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emeraldcity28's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
kayliehollie's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
ally131993's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
quintycaspers's review against another edition
3.75
I liked it, but a little less than ZA. It started of veryyyy spicy and now I think I’m getting more of a connection with the characters which i like. So I think the second one will be better!
nickylovesbooks's review against another edition
5.0
I have read each of the Zodiac Academy books that have been released and as book 9 is due to be released in April I am heading back into the world of Solaria, but this time starting with the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac (first time reading this series).
After reading ZA, it has made knowing who the main characters in Dark Fae are. Even though I am only meeting them properly for the first time, I still feel like I know them.
Dark Fae gives us the story of Elise Callisto, a vampire who is looking to find out who killed her brother, Gareth. No-one believes he was murdered as his death was put down as a drug overdose after taking too much Killblaze. However, Elise knows he would never have taken this drug.
To investigate Gareth’s death, she enrols at Aurora Academy, the school where he died and believes the killer attends.
There she meets Dante Oscura - a storm dragon shifter, Leon Night - a nemean lion shifter, Ryder Draconis - a basilisk shifter, and Gabriel Nox - a harpy.
As she gets close to the guys and gets to know them she finds things may not appear as they seem and she finds herself attracted to all of them. I didn’t expect Gabriel to be the first one she gets fully intimate with. I knew she was holding off with Dante and Ryder as once she is with either of them, she is officially classed as a member of either the Lunar Brotherhood (Ryders gang) or the Oscura Clan (Dante’s gang) and she does not want to be tied to either of the gangs. I honestly thought Leon would be who she got with first.
What I loved about this book, is even though he is dead we get chapters from Gareth’s POV. These chapters detail events in the 18 months prior to his death and leads you to believe any of the guys could be his killer. Even though everything points to them I don’t believe it was any of them.
And Cindy Lou – I hate her. She was Gareth’s girlfriend, but I don’t believe she actually wanted to be with him, especially as there are scenes where she keeps eying up other characters. I haven’t decided if she was involved in his death in some way. It’s too early in the series to know.
I will admit it took a while to get into this, mainly because this series is set 10 years before ZA and I kept waiting for the ZA characters to appear. We did get mention of a couple of them though. Also the magic system is already well established. All the characters already know what elements they control and what their orders are etc.
Now ready to start Savage Fae….
After reading ZA, it has made knowing who the main characters in Dark Fae are. Even though I am only meeting them properly for the first time, I still feel like I know them.
Dark Fae gives us the story of Elise Callisto, a vampire who is looking to find out who killed her brother, Gareth. No-one believes he was murdered as his death was put down as a drug overdose after taking too much Killblaze. However, Elise knows he would never have taken this drug.
To investigate Gareth’s death, she enrols at Aurora Academy, the school where he died and believes the killer attends.
There she meets Dante Oscura - a storm dragon shifter, Leon Night - a nemean lion shifter, Ryder Draconis - a basilisk shifter, and Gabriel Nox - a harpy.
As she gets close to the guys and gets to know them she finds things may not appear as they seem and she finds herself attracted to all of them. I didn’t expect Gabriel to be the first one she gets fully intimate with. I knew she was holding off with Dante and Ryder as once she is with either of them, she is officially classed as a member of either the Lunar Brotherhood (Ryders gang) or the Oscura Clan (Dante’s gang) and she does not want to be tied to either of the gangs. I honestly thought Leon would be who she got with first.
What I loved about this book, is even though he is dead we get chapters from Gareth’s POV. These chapters detail events in the 18 months prior to his death and leads you to believe any of the guys could be his killer. Even though everything points to them I don’t believe it was any of them.
And Cindy Lou – I hate her. She was Gareth’s girlfriend, but I don’t believe she actually wanted to be with him, especially as there are scenes where she keeps eying up other characters. I haven’t decided if she was involved in his death in some way. It’s too early in the series to know.
I will admit it took a while to get into this, mainly because this series is set 10 years before ZA and I kept waiting for the ZA characters to appear. We did get mention of a couple of them though. Also the magic system is already well established. All the characters already know what elements they control and what their orders are etc.
Now ready to start Savage Fae….
acourtofathalarandwhitethorn's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
allyreadsromance's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic New Series
I am in Love!!! This is my introduction to Solaria and Im hooked! This book is fun, steamy, and full of mystery! I love Elise and her men! Oh man!!!! These are the most stubborn Fae and it's delicious!!! I can't wait for their relationships to grow and see what really happened to Garreth!!!
I am in Love!!! This is my introduction to Solaria and Im hooked! This book is fun, steamy, and full of mystery! I love Elise and her men! Oh man!!!! These are the most stubborn Fae and it's delicious!!! I can't wait for their relationships to grow and see what really happened to Garreth!!!
michiigii's review against another edition
2.0
so much potential
The world-building has SO MUCH potential. I like the idea of Fae and Order forms, and celestial elemental magic. There’s so much opportunity there. And the spice is actually really well written. I felt the steam.
But everything in-between is so unfortunately trite. I had a very difficult time liking the main character; we don’t actually see her grieve, it’s just her being angry and condescending for a good 80% of the book. When she DOES let herself be vulnerable, it’s so different from what she’s already shown us that it feels out of character.
The love interests have a tendency to be entitled. True to character? Sure. But attractive? Not to me. Their attraction to the MC is clearly just lust and interest in the hot new girl. Soulless. (With the possible exception of the one who might be her Mate, but it might just from be the force of Fate.)
Any moment where the characters show tenderness, it seems out of character. A complete 180 from what they are normally. There’s no hinting at hidden depths, or foreshadowing that someone is more than they appear. Instead, it’s a lot of tell, with very little show.
There is room for character development, which is good, and lines up really strong potential for where all the romance goes. (I will say that Leon really grew on me. I believe his story arc). But it’s so FRUSTRATING that we get this interesting world, and the character that I cared the most about is the brother that died.
This book did a really good job setting up its world and the mystery the main character is working through. But it did not set up the tension between its love interests very successfully (there is no tension. It’s just heat.), and the characters feel empty. The series clearly wants to be both a fantasy reverse harem PLUS a fantasy murder mystery, but rather than finding a balance between the two, they just seem equally lacking.
Maybe things will improve in the next book, but I’m not sure I care enough about the female lead to read it.
The world-building has SO MUCH potential. I like the idea of Fae and Order forms, and celestial elemental magic. There’s so much opportunity there. And the spice is actually really well written. I felt the steam.
But everything in-between is so unfortunately trite. I had a very difficult time liking the main character; we don’t actually see her grieve, it’s just her being angry and condescending for a good 80% of the book. When she DOES let herself be vulnerable, it’s so different from what she’s already shown us that it feels out of character.
The love interests have a tendency to be entitled. True to character? Sure. But attractive? Not to me. Their attraction to the MC is clearly just lust and interest in the hot new girl. Soulless. (With the possible exception of the one who might be her Mate, but it might just from be the force of Fate.)
Any moment where the characters show tenderness, it seems out of character. A complete 180 from what they are normally. There’s no hinting at hidden depths, or foreshadowing that someone is more than they appear. Instead, it’s a lot of tell, with very little show.
There is room for character development, which is good, and lines up really strong potential for where all the romance goes. (I will say that Leon really grew on me. I believe his story arc). But it’s so FRUSTRATING that we get this interesting world, and the character that I cared the most about is the brother that died.
This book did a really good job setting up its world and the mystery the main character is working through. But it did not set up the tension between its love interests very successfully (there is no tension. It’s just heat.), and the characters feel empty. The series clearly wants to be both a fantasy reverse harem PLUS a fantasy murder mystery, but rather than finding a balance between the two, they just seem equally lacking.
Maybe things will improve in the next book, but I’m not sure I care enough about the female lead to read it.
erin_enchanted's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
0.5
I have no words for how much I disliked this book. The only reason I picked it up is because Zodiac Academy is on my TBR and many people recommended reading the prequel series first - otherwise I would have DNFed it.
Writing? Not stellar. The number of times I rolled my eyes hearing the phrase “vampire speed”…. Plot holes? Abundant (I think the authors forgot there was a plot at times - mostly just horny teenagers talking about how horny they are). Characters? Not one likable one in the bunch.
All of the kings seemed to be obsessed with our FMC because she was “so different” than “all of the other girls”. Literally. NO. Me rolling my eyes yet again.
I found this book extremely boring and was basically written as a poor quality YA novel full of adult topics. I will not be continuing with the series. I will try out the first book in ZA, but if the writing is anything like this, I have a feeling I will be disappointed.
Writing? Not stellar. The number of times I rolled my eyes hearing the phrase “vampire speed”…. Plot holes? Abundant (I think the authors forgot there was a plot at times - mostly just horny teenagers talking about how horny they are). Characters? Not one likable one in the bunch.
All of the kings seemed to be obsessed with our FMC because she was “so different” than “all of the other girls”. Literally. NO. Me rolling my eyes yet again.
I found this book extremely boring and was basically written as a poor quality YA novel full of adult topics. I will not be continuing with the series. I will try out the first book in ZA, but if the writing is anything like this, I have a feeling I will be disappointed.