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cait's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
nineinchnails's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
the writing style/prose is somewhat juvenile and wattpad-esque (i'm familiar with it from devouring brutal boys of everlake prep in november so it's not too jarring) however every time i was forced to put this down i was itching to pick it back up. it's definitely laced with something. the worldbuilding was super fun and interesting to read despite clearly pulling inspiration from other sources. everything gets revealed at a steady pace so even though it's a lot to juggle with i think they managed to pull it off; there's the magic academy thing (sorted by houses), elemental magic, fae orders, and probably more i'm missing at the moment. the world is super addictive for me but i could be biased because i fell in love with harry potter when i was 7 and that probably permanently altered my brain chemistry. this feels like a fusion of harry potter, the cruel prince, and winx club but adult and it's so captivating. it reminds me a little of the magicians tv show too (haven't read the books yet which is probably a cardinal sin) because it's an academy for adults but it's not quite as dark and satirical in tone imo.
the pacing probably isn't for everyone since the book moves pretty slowly but it focuses on character development and worldbuilding which is definitely my preference in fantasy. it makes me kinda wish we had chapters from the boys' pov but i'm hoping we'll get that in at least one of the later books. the pov being split between both twins might be annoying too since i did struggle remembering where one twin left off in their last chapter occasionally but they're both distinct enough for me to know who's chapter is whose so it could be a lot worse. considering how long this book is i should be pissed that barely any action happens but idk what to say it's like crack and it definitely didn't feel 400+ pages long. i really liked the characterisation of the twins and more importantly their relationship - it didn't ever get ugly between the two of them. despite all the shit they went through and the manipulation they faced they didn't let anything come between the two of them and it was really sweet. it kinda reminded me of my own relationships with my sisters (when we aren't at each others throats over stealing clothes or something) and felt realistic in that the traumatic shit we went through only made us more loyal and protective of each other instead of competitive.
there's probably more to say but it's nearly 1am and my brain is failing me so to conclude: this book is super OTT and you absolutely will get secondhand embarrassment but if you can suspend your disbelief (and have heeded the trigger warnings) you'll probably love it just for the pure entertainment. yes this book is unserious as fuck but i am seated!
the pacing probably isn't for everyone since the book moves pretty slowly but it focuses on character development and worldbuilding which is definitely my preference in fantasy. it makes me kinda wish we had chapters from the boys' pov but i'm hoping we'll get that in at least one of the later books. the pov being split between both twins might be annoying too since i did struggle remembering where one twin left off in their last chapter occasionally but they're both distinct enough for me to know who's chapter is whose so it could be a lot worse. considering how long this book is i should be pissed that barely any action happens but idk what to say it's like crack and it definitely didn't feel 400+ pages long. i really liked the characterisation of the twins and more importantly their relationship - it didn't ever get ugly between the two of them. despite all the shit they went through and the manipulation they faced they didn't let anything come between the two of them and it was really sweet. it kinda reminded me of my own relationships with my sisters (when we aren't at each others throats over stealing clothes or something) and felt realistic in that the traumatic shit we went through only made us more loyal and protective of each other instead of competitive.
there's probably more to say but it's nearly 1am and my brain is failing me so to conclude: this book is super OTT and you absolutely will get secondhand embarrassment but if you can suspend your disbelief (and have heeded the trigger warnings) you'll probably love it just for the pure entertainment. yes this book is unserious as fuck but i am seated!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual content, Violence, and Car accident
Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment
hchaus21's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
milla_b's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This is my first proper adventure into bully romance (The cruel prince was a toe in the water) and parts were a bit tough to swallow. I am curious to see how the relationships play out and how they move on especially after the the events book 1 left off from.
Things I liked:
• the storyline- really want to know more. And there’s a huge world that you’re being introduced to and I can’t help but want to know more about it beyond the Acadamy.
• I like the characters and especially the twins
• I’m on the fence about the Heirs, but not in the way that I don’t want to read about them, because I clearly have a thing for morally questionable characters…..
Things that bugged me (but not enough to put me off):
• some of the writing, past and present tense. Some minor grammar errors and I think American idioms….. idioms are not deal breakers but some are just personally a tad annoying for me.
Overall I enjoyed it and will continue the series. Read it yourself and make up your own mind.
Things I liked:
• the storyline- really want to know more. And there’s a huge world that you’re being introduced to and I can’t help but want to know more about it beyond the Acadamy.
• I like the characters and especially the twins
• I’m on the fence about the Heirs, but not in the way that I don’t want to read about them, because I clearly have a thing for morally questionable characters…..
Things that bugged me (but not enough to put me off):
• some of the writing, past and present tense. Some minor grammar errors and I think American idioms….. idioms are not deal breakers but some are just personally a tad annoying for me.
Overall I enjoyed it and will continue the series. Read it yourself and make up your own mind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Cursing and Gaslighting
Minor: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
nordicat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Violence and Alcohol
Minor: Body shaming, Incest, Death of parent, and Abandonment
hannahwriightt's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Incest, Sexual content, and Murder
Minor: Body shaming and Car accident
thechaoshour's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I love the general idea of this book but it was executed poorly. The characters were unlikeable and I found the plot slow and boring. It was just a lot of bullying and abuse from the Heirs and not much plot. Plus the writing was not good and it needs some new editing but as I understand it, this book was earlier in their careers. I’m curious enough to keep reading for now in hopes they get better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism
nickyz's review against another edition
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
inkdrinkers's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
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? Yes
4.0
Oh holy hell, did I ever expect to like this book? No. Did I absolutely fall in love with it? Yes.
Tory and Darcy Vega are twins who haven't had the best of lives - think A Series of Unfortunate Events - but the hits keep coming and they won't stop coming. They managed to flee their abusive foster father and have been stealing and hustling to make ends meet in their hometown of Chicago when suddenly a mysterious man shows up and claims they're the long-lost Fae princesses of a world they've never heard of. And y'all, that's only the first CHAPTER.
I'm going to get what I disliked out of the way first: the formatting of this book is such a hard pill to swallow. Every chapter had a POV from each twin, meaning that chapters feel like they're double the length they actually are because once you finish one twin's POV, you're often thrust back into the other one. They should have cut their losses and split every POV into a new numbered chapter because I genuinely lost where I even was in the book in the middle. Add in some poor editing, the most "we're new to this world and everything is Awful" plotline ever, some truly TERRIBLE actions by the love interests, some very cringe bullying scenes, and you get a nice little cocktail of a miserable reading experience for the first 60% but...
Then you get past that 60% and you suddenly realize why so many people love this.
I'm planning on doing a whole video about this series where I talk about everything in detail - but I'll leave my loves about this book to talking about the fact that it appealed to the tween in me who so deeply craved these kinds of stories. The stories where the characters are just beaten down at every chance and every turn, the stories where you just can't help but feel terrible for the main characters because no one ever gives them a break or throws them a bone, but they never give up. I thought I'd end up disliking both Tory and Darcy for multiple reasons, but instead I found myself absolutely rooting for the two of them every time someone knocked them back a peg and they turned around and kept swinging.
I will say, I think these books will appeal to anyone, like me, who trolled the depths of fanfiction dot net in its heyday. If you sorted by newest fics because you've read all the others before, if you clicked on OC fics because you wanted to experience the character entering this world you loved for the first time again, if you stayed up until 3am reading hundreds of thousands of words and getting lost in the same world, characters, and story just in different fonts and different scenarios - these are for you.
Onto book two.
A comprehensive video covering the entire Zodiac Academy series will be coming soon from me. I'll update the reviews when I have the link for you all.
content warnings: heavy bullying (a very prominent plot point), child abuse, abuse, sexual content (80% in, light graphic scene), age gap love interest, and some general cringe but once you turn your brain off, it's so much fun.
Tory and Darcy Vega are twins who haven't had the best of lives - think A Series of Unfortunate Events - but the hits keep coming and they won't stop coming. They managed to flee their abusive foster father and have been stealing and hustling to make ends meet in their hometown of Chicago when suddenly a mysterious man shows up and claims they're the long-lost Fae princesses of a world they've never heard of. And y'all, that's only the first CHAPTER.
I'm going to get what I disliked out of the way first: the formatting of this book is such a hard pill to swallow. Every chapter had a POV from each twin, meaning that chapters feel like they're double the length they actually are because once you finish one twin's POV, you're often thrust back into the other one. They should have cut their losses and split every POV into a new numbered chapter because I genuinely lost where I even was in the book in the middle. Add in some poor editing, the most "we're new to this world and everything is Awful" plotline ever, some truly TERRIBLE actions by the love interests, some very cringe bullying scenes, and you get a nice little cocktail of a miserable reading experience for the first 60% but...
Then you get past that 60% and you suddenly realize why so many people love this.
I'm planning on doing a whole video about this series where I talk about everything in detail - but I'll leave my loves about this book to talking about the fact that it appealed to the tween in me who so deeply craved these kinds of stories. The stories where the characters are just beaten down at every chance and every turn, the stories where you just can't help but feel terrible for the main characters because no one ever gives them a break or throws them a bone, but they never give up. I thought I'd end up disliking both Tory and Darcy for multiple reasons, but instead I found myself absolutely rooting for the two of them every time someone knocked them back a peg and they turned around and kept swinging.
I will say, I think these books will appeal to anyone, like me, who trolled the depths of fanfiction dot net in its heyday. If you sorted by newest fics because you've read all the others before, if you clicked on OC fics because you wanted to experience the character entering this world you loved for the first time again, if you stayed up until 3am reading hundreds of thousands of words and getting lost in the same world, characters, and story just in different fonts and different scenarios - these are for you.
Onto book two.
A comprehensive video covering the entire Zodiac Academy series will be coming soon from me. I'll update the reviews when I have the link for you all.
content warnings: heavy bullying (a very prominent plot point), child abuse, abuse, sexual content (80% in, light graphic scene), age gap love interest, and some general cringe but once you turn your brain off, it's so much fun.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
I tried to tag every content I could remember, but if you're diving into this series, please find a friend who's read them and ask about specific triggers!lestie4short's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and War