-inflicted wounds. This is a pattern of self-harm that Rose recognizes from Lissa’s past. Rose urges Lissa to stop using her powers, as they have a negative effect on her mental health. Lissa agrees, but her growing popularity causes Rose to fear her friend is still using compulsion to influence others.

As time goes on, the school becomes rife with rumors that Rose allowed Lissa to drink her blood while they were on the run; this is a taboo in vampire culture. Rose recalls an incident prior to their escape from the school. During this incident, a male student attempted sexual assault against a human “feeder,” or blood giver, so Lissa punished him by using compulsion to force him to destroy his bedroom with a baseball bat. Now, Rose deflects the innuendo with humor, fearing that if Lissa loses her temper, it will lead to another violent incident. Rose begins to regret separating Christian and Lissa; she apologizes to Christian, explaining her lie. He reluctantly agrees to try to talk to Lissa but encourages Rose to seek a trusted adult’s help regarding Lissa’s self-harm.

In advance of a school dance, Rose, Lissa, Natalie, Victor, Dimitri, and several guardians are approved to take a trip to a nearby mall. Rose uses the excursion as a practice guardianship session. During the trip, Victor reveals that Ms. Karp became a Strigoi and was killed by her lover, a guardian named Mikhail. This frightens Rose, who worries that Lissa will follow the same path. Back at school, Natalie secretly causes Rose to fall and break her ankle, although Natalie’s role in this mishap will not be uncovered until much later in the novel. When she wakes in the medical clinic, she is surprised to realize the injury isn’t as severe as she thought. (Her mysterious recovery will later be revealed as the result of Lissa’s healing powers). The incident makes Rose realize that the only reason she survived the earlier car accident was due to Lissa’s healing.

Later, Rose psychically witnesses a fight between Lissa and Christian. When Lissa harms herself afterward, Rose tells Dimitri about it. Lissa receives medical treatment but is angry at Rose for revealing her self-harm, perceiving it as a betrayal. Despite this friction between the two, Rose still defends Lissa from the actions of a bully during a school dance.

Later that evening, Rose psychically witnesses Lissa being kidnapped. However, when Rose returns to her own mind, she cannot recall what she just saw and feels a strange compulsion to find Dimitri. When she does, they are overcome by lust and impulsively kiss. Dimitri soon realizes that their actions are the result of a spell linked to a necklace that Victor gave Rose. When Dimitri disposes of the necklace, their minds clear, and they pursue Lissa and her captors.

Watching via the psychic bond, Rose sees Lissa taken to a remote cabin where Victor awaits. He knows about her healing powers and needs her to heal him from his illness, Sandovsky’s Syndrome. Because her power can only treat the symptoms, she will need to heal him repeatedly. He argues that this is for the greater good because he will then be able to take his place as Moroi king and enact policies to help their people. He also reasons that Lissa will be safe from the temptation of healing others, preserving her sanity. He calls her power “spirit,” a rare elemental affinity. When Lissa refuses, Victor orders one of his followers to torture her with air pressure magic until she agrees.

When the convoy of guardians arrives at the cabin, Dimitri urges Rose to stay behind, and she reluctantly agrees. She soon discovers that Christian has stowed away in the car. When Rose psychically witnesses Lissa escape, she and Christian follow Lissa into the woods, catching up to her just as she is cornered by a pack of dangerous psi-hounds, magical canines with uncanny tracking abilities. Rose and Christian fight them off, but Christian sustains fatal injuries. Lacking the power to heal Christian, Lissa accepts Rose’s offer to use her blood as sustenance. With her strength renewed, Lissa heals Christian.

Back at the Academy, Rose and Lissa reveal Lissa’s powers to Kirova, who agrees to keep them a secret. Dimitri asserts that he isn’t attracted to Rose and claims that their kiss caused by the spell, nothing more. However, when Rose visits Victor in the Academy’s cells, Victor rejects this assertion and states that the spell simply enhances the preexisting attraction on both sides. He also declares that his bid for the throne is not over. Suddenly, Natalie enters. Swayed by her father’s corrupt influence, she has consented to become a Strigoi. She now uses her newfound physical strength to release her father and fight Rose. Natalie nearly kills Rose, but Dimitri arrives just in time to kill Natalie. Victor is recaptured.

In the novel’s conclusion, Dimitri admits that he is attracted to Rose but insists that they cannot be together, due their age difference. Christian and Lissa begin dating, and Lissa begins taking antidepressants that improve her mental health while cutting off her access to her magic. Rose vows to help Lissa find a way to use her magic without risking her sanity.