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A review by coralinejones
Zodiac Academy: The Awakening by Caroline Peckham, Susanne Valenti
3.0
This was the most dog water, poorly written, misogynistic, wannabe Harry Potter ass shit ai have ever read in my entire life. Zodiac Academy is literally horrific and full of tropes I absolutely despise. These characters are deplorable, including Tory and Darcy.
However, this was fun in a terrible supernatural CW, early 2010s MTV teen drama kind of way. Zodiac Academy reminded me heavily of Pretty Little Liars, Teen Wolf, Twilight, and of course Harry Potter, in the worst ways imaginable. Is the book good? No. Not even a little bit. Is it overwhelmingly entertaining? Well, yes!
It helps that I read this through GraphicAudio, a style of audiobooks that implements sound effect and a full cast to stylize the story being told. They say it's "a movie for your ears" and I couldn't agree more. These type of audiobooks happen to be my favorite, utilizing radio theater from the 1950s / 1960s, making this read not as bad as it truly could've been. Had I read this fully on my own I would probably rate Zodiac Academy a 0-2 stars instead of 3. But, personal enjoyment over literary substance took over.
There are so many negative things to note about this book.
The main male leads are horrible. They're not "bullies", they're straight up abusive and unlikeable. They're cocky, overpowered pricks who get away with entirely too much. Why did one of them strip Tory bare in front of everyone? Why did one of them post nude pictures of her publicly? Why does everyone sexually abuse them verbally throughout the novel? Talking about twincest and having sex with them all the time? Give me a break.
The faculty treating Tory and Darcy the way they do is unacceptable. This aspect reminded me of Pretty Little Liars, especially. IYKYK. "You're mine." Get a GRIP!
It's tiring how many negative events happen to the twins throughout the duration of this novel. There's no room to breathe. Nobody gets reprimanded for their actions. It's one shit event after the other. These twins are begging for mercy and they either get laughed at, ignored, or provoked further. Is this Degrassi?
Zodiac Academy is supposed to be for adults, given the sex scenes, but it feels painfully YA. Corny 2011 Wattpad YA. Just learning how to be a teenager YA. Assuming what college would be like based off TV YA. Experiencing adulthood through fiction and Facebook YA. Growing up on the internet unsupervised YA. This was not good. I cannot say this enough.
What's unfortunate is that had the male leads been nonexistent this would've been genuinely enjoyable. I hate the term, "turn your brain off" but... Yeah, just that. Silly slop to laugh at in between your more serious reads. Low grade, Disney fantasy, nonsense. A show that would premiere on Teen Nick for a season or two before getting cancelled. You get what I'm saying.
I am curious as to what happens next but I cannot overstate how TERRIBLE this is. Three stars for being entertaining and nothing else.
However, this was fun in a terrible supernatural CW, early 2010s MTV teen drama kind of way. Zodiac Academy reminded me heavily of Pretty Little Liars, Teen Wolf, Twilight, and of course Harry Potter, in the worst ways imaginable. Is the book good? No. Not even a little bit. Is it overwhelmingly entertaining? Well, yes!
It helps that I read this through GraphicAudio, a style of audiobooks that implements sound effect and a full cast to stylize the story being told. They say it's "a movie for your ears" and I couldn't agree more. These type of audiobooks happen to be my favorite, utilizing radio theater from the 1950s / 1960s, making this read not as bad as it truly could've been. Had I read this fully on my own I would probably rate Zodiac Academy a 0-2 stars instead of 3. But, personal enjoyment over literary substance took over.
There are so many negative things to note about this book.
The main male leads are horrible. They're not "bullies", they're straight up abusive and unlikeable. They're cocky, overpowered pricks who get away with entirely too much. Why did one of them strip Tory bare in front of everyone? Why did one of them post nude pictures of her publicly? Why does everyone sexually abuse them verbally throughout the novel? Talking about twincest and having sex with them all the time? Give me a break.
The faculty treating Tory and Darcy the way they do is unacceptable. This aspect reminded me of Pretty Little Liars, especially. IYKYK. "You're mine." Get a GRIP!
It's tiring how many negative events happen to the twins throughout the duration of this novel. There's no room to breathe. Nobody gets reprimanded for their actions. It's one shit event after the other. These twins are begging for mercy and they either get laughed at, ignored, or provoked further. Is this Degrassi?
Zodiac Academy is supposed to be for adults, given the sex scenes, but it feels painfully YA. Corny 2011 Wattpad YA. Just learning how to be a teenager YA. Assuming what college would be like based off TV YA. Experiencing adulthood through fiction and Facebook YA. Growing up on the internet unsupervised YA. This was not good. I cannot say this enough.
What's unfortunate is that had the male leads been nonexistent this would've been genuinely enjoyable. I hate the term, "turn your brain off" but... Yeah, just that. Silly slop to laugh at in between your more serious reads. Low grade, Disney fantasy, nonsense. A show that would premiere on Teen Nick for a season or two before getting cancelled. You get what I'm saying.
I am curious as to what happens next but I cannot overstate how TERRIBLE this is. Three stars for being entertaining and nothing else.