Mead's new vampire spinoff manages to stand apart

Sydney doesn’t have time to worry about pimples or a date to the prom. Instead, she’s worried about the vampire princess she’s sworn to protect to avoid a civil war that would likely cost human lives. Richelle Mead’s young adult “Bloodlines” is set in the same world of the Moroi, Strigoi and dhampirs (human-vampire hybrids) as her Vampire Academy Series, which she completed in December. It’s a spinoff narrated by Sydney, a side character in the Vampire Academy books.

Sydney is an alchemist who protects humans from the volatile world of vampires. Her father is important in the world of alchemists and has trained her since she was a child. She’s one of the best, though she recently lost her father’s trust because of a rogue operation.