March 1, 2013
The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead
The basics
Title: The Golden Lily
Author: Richelle Mead
Series: Bloodlines #2
- Bloodlines (August 2011) - The Golden Lily (June 2012) - The Indigo Spell (February 2013) - The Fiery Heart (November 2013) - Silver Shadows (July 2014) - The Ruby Circle (February 2015)
Add it: Goodreads
Goodreads Summary:
Tough, brainy alchemist Sydney Sage and doe-eyed Moroi princess Jill Dragomir are in hiding at a human boarding school in the sunny, glamorous world of Palm Springs, California. The students--children of the wealthy and powerful--carry on with their lives in blissful ignorance, while Sydney, Jill, Eddie, and Adrian must do everything in their power to keep their secret safe. But with forbidden romances, unexpected spirit bonds, and the threat of Strigoi moving ever closer, hiding the truth is harder than anyone thought.
Read a full summary of The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead below. If you can’t remember what happened in The Golden Lily and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.
In short
Sydney is now questioning the Alchemists and her beliefs. She starts a romance with some guy called Brayden (no one likes him) who is meant to be a male version of Sydney. But he’s a male version of the OLD Sydney, so… Of course, Sydney has feelings for Adrian because they are an OTP.
What happened in The Golden Lily?
- Sydney is taken to see Keith Darnell (who she turned in for dealing vampire blood in Bloodlines) and finds out he’s been in a Re-education Center. Sydney is asked to give a statement on Keith’s state of mind, to determine whether or not more Re-education is needed. She tells them that he’s a horrible person, but he’s not in with vampires any more.
- Trey introduces Sydney to Brayden, who she finds interesting because he’s such a weirdo. My words, not hers. They go on a date to a windmill farm.
- Clarence is still talking about vampire hunters, and everyone continues to think he’s paranoid.
- Eddie and Angeline start dating. People at school can’t know about it because they’re meant to be cousins. Oops.
- Sydney drives Adrian to go and see his father, since he wants an update on his mother. Nathan Ivashkov is a huge ass who doesn’t care about how Adrian is turning his life around.
- A group of people attack Sydney and Sonya in the street, but it’s okay because Dimitri saves them.
- Sydney and Adrain sign up for a self defence class with a guy called Wolfe, who is pretty awesome I must say.
- There’s a school dance and Sydney wears a hot Greek chiton. Adrian turns up and makes his usual comments, and Brayden says that Sydney is dressed like a Greek prostitute. Adrian gets offended and angry on Sydney’s behalf, and Sydney tells Brayden to leave before things get out of hand.
- Two guys called Jeff and Blond Hair corner Sydney and tell her that they know about vampires. These guys are vampire hunters who – according to them – haven’t forgotten the original purpose. So, Clarence isn’t so paranoid after all, eh? These vampire hunters call themselves The Warriors of Light and they have leaflets and everything.
- Adrian gets a hot car and he asks Sydney to help him learn to drive it, since it’s stick shift and not an automatic. Sydney is happy to help because it’s a beautiful car.
- Sonya asks Sydney for a sample of her blood to help with the tests they’re doing to figure out the Strigoi stuff. Sonya thinks that Sydney’s blood could be different from the rest, and that’s why it’s so gross to the Strigoi.
- Sonya goes missing! Oh no! Sydney uses a tracking spell to find out where she is. Ms Terwilliger is actually quite handy!
- Trey is part of The Warriors of Light. Sydney finds out when she recalls his sun tattoo. Who could have seen this coming certainly not me.
How did it end?
Trey talks with his buddies and sets up a meeting. Sydney is to be taken to The Warriors of Light, but she’ll need to be blindfolded. They confiscate all of Sydney’s possessions. Then they take her to an arena, where men fight each other like gladiators. Of course, it’s only the men who are allowed to fight because, hey, they might as well be sexist as well as racist and close minded.
Sonya is taken into the arena because The Warriors of Light still think she’s a Strigoi. Obviously they didn’t do the proper tests beforehand, like putting Sonya out in the sunlight.
Dimitri, Eddie, and a bunch of others turn up to save Sonya and to get Sydney out of there. Adrian’s also there to help. Woo!
The Warriors of Light let slip that Marcus Finch, whoever he is, used to be an Alchemist. Sydney asks Clarence about him later and he shows Sydney a picture of the guy.
Brayden breaks up with Sydney. A terrible shame.
Adrian confesses his love to Sydney, and says he wants them to give their relationship a try. Sydney, however, turns him down. It’s all very sad.
Any terminology you should know?
Steel tattoos – Enhance strength and speed.
Celestial tattoos – Give the wearer a feeling of euphoria.
Strigoi – Evil vampires who kill when they feed.
Moroi – Nice vampires who don’t kill when they feed. These guys can go out in sunlight.
Dhampir – Half vampires who protect the Moroi.
Alchemists – Keep the world in the dark about vampires. They often have to cover up Strigoi attacks and things. They don’t like vampires, no matter how much they work with them.
Celestial tattoos – Give the wearer a feeling of euphoria.
Strigoi – Evil vampires who kill when they feed.
Moroi – Nice vampires who don’t kill when they feed. These guys can go out in sunlight.
Dhampir – Half vampires who protect the Moroi.
Alchemists – Keep the world in the dark about vampires. They often have to cover up Strigoi attacks and things. They don’t like vampires, no matter how much they work with them.
The Warriors of Light – A bunch of crazy people who want to rid the world of vampires. Basically extreme Alchemists.
This is a full plot summary of what happened in The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead. Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!
Thank you for this recap! I just stumbled across your blog and it made my day! I was so impatient to read The Indigo Spell that I couldn’t read Bloodlines and The Golden Lily again! Keep up the good job 🙂
Thank you so much for the recap! I loved your extra comments. =) I’ve always hoped some one would make a site like this so thank you SO much, it is beyond helpful!
Honestly, the best part of these are your snarky comments haha. Thanks, this is so helpful! I’m reading all the Bloodlines recaps, because I read the first three books ages ago (okay two years, but who needs a good memory anyway), and I can’t be bothered to reread them, but I remembered basically nothing, so this is perfection.