Reviews - Zodiac Academy: The Awakening

17k reviews for:

Zodiac Academy: The Awakening

Caroline Peckham

3.65 AVERAGE

azmina_shafie's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

lindseyknijff's review against another edition

4.0

3 jaar geleden voor het eerst dit boek gelezen en 3 jaar later vind ik het nog steeds een leuk boek.

Het is niet sterk geschreven, maar vanaf het eerste hoofdstuk heeft het mij in een houdgreep en kan ik niet stoppen met lezen. Het is een leuk & origineel verhaallijn. Ben waarschijnlijk 1 van de enige, maar ik vind het “pest” gedeelte ook origineel en leuk om te lezen, vooral omdat Tory & Darcy zich niet laten kennen.

spugh's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

dreamybookishvalkyrie's review against another edition

5.0

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

tessalehman's review against another edition

1.75

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

vcatherine88's review against another edition

1.0

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

wonderedpages's review against another edition

1.0

dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I picked up The Awakening for my Garden of the Books book club in July. I had the hard copy, but after everyone raved about the dramatized audiobook, I switched over. Big mistake. This was honestly one of the worst books I’ve read (or listened to) in a long time.

Tori and Darcy Vega are twins who get kidnapped from Chicago and dropped into Zodiac Academy, where they’re told they’re the long-lost heirs to Solaria. Sounds intriguing, right? Except the entire book is just one long string of cruelty. The heirs and professors bully them nonstop—coercion, humiliation, assault, you name it. Instead of learning magic or finding allies, the twins are forced into nightmare scenarios that had me cringing, not rooting for them. Professors are just as awful as the students, and absolutely no one steps up to help.

The “romance”? Don’t even get me started. Vampire professors and students claim the twins, feed on them without consent, flash them, coerce them—this isn’t dark romance, it’s straight-up assault. I couldn’t figure out how anyone found this entertaining, let alone hype-worthy. By the time one twin’s hair got chopped off and the other almost drowned, I was done.

I can see how some readers might get swept up in the chaos, but for me, it felt like cruelty for shock value with zero payoff. I won’t be reading more of this series.

Content Warnings