. This post will discuss the plotline of Blood Promise and will include spoilers. You've been warned.
Previous Reviews in This Series:
Vampire Academy
Frostbite
Shadow Kiss
Let me just say this: I hate Strigoi!Dimitri. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. But now I have some hope that Strigoi can be brought back to life with some kind of magic.
In this book, Rose arrives in Dimitri's home country, Russia, and visits his Siberian village. She meets his grandmother, mother, his three sisters and their kids. She also meets a human named Sydney who belongs to a somewhat mysterious society called the Alchemists. She has a gold tattoo made of Moroi blood on her face, and she seems to be aiding Rose on Rose's mission.
The Alchemists reminded me a little bit of the Talamasca in Anne Rice's novels. The Talamasca are impartial observers, though, while the Alchemists seem to be actively involved. In return for being of service to the Moroi, the get limited dhampir-like powers through their gold tattoos.
Rose also meets Abe. It took me a little while - but not as long as it took Rose - to realize the brown-skinned, possibly Muslim Abe must be the same person as Ibrahim, Rose's Turkish father. I'm sure Abe Mazur comes back in later volumes.
Sydney refers to Abe as Zmey, a Russian word that means "snake," but (at least in the book, if not in the actual Russian language) there's a connotation of a wise snake, a trickster that could be either helpful or mischievous, and occasionally outright evil. Sydney explains that the Garden of Eden serpent in the Bible is a Zmey to the Russians.
Basically, Rose's dad is a Turkish version of Loki.
Strigoi!Dimitri will be back, alas. Although Rose staked him twice - once with wood and once with silver - she didn't quite get his heart the second time. He's still walking around as an evil Strigoi, and he seems to be out to get Rose. Whether he'll try to kill her next time or try again to turn her into a Strigoi will be the question. I have a feeling it will make for some harrowing reading either way.
I didn't really enjoy this book as much as feel compelled to read it. I had a feeling it would end badly, like the last one did, but I had to know what happened. It was a tiny bit hopeful. But Christian broke up with Lissa. But I'm also hopeful the two of them will get back together again. They might not, though, because kissing her ex-boyfriend was a real jerk move on her part.
I checked this book out from my local library. I wasn't solicited or obligated to review it in any way. This review represents my own honest opinion.
Next Up: The King: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood
by J.R. Ward, another library book. 
P.S. If you have movie theater money and need something to do this weekend, please go see and support the movie From the Rough. It opens today. The movie stars Taraji P. Henson as Catana Starks, the first African-American woman to coach a collegiate men's golf team. Tom Felton - Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films - stars as one of her golfers, Edward. It also features the late Michael Clark Duncan.
No, I am still not over the Person of Interest thing. Yes, I will support Taraji P. Henson in all of her projects.
P.P.S. This is how Taraji would look as a vampire.
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