Rating: 4.5⭐️
“Here is your campus map.
Note to all students: Vampire bites, loss of limbs or getting lost in the wailing wood will not count as a valid excuse for being late to class.”
— Zodiac Academy: The Awakening by Caroline Peckham, Susanne Valenti
This series has been out for a while now but it’s only recently that I’ve been made aware of the multiple series universe and the authors behind it.
Zodiac Academy turned out to be a fantastic read. A darker urban fantasy series that tilts towards the type of storytelling of magical schools and mythological creatures and enormously powerful barriers to overcome for the main characters. In this case female twin sisters and the school, Zodiac Academy, is far more brutal, abusive , and deeply damaging than Hogwarts could have imagined.
Multiple points of view, primarily Darcy and Tory Vega, the Gemini twins, yanked from one world into another. I found these two voices so compelling, different from each other and yet they are still so similar in their foundational core. At least for now.
Because as a reader, you’re getting a glimpse that this Academy is going to pull each one apart almost to their cellular level and rebuild them before the end. It’s that brutal. And they are that unprepared.
The Academy is magical, is separated in factions and the basics. The map helps to reinforce the magical system and the power structure in place. It’s also overlaid with the typical clique behavior and favoritism found in any school district anywhere, only hopped up to the inth degree by power and control. Never a good thing.
The young women are determined, resilient, and as strong as their background has made them. I immediately connected with Darcy and Tory, impulsively raging or fighting or whatever they were doing.
This ends on a bit of a challenge for them and I can’t wait to read Ruthless Fae to see what happens next.
Highly recommended for lovers of dark urban fantasy and strong women characters.
Zodiac Academy (12 book series):
The Awakening #1
Ruthless Fae #2
The Reckoning #3
Shadow Princess #4
Cursed Fates #5
Fated Throne #6
Heartless Sky #7
Sorrow and Starlight #8
Beyond the Veil #9
Restless Stars #10
The Awakening As Told By The Boys #11
Live and Let Lionel #12
Buy link
Blurb
Amazon.com and Wall Street Journal #1 bestselling dark fantasy romance series from authors Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti – a Booktok sensation!
I’m a Gemini. Impulsive. Curious. Headstrong. A twin. Heir to a throne I know nothing about. And it turns out, I’m Fae.
But of course there’s a catch – all I have to do to claim my birth right is prove that I’m the most powerful supernatural in the whole of Solaria. And sure, technically that’s true as I’m the daughter of the Savage King. But the bit they didn’t put in the brochure was that every single Fae in this Kingdom would claim my throne if they could.
The school they’ve sent me to is both dangerous as sh*t and one helluva party. Vampires bite weaker students in the corridors, the Werewolf pack has orgies in the Wailing Wood at every full moon and don’t even get me started on the dark and twisted ways the Sirens use their powers on people’s emotions, or how my sinfully tempting Cardinal Magic teacher hosts detentions that leave people needing therapy.
Classes are totally interesting if you manage to live through them. And that Gemini star sign I mentioned? It now determines my elemental magic and affects my destiny, so learning astrology is essential if I’m going to beat down my classmates – which is actively encouraged by the way.
My biggest problem is the drool worthy Dragon shifter who has his eyes on my throne. He and his three psycho friends are determined to make my time here hell.
All I’ve got to do is survive. But fate might have other ideas.
Dammit, why couldn’t I have gotten a letter to Hogwarts?
***This is a enemies to lovers romantasy – don’t go expecting a sweet school for magic with friends around every corner. Fae fight for everything they own and Zodiac Academy is a cutthroat school for students aged 18+ where only the strongest prevail. There’s no Dumbledore here to save anyone’s ass and Lionel Acrux will give Voldemort a run for his money in the evil dictator category. So hold onto your stardust (broomsticks not required) and get ready for a bumpy ride***
- Publisher: King’s Hollow (August 2, 2019)
- Publication date: August 2, 2019
- Language: English
- Print length: 420 pages
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 