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A review by theferalhousewivesbookclub
The Awakening by Caroline Peckham, Susanne Valenti
4.0
Spice: .5/5
Plot: 4.5/5
And so begins my journey into Solaria and Zodiac Academy….
This is some seriously toxic shit and I FUCKING LOVE IT! Hooked! Right from the dedication. I was immediately like, YUP that’s me. So down the rabbit hole I go.
I’m gunna keep this spoiler free because that’s how I’m going into it. I’ve worked my not so little ass off to make sure that I’ve never seen anything that might spoil this series for me in any way lol. I am going in blind as a fucking bat.
So this is very much Harry Potter meets Vampire Diaries meets X-Men in all the best ways. But theeeen @kaitreadstoescape messaged me and was like “it’s the CW network” and damn if that’s not bang on. It is in fact the CW network in book form. And lord help me, I was a whore for anything on the CW (I still am, who am I kidding lol.) So if like me, you were obsessed with any of the above, keep reading cuz this is for you!
Quick synopsis for those who don’t know…. This book follows twin sisters Tory and Darcy as they discover that they’re actually Fae and not human when they turn 18 and their magic suddenly becomes traceable. So basically it’s what all of us wish would happen lol. They get transported to the magical land of Solaria where they must enroll in Zodiac Academy to learn how to use their magic etc etc. Obviously there’s a bunch more shit that happens lol, but I wanna keep this as basic as possible for those who haven’t read it yet lol.
Things I loved that make me want to fully immerse myself in this world and never come up for air…
- The guys. Excellent mix. I don’t know how this is gunna play out cuz again, I’ve gone in completely blind, but there’s a lot more guys than there are girls and I’m nervous AF lol. Is this a why choose? Is this not a why choose and I’m gunna get my fucking heart ripped out? I don’t know, but I’m damn well gunna find out lol. Darius, Caleb and Orion are my boys right now haha.
~ The world!! I’m absolutely LOVING everything about this so far and the world building is excellent. Some of it is a little on the confusing side, cuz there’s A LOT to it, but it can be like that with every new fantasy so I’m taking it in stride and just learning as I go lol. When I say there’s a lot to it, it’s not just Fae like you would normally imagine. Fae is used as a more broad term and can also encompass Vampires, Werewolves, Sirens, Shifters and SO MUCH MORE. Like there are Medusa’s and Cerberus’ (I don’t know what the plural of that is lol) and things I’ve never even heard of and had to google - which I really fucking loved cuz I’ve read a lot of mythology and fantasy and rarely come across something that I’ve never heard of. Plus then we add in the use of the Zodiac and astrology and it just adds another layer to everything and makes it that much more fascinating. So well done to the twisted sisters for the world of Solaria!!
~ The writing and the plot! I was pleasantly surprised here! I saw a couple reviews (after the fact) that were talking about a bunch of grammatical errors and shit like that but I didn’t see anything in that regard. I don’t know if they were old reviews and the books have been re edited or what and I’m too lazy to go look lol. Either way, the writing in these totally worked for me! While it’s a lot of world building, it’s not super heavy or complicated. It’s light, easy to get through but descriptive and engaging. I really like the girls’ internal thoughts and the banter, tension and building angst that we have going on. There’s definitely a plot and I’m totally hooked on it. I need to know how this plays out and I’m fucking terrified at the same time lol.
~ The girls and the rest of the characters are very well done too. Normally FMC’s in books really piss me off, that’s usually my number one complaint in actually. But these ladies are fierce and somehow the Twisted Sisters have found this precarious balance between them being horribly bullied and being bad ass… I don’t know how it works or how they pulled it off but it’s perfect. The others characters are fascinating as well, some of them I loathe and some of them annoy the fuck out of me and some of them give me the serious ick - which is what you want from a book! I want to feel all the things for all the characters and they definitely accomplished that.
I feel like I could keep going on and on and on about what I love lol, but I’ll end with this… If you’ve been on the fence about Zodiac Academy but you love the CW network (and all things fantasy like this) and you go into this expecting it to be the book form of one of those shows, I think you’ll fucking love it. I’ve heard it matures really well too, so I’m excited to see how the characters develop and grow as they get older. So do I recommend this? Absofuckinglutely!!
Xo
- J
P.S. Special shoutouts to @romancebaddie and @notriggernancy for guiding me on this Zodiac journey lol.
P.P.S. I will now be accepting all of your fan casts and fan art for the guys via direct message PLEASE!! But only photos (NOT POSTS) cuz I don’t want to accidentally have anything spoiled lol. But I desperately want to know what y’all think these guys look like! My top choices for Darius and Orion are on the next slides! Thanks to Nancy for those!
Plot: 4.5/5
And so begins my journey into Solaria and Zodiac Academy….
This is some seriously toxic shit and I FUCKING LOVE IT! Hooked! Right from the dedication. I was immediately like, YUP that’s me. So down the rabbit hole I go.
I’m gunna keep this spoiler free because that’s how I’m going into it. I’ve worked my not so little ass off to make sure that I’ve never seen anything that might spoil this series for me in any way lol. I am going in blind as a fucking bat.
So this is very much Harry Potter meets Vampire Diaries meets X-Men in all the best ways. But theeeen @kaitreadstoescape messaged me and was like “it’s the CW network” and damn if that’s not bang on. It is in fact the CW network in book form. And lord help me, I was a whore for anything on the CW (I still am, who am I kidding lol.) So if like me, you were obsessed with any of the above, keep reading cuz this is for you!
Quick synopsis for those who don’t know…. This book follows twin sisters Tory and Darcy as they discover that they’re actually Fae and not human when they turn 18 and their magic suddenly becomes traceable. So basically it’s what all of us wish would happen lol. They get transported to the magical land of Solaria where they must enroll in Zodiac Academy to learn how to use their magic etc etc. Obviously there’s a bunch more shit that happens lol, but I wanna keep this as basic as possible for those who haven’t read it yet lol.
Things I loved that make me want to fully immerse myself in this world and never come up for air…
- The guys. Excellent mix. I don’t know how this is gunna play out cuz again, I’ve gone in completely blind, but there’s a lot more guys than there are girls and I’m nervous AF lol. Is this a why choose? Is this not a why choose and I’m gunna get my fucking heart ripped out? I don’t know, but I’m damn well gunna find out lol. Darius, Caleb and Orion are my boys right now haha.
~ The world!! I’m absolutely LOVING everything about this so far and the world building is excellent. Some of it is a little on the confusing side, cuz there’s A LOT to it, but it can be like that with every new fantasy so I’m taking it in stride and just learning as I go lol. When I say there’s a lot to it, it’s not just Fae like you would normally imagine. Fae is used as a more broad term and can also encompass Vampires, Werewolves, Sirens, Shifters and SO MUCH MORE. Like there are Medusa’s and Cerberus’ (I don’t know what the plural of that is lol) and things I’ve never even heard of and had to google - which I really fucking loved cuz I’ve read a lot of mythology and fantasy and rarely come across something that I’ve never heard of. Plus then we add in the use of the Zodiac and astrology and it just adds another layer to everything and makes it that much more fascinating. So well done to the twisted sisters for the world of Solaria!!
~ The writing and the plot! I was pleasantly surprised here! I saw a couple reviews (after the fact) that were talking about a bunch of grammatical errors and shit like that but I didn’t see anything in that regard. I don’t know if they were old reviews and the books have been re edited or what and I’m too lazy to go look lol. Either way, the writing in these totally worked for me! While it’s a lot of world building, it’s not super heavy or complicated. It’s light, easy to get through but descriptive and engaging. I really like the girls’ internal thoughts and the banter, tension and building angst that we have going on. There’s definitely a plot and I’m totally hooked on it. I need to know how this plays out and I’m fucking terrified at the same time lol.
~ The girls and the rest of the characters are very well done too. Normally FMC’s in books really piss me off, that’s usually my number one complaint in actually. But these ladies are fierce and somehow the Twisted Sisters have found this precarious balance between them being horribly bullied and being bad ass… I don’t know how it works or how they pulled it off but it’s perfect. The others characters are fascinating as well, some of them I loathe and some of them annoy the fuck out of me and some of them give me the serious ick - which is what you want from a book! I want to feel all the things for all the characters and they definitely accomplished that.
I feel like I could keep going on and on and on about what I love lol, but I’ll end with this… If you’ve been on the fence about Zodiac Academy but you love the CW network (and all things fantasy like this) and you go into this expecting it to be the book form of one of those shows, I think you’ll fucking love it. I’ve heard it matures really well too, so I’m excited to see how the characters develop and grow as they get older. So do I recommend this? Absofuckinglutely!!
Xo
- J
P.S. Special shoutouts to @romancebaddie and @notriggernancy for guiding me on this Zodiac journey lol.
P.P.S. I will now be accepting all of your fan casts and fan art for the guys via direct message PLEASE!! But only photos (NOT POSTS) cuz I don’t want to accidentally have anything spoiled lol. But I desperately want to know what y’all think these guys look like! My top choices for Darius and Orion are on the next slides! Thanks to Nancy for those!