Review of Adrian's Lost Chapter by Richelle Mead

Title: Bloodlines: Adrian's Lost Chapter
Series:  Bloodlines, Book 0.5
Author:  Richelle Mead
Genre:  YA, paranormal, vampires
Format:  Ebook, 8 pages
Publication Date:  August 2011
Published By:  Richelle Mead
Source:  Read on Author's Blog

Synopsis from Goodreads

A glimpse at the original scrapped first chapter, which is told from Adrian's POV. 

Originally, Bloodlines was going to be told from a few different characters' points of view. It was going to be in third person and alternate characters each chapter. A few chapters in, problems were emerging from this (you've got to trust me on that!). 

I ended up starting completely over and simply doing the entire book from just Sydney's point of view in first person (the "I" voice). The all-Sydney version is what you're going to get when the book hits the shelves August 23. 

Hope that clears things up!

My Thoughts

I'm really fond of the new trend where authors write and release short stories to their readers that fall in between other books in their series. I think it helps keep momentum and interest in the series while waiting for new books in the series to be published. It also helps flesh out some character development as well as some of the story that might have been rushed through, or skipped all together in a previous book.

With this specific short story offering, the author is giving us an inside look at how she attempted to start her new novel before scrapping it for a different approach. Richelle Mead originally planned to write Bloodlines with characters alternating between who was actively telling the story. The first chapter was initially meant to be told by Adrian, and this is that chapter.

This short piece (a much too short 8 pages) is incredibly true to Adrian's character that was developed during the Vampire Academy series. The drinking, the smoking, the flirting, all ways to help him deal with the bad things that happen to him. I always felt a little bad about how things ended with him, and this chapter doesn't make me feel any better. Experiencing his reactions and feelings from his true inside self is even more heartbreaking than reading them as they were described in the last book of the Vampire Academy series, shadowed by a third-party perspective. It literally tore my heart to pieces to see just how much he is still suffering from the whole Rose conflict. The "Rose" colored glasses are gone now, and the truth is too painful to bare. It's so real...I know because I have been there...I am sure we all have been...

Let's hope things get much better for poor Adrian in Bloodlines. I'll let you know soon...it's next up in my TBR pile.

My rating?