Cover of Shadow Kiss

Shadow Kiss

core novel 2008 Vampire Academy / Bloodlines

Record

First published2008
Original language EN
Work typenovel
Canon statuscore
Reader rating4.33 (384,170 ratings, collected 2026-08-26)
First-edition ISBN9781595141972
Internal chronology3

Synopsis

Shadow Kiss, the third Vampire Academy novel, picks up with Rose Hathaway still shaken by the death of her friend Mason in the previous book, as she prepares for the Qualifying Exam, a major trial in which dhampir novices must protect assigned Moroi students from staged Strigoi attacks to prove they are ready to become guardians. Rose is paired with Christian Ozera for the exercise while continuing her instruction under Dimitri Belikov, her mentor, toward whom her feelings have grown more complicated. At the same time, she begins experiencing unsettling side effects tied to her psychic bond with princess Lissa Dragomir, including unexplained flashes of anger and disturbing visions she cannot fully explain, on top of the ordinary pressures of the exam. The story follows Rose as she tries to hold her training and her growing bond-related symptoms together while St. Vladimir's remains threatened by the Strigoi.

Where it sits

Notes

  • From the series record (Vampire Academy): A YA series following Rose Hathaway, a half-vampire guardian, at a boarding school for vampires and their protectors.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.

  • Publication order, within the series Vampire Academy: position 3 of 6: previous Frostbite (2008) · next Blood Promise (2009)
  • Internal chronology, within Vampire Academy / Bloodlines: position 5 of 12: previous The Golden Lily (2012) · next The Indigo Spell (2013)

Sources

← Vampire Academy / Bloodlines dossier · All universes

Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.