| Title | : | Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 1242 |
| Publication | : | First published December 11, 2022 |
Bloody, lost, broken. We live to fight another day. But with so much stolen from us, can the fates ever twist in our favour again?
My sister and I have been torn apart by shadows and despair, and now we each stand alone.
Our sorrow is spun like a web, trapping us tight, and I fear our enemies will soon come to feast upon our souls.
But if I have my way, the merciless sky will have dealt us its final fortune. It’s time for us to take back the power that’s been ripped from our grasp and turn the tide of this war.
All stars must fall, and all Phoenixes must rise.
Long live the Savage Queens.
*This will now be book 8 of 9 in the series*
***This is a dark, bully romance – don’t go expecting a sweet school for magic with friends around every corner. Fae fight for everything they own and Zodiac Academy is a cutthroat school for students aged 18+ where only the strongest prevail. There’s no Dumbledore here to save anyone’s ass and Lionel Acrux will give Voldemort a run for his money in the evil dictator category. So hold onto your stardust (broomsticks not required) and get ready for a bumpy ride***
Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8) Reviews
-
– 2.5 stars
SONGS:
Rina Sawayama – This Hell
Burna Boy - Alone
Taylor Swift - The Great War
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𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗢𝗡𝗘: 𝗡𝗢 𝗦𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗥𝗦
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Petition to change this book name to “Sorrow and Snoozefest”. Y’all I knew this book is going to be painful, but I didn’t expect it to be this boring and no one is more hurt than me that I have to rate a Zodiac Academy book lower than 4 stars.
Let’s start with something positive. The ending was not bad. And with not bad I mean on a scale of 1-ZA7 badly traumatizing, it’s maybe a ZA6 kind of ending. The cliffhanger is not that traumatizing imo. Meaning: while the journey of this book was torture.. there is a little bit of hope at the end of the tunnel.
Now please excuse my ranting, but I’m so fucking pissed at this book right now and this anger is coming out a place of love, because I only want what’s best for the series. But you know what is not best for the series? N I N E T E E N (19) different POVs!!! I missed the times when it was only Tory and Darcy’s POV and no one else. Now I have to read about cow politics (Milton-jesus give me strength), someone wanting to willingly fuck Daddy Acrux (Mildred) and that’s not even the worse of it (if you want to know in details who else got a POV scroll a little down I made a pie chart 🌚). Let me be so frank and speak on behalf of 80% of the ZA fandom: BUT WE DO NOT CARE ABOUT ALL THESE IRRELEVANT CHARACTERS THOUGHTS!
Nomination who else should get a POV chapter in ZA9 🤩: /sarcasm on/
– 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙧 𝙃𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙡𝙡 (I think we could learn so much about mini Umbridge, I would like to know if she was born this nasty or if life made her that way 🥰)
– 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙖𝙡 𝙉𝙤𝙫𝙖 (How about a flashback of her and Washer’s sex scenes? I know they are the hottest couple of Solaria 💅)
– 𝙆𝙮𝙡𝙞𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙟𝙤𝙧 (her obsession with Seth needs to be explored more.. I also need to know more information about how she leaked *** sex tape.. give a sister some advice 🤩)
– 𝙈𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙚𝙡 𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙨 (now that his son is beyond the veil, we need a new carrier for the dead abuela’s memory hat 🙏)
– 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙒𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧 (give me more unappropriate content !!! love seeing his thoughts on how he sexually preys on everyone who breathes #bisexualking 💋)
– 𝙏𝙮𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙗𝙞𝙣 (do we all agree that it’s not a need, but a must to see the thoughts of the king of hashtags? yes? yes! 🦄)
– 𝙆𝙞𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 (they were mentioned in ZA too and deserve to let their voices be heard!! 👏🏽) /sarcasm off/
NO FOR REAL I’VE HAD ENOUGH. I’m begging Caroline & Susanne to stop with all the unnecessary POVs. Not every tiny character who said a sentence needs to have a POV. Sorrow and Starlight didn’t need to be 1242 pages long!! You could have cute 600 pages and it wouldn’t even make a difference. So don’t tell me that you needed all this pages to advance the story when barely anything happens. Quality >>> Quanity. We know by now that the sisters can write, they don’t have to prove with each book that they can top their word count .. we get it.
This book didn’t even feel like Zodiac Academy to me. This series is by far not perfect, but it thrives on all the characters and relationships interaction and this book had none of it. Everyone was separated, it took forever to gather some of the groups back together. These books always had a good balance of drama and funny moments, but this book was just depression and even the comedy scenes where not fun for me. These cringy sex moments when someone sees someone else have sex in some kind of way is just not doing it.
It hurts me so much to give this book such a low rating, but this book was just not good. The only thing that kept me motivated was the Darcy & Orion scenes. Everything else made me fall asleep. There were quite some emotional scenes in this book but they were so spare and in between so many POVs that I just didn’t care, that by the time I reached those emotional moments I was too exhausted.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗧𝗪𝗢: 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗦𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Because I’m still so pissed about the 19 POVs. Here is a breakdown:
How is it possible that Darcy one of the main characters has measly 11 chapters that make like 13% of the book, when Tory has almost the double amount. Even together all of Tory/Darcy’s chapter combined do not even make 50%. How do people like Justin or Milton.. basically nobodies in this universe have as many POV as Max an heir? Like I don’t say that because I want more Max chapters (god help me), but can you see how ridiculous this is getting?!
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➵ CHARACTERS & RELATIONSHIPS
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↠ DARCY VEGA.
This girl amaze me. I always loved Darcy in the series. Throughout the series she was the person that I could relate the most too, but wow in this book she has proven times and times again that she is worthy of being the queen Solaria needs.
Darcy has been through some rough shit throughout this series (they all have been), but it never changed her personality and who she fundamentally is. Despite the pain, the horror, the torture that she has seen and witnessed herself, she always stayed true to herself. All the pain made her stronger instead of more jaded or bitter. She stays kind. She sticks to her morals and she believes in second chances.
Basically the majority of this book Darcy spends without power + the Shadow Beast inside of her, because of the curse Lavinia put on her. She kept fighting for dominance of the Shadow Beast who wants to control her body and while she doesn’t always win the fight, she never gives up and always stands back up. She was such a badass in this book and told everyone off who was in her way (Lionel, Stella, Lavinia etc.) even without her powers. Darcy never backs down and I just love her so much. 😭
But the scene that truly impressed me beyond anything was when Darcy was finally free of the Shadow Beast. When she fought the Shadow Beast, she could have killed it. The chance was right there and she did not. Instead she used her powers to heal the Beast and free it from Lavinia’s shackles. No one would have blamed her for wanting to kill this Beast that brought her so much heartache and pain. Something that took all of her powers and used it against her and everyone she loved. A monster that used her body to kill and hurt other people during and after the battle. Instead she saw beyond that and knew this was just another animal who was deeply wounded and in captivity and gave it a second chance. This scene with Darcy and the Shadow Beast is not even emotional, but just thinking about it makes me want to cry. 🥺
Whereas others might see Darcy’s softness as a weakness, I see it as her biggest strength. Darcy Vega is a collectors of strays and those strays *cough* Diego, Geraldine, Seth, Shadow Beast and other rats have all played some kind of role in saving one of the twins. These characters would all been royally fucked if it wasn’t for Darcy befriending all these lost strays and giving them a second chance when no one else wanted to.
The authors tried to dim Darcy’s light by only giving her 11 out of 83 chapters, but she is still the brightest star and force to be reckoned with! Orion and Geraldine have a new contender for biggest royalist stan. BITCHES OUT OF THE WAY DARCY IS MINE! 😌
↠ TORY VEGA.
*sigh*
Where do I start with her.. I’ve always been supportive of Tory throughout this series (especially in Book 4 and 5) when it seems like a lot of people where annoyed with her decisions and stubbornness. But quite frankly, in this book she annoyed me more often than not. I get that out of the twins, Tory is and will always be the more bitter and bitchier sister. But I didn’t like how her default emotion for this whole book was just ✨ rage ✨ and nothing else. The woe-is-me attitude Tory had this whole book was getting on my last nerve and she went down a dark path I didn’t like at all for her character arc.
She lost Darius and I totally get her having to grief him and that she is hating the stars and the world and basically everyone and their mother right now. She is full of rage and instead of turning it to productive rage and helping the rebel/making plans with the other Councillors how to take down Lionel/Lavinia .. more often than not she is using that anger to go off alone and practice dark magic. That reminded me of the old Tory when she used to go into the shadows to cope better with her emotions and I think that’s weak.
I wanted to shake her so many times in this book for her pitiful attitude and her “cry everyone has abandoned me.. i’m such a unloveable bitch cry” behavior when in fact it couldn’t be more wrong. She is surrounded by so many people that adore her (Caleb, Geraldine, Xavier, Max, Seth) and instead of going for them for emotional support she is just snappish all the time and wants to start fights. SWEETIE OPEN YOUR FUCKING EYES AND SEE WHAT IS IN FRONT OF YOU AND STOP RUNNING AWAY WHEN IT GETS TOO HARD!!
↠ DARCY & TORY.
One of the best thing out of this whole series is the sister bond Darcy and Tory share. They had their differences in the past, but always found their ways back to each other. BUT I HATED THEIR RELATIONSHIP IN THIS BOOK SO MUCH!!! Not only took it over 60% of this book til they see each other for the first time since the battle, but then they fight. Why does Tory have to learn everything the hard way?? Tory wanted to drag Darcy back to the rebels at all costs and acted all hurt when Darcy refused to go with her, when Darcy told her that the beast inside of her is dangerous and volatile. This scene was not Darcy choosing Orion over Tory, it was Darcy being rational and thinking long term and not wanting to endager anyone else around her.
As if they don’t have to deal with enough issues already, there is now a rift between Tory and Darcy even at the end, because they’ve changed and want to go different paths.
↠ DARCY & ORION.
My loves. My parents. My will to live. The air I breathe. The reason I wake up in the moring.
I was pleasantly surprised that their separation in this book didn’t last too long. I mean they were captives of Lavinia/Lionel and were basically tortured the whole time, but you know the saying: Couples that survive torture together, stay together. 💋
It made me so happy to see that neither Darcy nor Orion have to go through their lowest moments alone and that they had each other while being held in that cage. I sound like a broken record every time I talk about them, but they are ✨ perfection ✨
“You were mine before we met, and mine the minute we locked eyes. You are mine in this life, and every life we may experience from this point forward. You are mine in every reality you exist, and mine in every reality you don’t. And I am yours in kind, in every way you can imagine. I will gladly be your possession, but I will also be your guardian, your keeper, your protector. And I will do whatever I can to turn you away from danger, because it is impossible for me not to.”
How is it possible that two people who are bound to one place get more done for the plot than all the people on the outside? Darcy and Orion managed to find more guild stones, a book on Queen Avalon’s reign, some crystal full of phoenix memories and Francesca’s memory ring.. again while 👏🏽 being 👏🏽 captured 👏🏽 and tortured 👏🏽. Their scenes always have the perfect balance of action, emotional connection and smut.
“When we get out of here, I’m going to have you like this every damn day,” I said heavily. “Because I spent too much time at the academy being cautious, letting time slip by where I didn’t see you at all . We’re gonna fuck, and laugh, and love each other, and I’m gonna make you smile from the moment you wake up in the morning to your last moments of wakefulness at night.”
Lance Orion is a poet and neither William Shakespears, Edgar Allen Poe nor Emily Dickinson have even an ounce of talent he has. They all died so he could live. 💅
“I hate you,” she hissed, that fire in her only burning hotter. She was a wild thing today. “Are you sure?” I asked, slowly sliding my fingers between her legs. “Because I’d bet you fifty auras you’re soaked for me, beautiful.”
“I’m dryer than your humour,” she said.
“Liar.” I slid my fingers over her wet pussy, grinning at my victory.
I WAS NOT READY FOR BRAT DARCY. OMG her acting all angry and pissy was so good and how Orion just knew exactly how to fuck that attitude out of her. It was so hot. 😭🥵 They make me go feral I was giggling and screaming into my pillow like a lunatic.
“If we ever have kids, I will never let them out of my sight.”
A smile lifted my lips at the image of that. “You’d be a seriously protective daddy.”
“I’d be the asshole parent, but I’m good with it,” he said, only making my smile grow. “They can hate me so long as they keep breathing.”
I’m about to go into cardiac arrest!!! Darcyorion wedding era??? kids era??? protective daddy Lance era?? IT’S ABOUT TO GET REAL AND SOMEBODY HOLD MY HAND. They are at such an secure place in their relationship that they can talk freely about babies and what kind of houses they want to live in and every time it makes me want to collapse.
↠ TORY & DARIUS.
you have to wait like 52% to get torydarius content (ch35 if someone wants to look it up) and then it’s THIS?
Susanne really said let’s give torydarius a memory orgy.. of Tory and Darius fucking (old scenes) with 3 Nymph witches watching them and touching Tory inappropriately. Sometimes I really do think that Susanne hates the ship she writes, because why oh why would she write that and make it so sexually weird???
also I never thought i would say this, but I’m glad Darius is finally back (the last 10% of the book people), even tho I still don’t really understand how Tory exactly bought him back from the dead besides that it had to do something with dark magic?? This is such a plothole from the authors part bringing dead people back to life, but they are not ready to have that conversation yet.
Anyways, I hope Darius can tame Tory’s anger issues a bit and fuck the rage out of her. 🙏
↠ SETH & CALEB.
They are my babies, but why do they keep fucking up?? I’m so tired of the miscommunication already when it could be solved with one conversation if one of them just had the balls to confess their feelings! They are so duuumb. 😭
The hate sex was immaculate and also Seth being jealous of Tory was funny to watch to a certain degree. Finally when it seemed like they would talk about their feelings, they get interrupted by their damn parents. 😤 why can’t ever something in this series go according to plan? ah wait-bc then it wouldn’t be a 9 book series with 1000pages per book. 🥴
↠ GERALDINE & MAX.
I. Don’t. Care.
↠ XAVIER & SOFIA & TYLER.
I. Give. Even. Less. Of. A. Shit. About. Them.
↠ ORION & DARIUS.
where? 911- i wanna report a missing bromance.
↠ SETH & DARCY.
where?
(their short reunion scene was cute tho, but i need more 🥺)
↠ DARCY & DARIUS.
where? i miss the big dragon and his little shrew 🥺
↠ ORION & SETH.
w h e r e?
↠ NOXY & ORIO.
since when do Nebulla Allies can speak through minds?? 🤣 that was such a convenient plothole to further the plot. I thought it was too funny not to mentioned it at least. I’m glad we got at least some Noxy and Orio content since they were both Lionel’s captive (yay 🥴).
shoutout to the scene when Gabriel had to carry Orion and escape and Orion gets hard watching Darcy fight. BWAHAHAHA that’s my man. ♥️
↠ TORY & ORION.
we got another nut punch … what a classic. i missed it. 🥺
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➵ CONCLUSION
════ ⋆★⋆ ════
The book was way too long. It was boring because it had way too many POVs no one asked for. Too long separations between everyone and not enough wholesome content. But darcyorion’s warrior are eating good once again.
The good thing is.. it can’t get worse than this book. I know the authors could still be petty and include even more POVs in ZA9, but at least the crew is more or less back together and I know we will get some wholesome content again.
P.S. all my love for my ZA darlings
Lara and
Tanaz. Reading this book with you guys was truly the best part next to the darcyorion scenes. Girls we went to war and we survived. 💙
┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑
ZODIAC ACADEMY
#0.5 Zodic Academy: Origin of an Academy Bully – 3.75 stars
#1 Zodiac Academy: The Awakening – 3.5 stars
#2 Zodiac Academy: Ruthless Fae – 3.75 stars
#3 Zodiac Academy: The Reckoning – 4.5 stars
#4 Zodiac Academy: Shadow Princess – 4.5 stars
#5 Zodiac Academy: Cursed Fates – 4 stars
#5.5 Zodiac Academy: The Big A.S.S. Party – 3 stars
#6 Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne – 4 stars
#7 Zodiac Academy: Heartless Sky – 3.75 stars
#8 Zodiac Academy: Sorrow and Starlight – 2.25 stars
┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙ -
update #500: do these twins want to off me or what? BC I CANT HANDLE A NINTH BOOK coming out in the next fucking years to come????? im sorry but what the fuck are they even splitting bc nothing happens in these books ugh.
babes... you still have time to change the title 💀 trust me this aint fbaa...
y'all better give EVERY couple a goddamn HEA or else 💀
🧛 supernatural beasts and bullies 🧛
#0.5 Zodiac Academy: Origin of an Academy Bully — 4 stars
#1 Zodiac Academy: The Awakening — 4 stars
#1.5 Zodiac Academy: The Awakening As Told by The Boys — 4 stars
#2 Zodiac Academy: Ruthless Fae — 4.25 stars
#3 Zodiac Academy: The Reckoning — 5 stars
#4 Zodiac Academy: Shadow Princess — 4.5 stars
#5 Zodiac Academy: Cursed Fates — 5 stars
#5.5 Zodiac Academy: The Big A.S.S. Party — 4 stars
#6 Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne — 4.25 stars
#7 Zodiac Academy: Heartless Sky — 5 stars
#8 Zodiac Academy: Sorrow and Starlight — TBR -
sigh I write this review sorrowfully Get what I did? Please just entertain me, this book didn't do that right.
I have conflicted thoughts about some of the things that happened which will reflect in my review, so if you're looking for clarity- stop reading this series after Fated Throne.
I'm gonna start by saying how immensely disappointed I am with the direction the authors are taking this series. Let's be real here, this series should've ended in Heartless Sky. But the authors keep dragging it cause of their own selfish reasons- money grab. I don't see why there is a need for the plot to be dragging on. What good is it doing to the characters, storylines, and most importantly the fans? Some of the fans wait for so long to pay so much for paperback versions only for the book to not even be worth the money. Don't get me wrong, I get that the authors have to earn and make profits and I'm fully ready to support them. But why should I/we if you're just going to make a fool out of fans?
Anyway, so moving on to the events of this sorrowful book.
It starts off slow , people are feeling things, trying to make sense of the events that unfolded in Heartless Sky. I did not mind that at all, cause the ending of that book needed to be discussed and mourned. I think the first 6-7 chapters were done quite well, I enjoyed them thoroughly. However, once I crossed the 30% mark I started questioning and getting bored of why it's not picking up pace. Why is no one actually executing revenge?
Then comes another MASSIVE issue of like 50+ POVs.
sigh. I am so close to tears thinking about it. Why tf do we need so many POVs in one book?! Characters like Mildred, Justin, Milton, Xavier, Lavinia and Vard DO NOT deserve a POV. Like I did not even remember some of these characters from the previous books, I was just winging it. Their POV did not matter at all, did not make any change. I hated reading them. It GREATLY impacted my interest faltering in the book and storyline. No it was not emotional at all, as a fan it was torture reading it. Then comes sweet Geraldine's POV- did not like it too. The story kept getting jumbled up. I could not distinguish who's POV I was actually reading at one point. It would have been so much better if the authors had stuck with the main characters. Guys, even then it was a bit much but everyone has their own personalities.
Coming to the characters
1. Darcy and Lance- They are the reason why this series is LOVED by so many. My heart hurt for the fate of these two. I'm counting the two characters as one because these two compliment each other so well. I wish there was more of them, but however much we got was one full of passion. I love the banter between them.
2. Tory- Man is she ever gonna grow tf up?! I initially admired how good she was doing at the start of this book but of course she just has to mess things up and frustrate readers. I'm still waiting for her character to develop...
3. The Heirs- I would talk about them individually but cause of unnecessary POVs, they were overshadowed and it's a fact. However little we see of them, I'm glad to admit that Seth and Max were the best ones in this book.
4. Gabriel- Again, not much of him. His character is being wasted, not being used to his full potential and that's just sorrowful to see.
5. Lavinia- More like Melisandre? Those who have read the book, y'all know what I mean.
6. Lionel- Although a disgusting prick, at least the guy is consistent with his personality.
Can we talk about how the constant prophecies and side quests were a bit much to read? Please don't go Percy Jackson on this series. It doesn't make sense to the plot. I personally think trying to overcomplicate things will work against the plot. Keep it simple, straightforward and write it like you always did authors.
I absolutely LOVED the last 25% of the book. The ending was so damn good. I could not put it down at all. The authors did that right. It was what I had expected to happen throughout the book instead of just the end.
I will read the next book, hopefully it'll be the last. I don't want the series to be ruined. The characters and fans are owed that much.
Overall, it was an average read. Go in with low expectations and give yourself a break in between reading this. It's over 1200 pages, could've easily been 500. But there are fair amount of highs and lows. Mostly lows tbh. But anyway, was still fun reading it. I'm so deeply invested in the story and characters, which is one reason I haven't grown tired of the series. Can't wait for the next one, here's hoping it's better than this🤞
~•~•~
Here we go. Going in happy. Idk what awaits at the end 👀
~.~.~
What do you mean by Sorrow?! WHAT SORROW?!
I swear if anything happens to any characters especially Lance Orion- I will sue. -
2.5 stars 💫
I really really didn't want to review this book because reading almost 1500 pages killed off any sanity i had left but
phuongwouldn't leave me alonechampioned me to show the world how much i'm obsessed with the perfection that is bluelance so here we are 😍
this review is dedicated to my za girls
phu and
lara, even tho i finished before you guys watching you both spiral into madness whilst reading this was absolute joy 💅🏽
it's fitting that the last time i reviewed a za book (za 3) i complained about torycaleb annoying me and here we are again 5 books later and i'm back to my original feelings (more on this later) 🤡 honestly i don't have much to say about this book because i probably only read 30/85 chapters fully and skimmed the hell out of the rest, since the main characters are now apparently the side dishes because tell me why fucking milton/justin/mildred and the cows got more chapters than darcy and orion combined???
are the authors okay? no one fucking asked for this shit. ok i lied maybe the facebook mommies asked for this since they'd probably eat up a pov from the janitors of zodiac academy and the shadow beast 😭😭
if you're running out of plot ideas/chapter content instead of adding random pov's to bulk up and extend the series, maybe try to actually end it and make it the LAST book? or is the KU/tiktok money too good to pass up?
this book is a big fat joke.
the fact that there is a whole war brewing, and the authors decided to give random characters povs just so they could write multiple couples sex scenes... if i wanted porn i would just watch it not read it from characters i couldn't care less about.
if i have to see tylerxaviersophia having unicorn sex and squirting glitter one more time i'll electrocute myself the way lance did. honestly, this series is a prime example of authors who think writing fantasy books are so easy but have no sense of plotting, because how are you writing 1200+ pages of nothing and the characters are still stuck in the same position they were in from the previous book???
introducing more villains when the original villains haven't even been defeated is crazy because now i know what will happen, either in the last book there will be an infodump of action scenes and everyone dying all at once (what is this marvel avengers?) or the authors will say "hEy GUys So aS wE WeRe WrITinG wE ThOuGHt ThErEs toO mUch CoNtENt So gUeSS wHat tHeRe WIll bE a 10th BoOk WoOoOw"
if the latter were to happen my close friends and family please hand me a gun 🙏🏽
👑 SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK 👑
okay stupid povs aside, the chapters that we did get of darcy and orion? yeah not only did it shift the space-time continuum, but it also restructured the basis of my DNA and formed me into a brand new vessel that is born to serve one couple and one couple only. today is the day the oxford dictionary has updated the definition of perfection, it now means bluelance. they are royalty, they are warriors, they are survivors, they are my everything 🙏🏽
❝You are the only thing in this world that I’m wholeheartedly optimistic about, Darcy Vega, because I know I’ll fight to death and beyond to keep you. And I’m starting to think you might do the same for me.”
“Starting to think?” I said, a smile making my lips weightless. “There isn’t an enemy in the kingdom I wouldn’t face down for you.❞
imagine you are separated in a war because one of you ends up being controlled by labitchnia, and now have a shadow beast that eats people inside of you suppressing your order and powers, whilst the other gives 3 months of his life/body to labitchnia to save his mate from her curse but end up being caged together.
even in adversity, the two found their way back to each other 😭 it's sickening how good these two made being caged up look djhdsjkds like i know this is depressing and they're both away from their loved ones and can't escape but who cares when they have EACHOTHER? they are each other's strength, rock, and true north.
the way lance did everything in his power to protect darcy as much as he could from lionel, lavinia and even his own mother. the fact that this man was tortured every single day, had his ribs snapped off, beaten by lionel, stabbed by lavinia all for his mate darcy. i'm actually so emotional thinking about all the pain lance suffered yet he still managed to stay optimistic that he would escape with darcy and they would win the fight.
even if darcy was upset and angry lance never got upset or angry with her back. his optimism alone could solve ww3 if it was ever to arise. my nerdy grumpy professor is the best male character ever written.
❝Hey, I was a delight to teach,” she said with a grin.
“You were a delight to punish,” I corrected darkly, and she bit down on her full bottom lip.
“A delight’s still a delight,” she said airily, and I laughed, dragging her down into my lap and nipping at her throat.
“Bite me like you mean it,” she encouraged breathily.
“Only because I want to taste that fire in you,” I said against her skin before releasing my fangs and sinking them into her. And there it was, her power deep and hidden away but still burning.
My queen’s fight wasn’t over yet.❞
the way he tried to distract darcy with his humour, telling her little stories that he grew up with as a child knowing that darcy missed that being an orphan and growing up away from solaria, him chasing her demons/shadow beast away with his words/vows, when darcy felt less then/powerless he uplifted her and reminded her that she is not just his personal queen but the queen of solaria too, the way whenever darcy would act like a brat and was itching for a fight he let her unleash everything on him and soothed her with his kisses/spanks jshjsksksksdj
HOW CAN ANYONE HATE THEM? I DON'T UNDERSTAND JUST SAY YOU HAVE A LOW IQ AND GO. i have never met more tasteless people in my life until i went on twitter and saw people coming for them.
the bluelance scenes here are some of the best top tier couple content so far in the entire series. from them going on little adventures to find out more information about the history of the phoenixes, darcy saving a tiberian rat, finding out about the broken promise of the imperial star, lance's mum and darcy working together to save lance from his curse, darcy stabbing tf out of lionel and almost destroying lavinia, not only did i get badass, plot moving content from them but we also got the best soft scenes.
imagine being caged/prisoned but you're so deeply in love all you can think about is the future, marriage and babies 😭😭 make lance a girl dad in za9 you COWARDS!!! and can i also mention that chapter 60 aka the 69 sex scene literally changed my life. i'm adding it to my collection of smut scenes that i'll be re-reading every time i'm on my period.
❝You’re being a brat,” I warned.
“So, what are you gonna do about it?” she demanded, and I flipped her around, shoving her forward so she was forced to grab the bars to stop herself falling to her knees. The moment she was bent over in front of me, I spanked her hard enough for the clap to echo around the whole throne room.❞
darcy when she started being a brat & ended up 69'ing lance whilst holding on to the bars of the cage for her dear life
every bluelance scene i read had me desperate to press that 5 star rating button, but then the next chapter will be milton and his fucking cows and i'm back to -872893322 stars.
honestly, the whiplash and rollercoaster ride that this book was needs to be studied in a lab. it's like 2 different people wrote this book. hehe. get it? cus 2 different people did write this book and clearly one is far superior than the other. sorry caroline i think you need to have a word with your sissy. i actually feel bad for torydarius stans because imagine reading 8 books and your ship is only together for 2 of them, apart for 5 and dead for 1 😭 i would hate on bluelance too because they've had straight-up bangers 8 books in a row. the stars cant keep bluelance apart 🙏🏽i'm convinced that no one hates torydarius more than the author (susanne) herself.
anyways lets talk about tory because i skimmed the hell out of her chapters. i know she lost her mate and she's sad whatever that's fine, but i'm so sorry that i could not connect with tory in this book at all. firstly her dabbling in dark magic to get darius back i understand, but the way it's making her behave the exact same way she behaved in book 4... like girl did you not learn your lesson? I'm tired of tory showing 0 growth. people saying she carried this book like yea... she carried... darcy's bag 🙏🏽
tory for the first 60% waiting for darius to come back to life:
anyways tory has never been my fav character i've always loved darcy more, but she has her amazing moments like when she stands up for herself against darius, to her twin bond with darcy but in this book i lowkey lost a bit of respect for her because of the way she behaved with darcy.
let's remind ourselves in case you forgot that darcy isn't herself right now. with no powers/her order hidden away she has a beast inside of her that literally ate people (so much so that darcy is convinced for 90% of the book that she ate and killed geraldine meanwhile our buttery bagel queen is alive and being fucked by her slippery salmon maxy boy).
why does tory think it's okay to force her sister away and take her back with her to the rebels when:
a) darcy is a danger to everyone, as seen by tory herself in the ending of za7
b) she has no powers so she can't really do anything, she'd have to go from one cage to another as she'd need to stay away from others.
tory's motivation for taking darcy was purely selfish and i get it, she's her other half and sister of course tory would want her. but what rubbed me the wrong way was tory assuming that darcy kept saying no because of lance and that darcy was choosing lance over tory...
even if that was the case so what? lance has given his LIFE for darcy and is currently being tortured every single day for her, why would darcy be separated from her elysian mate and go through all of that pain??? tory knows what it's like to lose her mate why would she want her sister to experience that too? it's not like tory is alone. she has the heirs, she has geraldine and sophia + the rest of the rebels, i get that they all don't add up to darcy but she isn't alone but her woe is me I'm all alone attitude was annoying. tory you leave the heirs/rebels every chance you get to bring darius back to life and you want darcy to leave her mate so she can what? sit around whilst you go off and do dark magic? yeah bye that doesn't roll with me.
anyways karma got tory's ass because when she tried to kidnap darcy with the help of lance, darcys's anger awakens the shadow beast and tries to eat tory too. YOU SEE WHEN YOU DO CLOWNERY THE CLOWN COMES BACK TO BITE and you think that would be it right? no tory says the same thing to darcy again in the end. let's not pretend tory you wouldn't do the same for your mate too you're lying. don't put darcy down to try and make yourself look like the better person, darcy's situation is too complex and the mate bond is way more powerful than you think.
i can't even be mad at tory though because at the end of the day they're twin sisters, even if they fight they love each other and it's clear to see with the way darcy stood by tory at the end and told her she wants to get to know the new tory, that she's still the light to torys dark.
THIS IS MY QUEEN Y'ALL 👑
classy, brave, respectful, supportive, stunning, i could go on darcy has every trait that makes her worthy of the throne, it's not even about the blood running through her veins. the vega sisters bond is stronger than the tory stans vs the darcy stans so just stfu and eat your food. i say this as i spent the entire day tweeting darcy haters with shit about tory jksjskssjk it was deserved tho #trust🙏🏽
let me quickly touch upon the weirdest and most dumbest scene in this book - chapter 35
where tory ends up in a "memory orgy" with 3 female nymphs that kiss, touch and masturbate in front of her whilst tory also masturbates whilst she's in a dream-like state where she ends up fucking a memory version of darius? my brain hurted from typing this paragraph i don't even know what was happening here or the purpose of this but this is the kind of fucked up shit we don't need JUST BE NORMAL WHY DOES EVERYTHING NEED TO BE SEXUAL LIKE DO A BLOOD SACRIFICE OR SOMETHING IDK.
also, you know the authors fucked up when darcy, geraldine and seth reunion was way more emotional than torydarcy 🤡
i felt nothing when tory came for darcy, but the minute geraldine started spouting her usual adorable nonsense i was a goner 😭😭 MY GIRLS ARE BACK <3 another reason why i love darcy? from day 1 she has always been the one to befriend people and never judges them, sorry to say but tory never even wanted to give gerry and diego a chance, but darcy my queen of strays befriended them and look how diego helped them, and gerry was their biggest champion.
darcy continues that trend here not just by saving that tiberian rat but also adopting the shadow beast she had inside her 😭😭😭 honestly i would rather people be islamophobic than hate on darcy it's that serious to me. she made a whole ass ring for the shadow beast to live inside after it was freed from lavinia's curse so she could protect the beastie from everyone being scared of it 😭
how i imagined darcy's shadow beast:
um shoutout to seth for being the cutest wolfie ever, he really can do so much better than boring caleb tho skjskjs but i can't lie their sex scenes were hot and what i gathered is that caleb has a stick so far up his ass once he bottoms for seth i think he'll become a lot more bearable 🙏🏽
the worst part about this book was actually darius christ coming back to life and the moment was just anticlimactic as hell. this man was believed to be a roTTING DEAD CORPSE in the ground and you guys couldn't even give him a proper reunion with lance, darcy and the heirs???
i get this man was pussy-less for a while but couldn't you have added those reunion scenes? how can the writing in this series be so bad at times and so good at others I'm baffled this book is messing up my mental and cognitive health. brain hurts. anyways proud of my dragoon for finally kneeling and pledging allegiance to the vegas. it took you 8 books but you finally got there well done, all you had to do was die to realise 😍 he's so 🤣🤣🤣
no but i'm so glad he's back and that everyone is finally reunited again, i beg no more separation and no more pain, just let them all fight the battle together, allow darcy to get the lavinia kill, let torydarius get a joint lionel kill, give the twins their powers back and let them defeat clyde 😭 let's end this now sisters, 9 books you've outdone yourself even sjm doesn't go that far. but enough is enough.
bye see you guys next year <3 -
I'm so mad right now I can't even-
Me waiting in anticipation for this final book to come out so I can finish the series in peace, only to find out THIS IS NOT THE LAST BOOK😐😐😐😐😐😐
This is ridiculous now. No one asked or needs this series to be even longer, esp with all the fucking filler and useless POVs y'all put in there. Sometimes you gotta know when to stop and let a good thing end🙂🙂. YOU ARE NOT GREY'S ANATOMY. -
Finally finished this fucking BEASTIE. Last book of 2022 bitchesssss!
No one’s more upset than me to give a ZA book less than 4 stars. 𝐈𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐒𝐎 𝐌𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. It was just plain boring from start to around 80% in. No matter how much I wanted, it just wasn’t the best.
There were times where i was near hysteria over how lost I was in the book. I think it completely avoided any movement on the plot for 70% of the book and I’m shocked. Book 7 was already pushing my limits in terms of plot. I don’t really mind the lack of plot when I have the romance. I gave 𝘼 𝙇𝙊𝙏 of leeway for the last book bc there weren’t 19 povs to battle and there were wholesome chapters. 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒?? 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐭. It was empty chapters and basically pointless half the time.
At first I was understanding and hopeful it would get interesting but it didn’t happen. Every chapter seemed to piss me off even more. 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐈𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠. Istg their povs were the only thing keeping me going and those chapters were SO SCARCE. 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐬?? 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞?!?
My main argument isn’t even the nineteen povs. No it’s the fact that they did it AGAIN. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆. And it’s getting on my last fucking nerve.
𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃!! (I’m sorry but your girl has to scream <3 )
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And then they had the 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 to cut short all the reunions?!? Where’s my bromance?! Where’s my heartfelt moments?? Why did I not feel a drop of emotion when tory and Darcy finally reunited?? Like it was not moving 𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐋. I felt more when Orion hugged Seth back.
𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐁𝐄𝐃 of my DariusOrion moment. All we got were a couple of gasps?? like?????? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THAT?! What a joke. And then we just got TOLD that Orion and the heirs “cried out” or whatever. 𝐍𝐎. 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏 𝐈𝐓. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’��� 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍??!!?!! 𝐓𝐎 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐋𝐘 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇 !! I can’t even call it a paragraph. I feel sick. This was srsly offensive. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐉𝐀𝐈𝐋.
And then there’s 𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐲. Man… the way she pissed me off in this book was just beyond comprehension. Okay so In books 4 and 5 I wasn’t her biggest fan but I understood why she did what she did. And I’m so fucking GLAD she brought Darius back to us but that was her entire personality trait the entire book, like okay I get it you’re angry but I’m sorry bc i cannot be fucking asked to deal with a character repeating the same inner monologue every chapter. IM TIRED 😭✋
𝐈’𝐦 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬. She’s made no improvement. I’ve not seen any development in her behaviour or actions.
𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞?? Where did they go??? Why were they just dropped and never to be seen again?! The little gems for the chalice?? The rifts?? They better tie that up in the next book.
And guess who made the most difference for the plot?? Yeah tloml’s. BLUELANCE. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐜𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧.
That one chapter was so hot I’m telling you I almost combusted. 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭. I don’t know who I was before them and i don’t even wanna remember. Caroline bestie you did good ml <3 (now all I need is just The BlueLance wedding scene and we’re golden 😚)
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𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐒
Yeah I’m not impressed at all by this book…
𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘. 𝐍𝐄𝐖. 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑. 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒!! (￣^￣)ゞ
𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲:
Hadley and Athena are GIVING Oml I love it.
𝗦𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘀: 🎧
My ZA8 playlist
Castle walls - Christina aguilera
Dark horse (sped up) - Katy Perry
Throne - Andrew lambrou
Empires - Ruelle
Crushed - imagine dragons
When the truth hunts you down - Sam tinnesz
Hopeless - Tedy
Isolate - Lucas
Downfall - neoni
Goodbye - ramsey
Levitate - neoni
Black out days (sped up) - phantogram
Guns for hire - woodkid
Not your baby - CADMIUM ft. Jex
Playground - Bea miller
Running with the wolves - AURORA
Chemicals - neoni ft. Besomorph
Now - Lara D
Origin - neoni ft. Besomorph
Supernova - neoni
A little wicked - Valerie Broussard
Royal blood - krigarè
Destiny - krigarè ft. Generdyn
Heights - krigarè
Deep end - krigarè
Wild side - krigarè
Legends are made - Sam tinnesz
Legend - the score
Heroes never die - unsecret ft. krigarè
Ready set go - Sam tinnesz
Mutiny - neoni
Army - neoni ft. Besomorph x arcando
Tomorrow we fight - tommee profitt ft. SVRCINA
Back from the dead - neoni ft. AViVa x Besomorph
Kerosene - Rachel lorin
Look what you made me do - Taylor swift
Beast - mia martina
𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:
“𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲, 𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲. 𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘀𝗸𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜’𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗻. 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜’𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀. 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤, 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞.”
~NO ONE CAN LIVE UP TO ORION
“𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲.”
“𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲. 𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜 𝘀𝗮𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂.”
~ them. Always them.
“𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐫, 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫, 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞.”
~ this man is too precious. He deserves the fucking world.
“𝙒𝙚’𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚, 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡.”
~this is basically a BLUELANCE fan account.
“𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁?”
“𝗜 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁,”
“𝗗𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗼,”
~JUST GIVE IT TO ME
“𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼, 𝗙𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿,” he purred, his voice a wicked seduction.
~Rhys? That you??
“𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲?”
“𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹?” I asked.
“𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲.”
“𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁, 𝗜’𝗺 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.”
~sigh my loves I just will never get enough of them
“𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐬.
“𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗜 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹?” 𝐈 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐤,
~bro this chapter! THIS FUCKING CHAPTER ENCAPSULATES THE REASON WHY I LOVE BLUELANCE SM
“𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐧𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫.”
~I’m giggling and screaming from how hot and adorable they are.
“𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬.”
~FUCKING A
***
19/12/22 - I’ve already cried and I’m 5% through 😃
***
11/10/22 - Help? It’s not the last book??!!
ITS NOT THE LAST BOOK THERE WILL BE ONE MORE??!!
CRYINGGG SCREAMING GASPING FOR AIR BANGING MY HEAD ON THE WALLS
Why is my life a series of DON’T TAKE SHIT FOR GRANTED?!
(;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)
Fml -
I’m sending all of my medical bills to these authors as this series has given me severe heart palpitations.
This book was a 3-star read until the last, ehhh, 25% or so. The characters are all split up and/or not interacting with each other as much as they always did in previous books. You also have to go through long bouts of not seeing certain people. I’d read long Tory chapters, then random other POVs, then Tory again, then a randomly long Darcy chapter, and wonder when the hell I was going to see Caleb or Seth or Max again. No one really sees each other or interacts as a group until the last 25%. That’s when it finds its old ZA groove. I couldn’t put it down when I finally hit that point and we were finally getting somewhere.
TL;DR—The last 25% of the book is the real MVP. I rounded its rating up to 4 stars just for it.
Also, there’s a character named Elvia in this book and you better believe I read it as “Elvira” 95% of the time. 🙄 -
speechless (derogatory).
-
I started and finished this in one day
don’t ask how 😃I'm writing this with my 2 remaining brain cells, the creative part of my brain is dead and my typing is malfunctioning so enjoy this shitty review
so 1200+ pages. of filler. I saw it coming but still had hope it wouldn't be filler but I was wrong. dealing with the consequences lol. WHICH SISTER THOUGHT IT WOULD BE CREATIVE TO ADD 19 FUCKING POVS FROM EVERY SINGLE SIDE CHARACTER INTRODUCED?? WHO DID IT?/?//?/?/ no, I don’t give a fuck that Justin (??) survived the war, I don’t give a fuck about Mildred’s (Darius's almost wife) depressing life after rejection, I don’t give a fuck about all of xavier’s incredible orgies I do not give a fuck about Lionel’s and lavinas abusive sex life, and MOST CERTAINLY DO NOT CARE ABOUT A FUCKING COW SHIFTER. I’m not joking.
the cherry on top is that ALL OF THESE SIDE CHARACTERS HAVE MORE CHAPTERS THAN THE ACTUAL MCS COMBINED.
the plot wasn't all that either it also didn’t help that the pacing is so slow. The only time I was actually invested was when I got to a bluelance chapter (my saviors fr) unfortunately I can't say the same for tory. Her character was dragged in the filth completely ruined. acting emo for the majority of the book. sethcaleb on the other hand- I’m sorry I can’t with them anymore. JUST COMMUNICATE FOR FUCKS SAKE, I didn't realize they would have slow burn too but I think 5 books are enough for mutual pining and not doing anything about it 😐. silly me go thinking this would be the last book and everything would finally be in place with a very much needed happy ending. BUT NOOO more villains more plot holes, and more curses at this point I’m convinced this series will go on forever if the sisters keep on fucking around with my emotions like this. I CAN'T DO IT ANYMORE. this book picks up right after za7 with everyone dying or dead so this was supposed the last book but then this one ends with a cliffhanger which is why za9 is in the works
😃 😃 😃 😃 😃 😃
someone check up on caroline Peckham miss gurl has attachment issues because it looks like she can't let go of this series and wrap it up -
SPOILERS
now to our priorities
per·fec·tion /pərˈfekSH(ə)n/ :
noun: the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects.
Lance Orion and Darcy Vega aka bluelance
” Your soul is bound to mine,” I breathed against his mouth, even though I knew he was no longer there to hear my words, but a dark and unknown energy seemed to stir the air itself at that vow. “And I won’t rest until I make every star in the heavens fall for trying to cleave us apart.”
“He was mine and I was his. That wouldn’t change even with the shadow of death hanging between us, keeping us apart. There is only him. Endlessly. Always.”😍🔫
“I had to make it through this for her. My final light. The girl who was worth a thousand years in hell. I’d wait that long and more if I could be sure I would one day return to her, and that she would be safe, protected from all the darkness of the world. She may have been capable of fighting in battles and destroying those who opposed her, but she deserved a life of peace and endless smiles. Our happiness was a flower that had bloomed and withered before I’d barely had a moment to breathe in its sweet scent. I had to find a way to buy her an eternal summer where it could bloom once again.” death hurts less than this
“You’re back,” I whispered, relief flooding me, and he carved his fingers through my hair as he held me close. “I’ll always come back to you, Blue,” he promised, taking away the fear in my heart.🧍♀️🚂
“You are the only thing in this world that I’m wholeheartedly optimistic about, Darcy Vega, because I know I’ll fight to death and beyond to keep you. And I’m starting to think you might do the same for me.” “Starting to think?” I said, a smile making my lips weightless. “There isn’t an enemy in the kingdom I wouldn’t face down for you.”
just a quick casual quote dump 😃
??!???/?/?/??/?:??:??::???:
dead dying deceased when it comes to them
MY WILL TO LIVE. MY EVERYTHING. THE AIR I BREATHE. THE REASON I EVEN CONTINUED THIS SERIES. OWN ME. HAVE A CHOKEHOLD ON ME. THEY ARE WHATHELPED ME SURVIVEGOT ME TO FINISH THIS SHIT SHOW
chapters 15-18, 33, 60, 68 are burned in my head forever. no one compares to them. argue with a wall.
not going to go into detail about what they went through but all you need to know is that they went through it together and it hurt. a lot.
ALSO, THE FAMILY TALK ARE YOU KIDDING? I NEED IT. WOULD DIE TO SEE LANCE CUDDLING WITH A CHILD PLEASE GIVE IT TO ME🧎♀️🧎♀️
surprise surprise Darius comes back to life, and he and tory head straight to the babymaking, blah blah BUT THE REAL CRIME: NO REUNION SCENE, we were robbed fr I missed my fav bromance and sibling bond.
the ending wasn't as brutalbut still brutal?as the other books but I'm still disappointed because now we're back to square one and za9 is coming out god knows when 😐
okay I'm done I'll be waiting for za9 patiently because I can't take another book after that. happiness and closure is all I'm asking for. thats it. -
first, a disclaimer: i love this series, and after giving it much thought (dksjkaj get a job), i realized Darcy and Orion are my favorite fictional couple EVER. but i didn't like this book at all.
i know these authors like trolling everyone, but it's starting to feel like they're doing everything just to spite us. fans wanted this book to be the last one? they said "nah we need more" (cause a 380k word book isn't long enough). fans wanted fewer POVs? they said "okay, we'll give them 19 povs 😍". NINETEEN POVS. N I N E T E E N D I F F E R E N T P O V S. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO STRESS THIS ENOUGH.
i'm so angry. so fucking angry and disappointed. how come you start a series with 2 POVs, go from 2 to 7 (questionable, but still more or less acceptable) and end up with this mess? we get chapters from Milton, a random cow shifter (!!) who's at Zodiac Academy while none of the MCs are there. we get chapters from Mildred, that dragon girl Darius was supposed to marry. chapters from Justin, Lavinia, FUCKING LEONNNNN AND DANTE FROM THE AUTHORS OTHER SERIES, Lionel, Xavier, Lionel's SEER (!!!!!!). we even get a chapter from Francesca who is, quite literally, the OW in this series 💀 but you know things are bad when Francesca's chapter was the best among all of these.
i don't care. I DON'T CAREEEEEEEEEEE. repeat after me: NOT EVERY SIDE CHARACTER NEEDS THEIR OWN POV. can't you tell a story without having to get inside every character's mind? do you need the 1st person POV to show everyone's emotions all the time?? it's exhausting, especially because everyone has favorites, and it feels like you're just waiting for hours to get to your faves' chapters. for instance, chapter 18 was Darcy/Orion's, and they don't get another chapter until the 33rd. the fifteen chapters in between? = me falling asleep.
it's not just about them, though. it's not like i want this series to consist solely of Darcy and Orion's POVs(fkfjdd or do i??). i love Seth too, and i want Tory and Darius's POVs too, but when you get all of these in between 4539838 random ass chapters it becomes unbearable. and while this isn't anything new, it's been getting worse and worse with each book. i can't read any more Xavier-Tyler-Sophia threesomes, or read about COW politics, Geraldine fucking Max in i don't know what language, etc etc etc. the list goes on and on. i don't get it, am i supposed to swoon? laugh? cause it's just cringey humor at this point.
and this brings me to another issue: the book is long as fuck. their longest book to date, 380k words. and after reading this, i can tell you this length isn't justified AT ALL. you know when a book is long but the length is completely warranted because every detail matters? this is the complete opposite of that 😍 there's so much filler content that if they took it out, the length could probably be reduced by half.
and it pisses me off because when i first read this series, only six books were out and the seventh and final book, according to them, was releasing that year. then suddenly, a few months before ZA7, they announced they needed an extra book to wrap everything up nicely. i was a little mad, but i understood it and shut the fuck up. i waited a whoooole ass year for ZA8, and now what happens? they announce they need ANOTHER BOOK to wrap it up. how come every year is the same? it just feels like a joke for us readers who want a HEA. i think it makes sense to want a HEA after 8 books already. i hate it when authors drag stories just for the sake of it, and this one, sadly, is dragging. and why do you even need more books when half of the stuff that's included doesn't add anything to the story? even WITHOUT all the filler content ZA8 has, they spend the whole book trying to get out of the mess that was caused at the end of the previous one. seriously, did it have to take that long??? and if you knew it was gonna take that long, why do it in the first place??? cause it feels pointless.
in a nutshell: ZA7 ended on a cliffhanger with everyone dead or about to die. ZA8 is 380k words of them trying to revert back to the places they were at before the cliffhanger. now ZA9 is going to be, like, back to square one. i don't get it.
*deep breaths* i'm doing therapy through my keyboard i swear. one other thing is i feel like this series is trying to become something it was never meant to be. originally, it was just a NA fantasy romance series, low on the fantasy, not very plot-driven but character-driven instead. and obviously, very heavy on the romance. it was mostly good vibes and zero dark content. things started to get darker with each book, which i wasn't totally against of, because if you're gonnadragextend this series, you need things to happen and it can't all be humor. but while other books in the series had a good balance between the dark and happy moments, this one was actually very depressing. the first 40%ish of this book? my god, it takes them so long to find and save each other, regroup, MOURN. some of them are actually apart for the entirety of this book (the best friendship duos, in my opinion). all of the characters are depressed and i get it, but it was exhausting. this isn't game of thrones.
the plot is also.. not very good. why are we trying to make this a plot-driven series? they can't kill ONE FUCKING VILLAIN for fuck's sake 😩 yet they keep adding more and more villains. no wonder they keep adding books too, if the good guys never ever win. it's not even believable at this point, and i know nothing about a world with vampires and dragons and phoenixes and basilisks is believable, but according to my calculations they should be able to stop at least one of the bad guys by now 🤓
i think these authors' strengths are writing wholesome friendships, amazing romances, and funny moments (when they're not cringey 💀). take all of this away and i'm falling asleep. and this is what most of ZA8 felt like to me. a lot of action, a lot of angry/sad people, a lot of weird/boring fantasy. definitely not enough of the good stuff.
once again, i love this series, and it honestly makes me sad to rate this 2 stars when i've given every book 4 or 5 stars (!). but i'm sad and disappointed, even though a part of me expected this book to be a mess from the moment they announced they needed *more* books to finish the story. but i'd hoped it would be better, idk.
now, the only reason this isn't getting 1 star:
my babies, my parents, my family, the loves of my life, the stars of the show, the reason i'm still reading this series, DARCY AND ORION 💙✨🔮🌷💋🌼💎♎♊🌺🌹❤️🔥💐💘💙“You were mine before we met, and mine the minute we locked eyes. You are mine in this life, and every life we may experience from this point forward. You are mine in every reality you exist, and mine in every reality you don’t. And I am yours in kind, in every way you can imagine. I will gladly be your possession, but I will also be your guardian, your keeper, your protector. And I will do whatever I can to turn you away from danger, because it is impossible for me not to.”
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. why are they so good in EVERY BOOK WITHOUT FAIL. i can have 39348 bad things to say about this book but this ship will never be one of them. even if the circumstances surrounding them are depressing, they are always so wholesome 😭
honestly, kudos to caroline for always finding the perfect balance between angst/romance/smut in their scenes. i can be crying with them, then fanning myself, then swooning from one page to the next. they're THAT couple.
my only complaint is that they didn't have more chapters (ahem), but what we got, i loved. it seriously changed my whole mood whenever i reached one of their chapters. they give us every trope AND THEY PULL THEM ALL OFF.“This really isn’t the time for marital bickering,” he warned.
“It’s not marital if we’re not married,” I pointed out.
“We will be married,” Orion said in a growl.
“Says who?” I balked.
“Says me,” he snapped. “I will wed you the moment this war is over.”
ZA9 = DarcyOrion wedding, methinks 😍😍😍 i'm manifesting Orion racking his brain for the perfect proposal and Seth giving him unsolicited advice 24/7 on how to do it.
their sex scenes are unmatched. their little parallels please, THE POOL 😭😭😭 their conversations, their inside jokes, their adventures. i can't i can't i can't“If we ever have kids, I will never let them out of my sight.”
A smile lifted my lips at the image of that. “You’d be a seriously protective daddy.”
“I’d be the asshole parent, but I’m good with it,” he said, only making my smile grow. “They can hate me so long as they keep breathing.”
HAVE I DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN??????? THEY KEEP TALKING ABOUT HAVING KIDS SINCE ZA7???? my heart can't take this. i can't believe i started this review ranting when i love these two so much askdjdja bipolar energy who. i want, need, DEMAND 10 long epilogues when the series is over with just Orion being a dad content. Orion having a daughter. Orion with a pregnant Darcy. Orion being protective af. DADDY ORION period.
“When we get out of here, I’m going to have you like this every damn day,” I said heavily. “Because I spent too much time at the academy being cautious, letting time slip by where I didn’t see you at all. We’re gonna fuck, and laugh, and love each other, and I’m gonna make you smile from the moment you wake up in the morning to your last moments of wakefulness at night.”
dead. i love them. i already miss them 😭😭😭😭
and i really wish i could give this a higher rating for them. they always deserve the 5 stars, but the rest of the book was simply not good 😭
some random finalcomplaintsthoughts:💫 Seth and Caleb were the 2nd best couple here, but can we put an end to the miscommunication trope?? 😩
💫 Tory got on my nerves A LOT, especially at the end. the audacity of getting mad at Darcy cause she thinks she's choosing Orion over her ohmyfuckinggoddddDDD i wanted to kill her!!
💫 Leon go away, this isn't your family
💫 let's just say choices were made regarding Tory and Darius in this book...
💫 not enough Seth/Orion and Seth/Darcy content 😭😭😭😭😭 i missed these duos so much
💫 actually, the aforementioned comment applies to Darius/Orion too 😭
💫 the cringey sexual humor needs to STOP. orgies and threesomes everywhere, people fucking in public, characters seeing their parents fuck, parents interrupting their sons, washer being disgusting.. i'm reaching my limit
there are so many more things i could say, but i'm trying to let all of this anger go and leave the better rant to my friends
Phuong and
Tanaz. my Libra besties, i'm so glad we read this at the same time and that we share the same one brain cell when it comes to Solaria. give this book the rating it deserves 🥰💗
in the meantime, i'll still be here waiting for ZA9. let's all pray it comes out soon and that it is the last one 🙏 seriously. i need closure.
✌ -
2.5 ✨ “The power of your love and hatred burned hotter than the sun itself, the constant tug and pull, a war unending and a passion unyielding. You were two stars always set to collide and cast the world on fire because fuck the consequences.”
Considering this beast is the 8th in the series and 1244 pages long, this review is about to get ranty. (No spoilers because there’s no plot HAHA.) If you loved it, I’m sorry.
I knew after the first book this series is junk food. It is the reality tv of the fantasy romance world. Love Island, if you will. I knew I wasn’t going into this huge epic urban fantasy. That is all fine. But this book? Boring, uninteresting, and completely dry.
Tory is on an absolute downward spiral tailspin. I don’t even know who she is anymore. The fucking curse on Darcy was tiresome. Seth and Caleb were the only two characters I was invested in, and yet!!!! they still haven’t gotten anywhere. Lance was barely Lance. Man’s lost his whole personality. Gerry is so utterly ridiculous but I’m over it because of reading her POV. Max finally has a personality though, so that was neat.
I did not NEED MILTON, XAVIER OR (I’m sorry for this one, kinda) GERALDINE POVS!! I do not care!!! They added nothing to the story, which was completely devoid of plot (did I say that already?)
The pacing was so unbelievably disjointed. Between random POVs that added nothing to the story and the lack of character depth, I truly can’t feel invested as I once did.
The amount of prophecies and sight used just honestly feels lazy. We get answers only to be slapped with two more at the end of the book. It just feels like the authors are dragging this series out (for the kindle pages read, perhaps?). They told us we’d get an HEA. I don’t even know if I care at this point.
I’m tired. What a waste of time. -
I should have known that everything could get so much fucking worse. It always did.
I had a teacher once, who would make us write an essay, then a one-page summary of that essay and then a two sentence summary of the same essay. It’s a great exercise, you have to think what is important in the text you’re writing and what is just filler. You should try it sometime Susanne and Caroline!
Maybe it would help you, but it would most certainly help us! Your poor fans who you keep torturing with endless pages about Justin (who??) paragliding or Milton (WHO??) choosing COWS for his herd 🤯 And when we think it’s over you throw in Vard for good measure. Really? Vard? VARD?
What happened, girls?? I thought we were friends! Nebula Allies! I was already braiding friendship bracelets! Almost Faeded you on my Faebook! What did I do to deserve this? Especially on top of all the freakin’ sorrow I had to endure! 😩
And what did I tell you about hurting Orion?🔪🔪🔪
I have to admit that the last part of the book was good, and that you still rock at writing Orion and Darcy… But please girls, don’t disappoint me with the last book! Because the next book will be the last! Capisce?
——-
Okay, okay, I’m reading this!!!
—-
It arrived! It’s on my kindle!!! I read the dedication. Not sure if I want to keep reading.
——
HEA for every couple or I’m suing! -
i went into this with lowww expectations cause literally everyone hates this book but why did i love it? 💀 maybe i just wanna be different 😌
it was such an emotional rollercoaster. seeing them grieve was heartbreaking but it showed a different side to their characters.
⚠️beware bc there’s definitely spoilers⚠️
i just know the torydarius fans were shaking in their boots with this one 👀
my only issue was its way too long and too many povs like justin, milton, mildred, fran, even geraldines chapters were all irrelevant to the storyline.
ok moving on GUYS LISTEN im so so happy darius is back (i didn’t ever think he would stay gone lmfao) but i did not realize tory liked him that much for her to do all that for him. it felt like she did all that to get back at the stars and because she was lonely more so than anything to do with darius but i wanted him back so badly that i was backing her 100%. do all the black magic you want if it’ll bring him back. i literally broke down in chapter 73 they had me for a second there oh my god
i feel like as the books go on tory gets more and more arrogant i can’t take her character seriously anymore so I just .... don't lol and shes so incredibly selfish sometimes and she acts like shes selfless because she loves darcy so much but her reasons for clinging onto darcy so much are selfish anyways.
my heart broke when tory kept talking about darcy picking orion over her the abandonment issues were screaming here. but then I was like WAIT stop playing with me bc thats totally not what's happening here wtf!! she's going through HELL (literally) and all tory is thinking about is herself. girl PLSS BE FORREAL RN. but i understood it bc she was grieving but then the last interaction between tory and darcy, tory somehow managed to piss me off so much. the way she was treating darcy I wanted to smack her ! and why does darcy always have to be the sensible one why can't tory reign it in herself and treat her like a human and not her emotional security blanket damn. i really want them to properly mend their relationship in the next book bc i love them (even tho tory does my head in sometimes)
i also still don’t understand the connection between torydarius and how they love each other so much i’ve never really felt it and i still don’t feel it even after this book so idk what that says. maybe its because they were such a slow burn they literally get together in like book 5 but are barely even together til book 7 and then everything is so rushed between them even tho we only see them having sex and then like they’re already married and fully invested in each other but like still don’t agree with fundamental issues IDK all this to say im not emotionally invested in this relationship (ok maybe i was a bit at the end of this book) im more emotionally invested in their individual characters but can we please stop having them be the center of attention all the time thx so much 💖
also when darius came back I was so excited for his reunion with everyone else but it was so anticlimactic wtf!!!! idc about them having sex I wanna see him hug orion, xavier and the heirs 🥺
i have a bone to pick with the authors bc WHY WAS THERE BARELY ANY BLUELANCE???? HM? WHY??? 🤨i will find out where you live
they were literally getting tortured beaten bloodied bruised up and the way everytime we moved to another scene my heart was just aching to read more about them i was so concerned!! thats mom and dad you cant just leave me hanging there. I WAS SUFFERING. their chapters were literally the best I would die for these two and the way they were there for each other i cried too many tears for them. s/o stella thats my girl now i guess?? 💓
”You know what, Lance?”
“What, beautiful?”
“Sometimes you’re an asshole.”
“Don’t sell me short, I’m an asshole all the time.”
the way they were so miserable yet added so much light and happiness I DONT KNOW HOW THEY DO IT. they going through the worst yet im here still smiling and laughing with them and they’re making me scrunch my nose at how adorable they are can i just get a bluelance book on its own pls 💛🥺 WITH THEIR PET OMG THE LIL SHADOW BEASTIE 😩 why was he the best part of the book kfyfudjksdj hes so adorable protect him 💞🥹
can seth and caleb figure out their shit pls im asking for the millionth time now :)
and can we pls replace all the xavier/sofia/tyler content with athena and hadley?? i wanna know their backstory, the drama, EVERYTHING cause i be eating up their crumbs
”Is she good to you?”
“She’s every good thing I forgot existed in this world.” -
“What did you expect? A happy ending?”
“Yes, I expected a happy fucking ending,” I snarled. “I expected a tale where the beast was defeated, the treasure was claimed, and everyone lived happily ever after.”
Caleb broke a merciless laugh. “I suggest you stop believing in nonsense like that, Princess,” he said, his voice low and rough. “That’s not the way Faery tales go. The endings are always brutal and bloody, and no one walks away from them unscathed. Especially not the main characters.”
OK, I've had a bit of time to process all of this and, as much as it pains me, I can't give this book 5 stars. I wanted to give it 3 stars, but the last 25% were chef's kiss, so I raised it to 4. But the 75% were excruciating. Too long, too slow-paced, lacking action and that smart banter and charisma I'm used from this authors. They did a good job at making the characters feel miserable, but was it necessary to make the readers miserable and bored at the sane time? And what’s up with all those POVs?!? Justin got two POVs!? What was the point? It was absolutely useless. Then we had three Milton POVs: OK, at least those had a point I guess, giving us an insight into what was going on in Zodiac Academy but still... I really had to work my brains on who Milton was. And all those Xavier chapters, or Max, or Geraldine... it was a soup of POVs and it felt unnecessarily long.
"The stars glittered quietly, and I could have sworn I felt them turning their gaze to me, though what they saw, I didn’t know. Probably just a broken girl who was as meaningless as dust to them. But this dust could think and feel and love, and I was done being tossed around in the tides of fate. I wanted to be heard, and most of all I wanted to steal the reins from their almighty hands and steer all our fortunes towards the light."
But the last 25% were a masterpiece. You get hope, love, fear, war, awe, satisfaction, fuck yes moments, sweet moments... the last part was a tornado and it carried the entire book. That is the content you read this series for. That content is what you'd expect from Caroline and Susanne.
》》The Plot《《
“I thought we were goners. Real, for true goners,” Seth said.
“We can’t die,” Cal said a little breathlessly. “We’re Bitey C, Wolfman, and Fish Fury.”
“You remembered,” Seth gasped.
As expected, this picks up right were book 7 ended: in a load of crap for our MCs. Naturally, this develops along the way, but the characters spend a lot of time apart and fractured in small units. There's a lot of pain, with Tory dealing with her husband's death, the Heirs finding out about Darius being gone, Darcy being cursed and Orion paying the price, Gabriel being captured and well... you remember what an ending we've had. Even though most of this book is painful, the ending gives you hope and the characters are sort of togheter again, against all odds. Two new prophecies are made. The first one is for the girls, being even trickier that the previous one:
"When all hope hinges on a promise forged of lies,
Beware the threaded minds of blood and chaos.
Unlikely friends and broken bonds may shift the tide,
Cleave open the walls of the lost in the depths of the unholy night.
Unleash the souls tethered in the tainted dark,
Unite the rising twelve and toll the bells of fate."
I was really happy we finally got explanations for the one before and then BAM, the authors hit us with this new one. And to test our patience, they throw in a second prophecy, for Lionel.
“The power of the fallen has awoken, greed and glory blazing as one.
All fates hang in the balance as the flames rise from the hollow,
But the Dragon still may prosper if the paths of the enemy are thwarted.
Beware the one whose name is Nox, and seek the treasures of the ancient ring.
Use the stolen, ally with the might of your maker.
Not all starlight gleams.”
Anyway, the ending is totally worth it. It's still a cliffhanger, but this one was rather bearable and actually very delicate. It resembles more with the kind of hopeful ending the 6th book had, and they've definitely soothed our hearts a bit.
》》Characters and Relationships《《
Even though they were mostly apart, some really sweet relationships between the characters were formed. But since GR has a limited number of words per review, I'll try to highlight only some of the main relationships. What I missed a lot here was the Orion - Darius bromance though. And, if you haven’t read the book, please stop reading my review now, because spoilers will follow.
“Love you.” Orion shot me a wink and I melted for him as always.
“Love you back. Let’s get home.”
“Where is home these days?”
“Wherever our family is,” I said with a tug in my chest, missing them all so damn much. We had to get out of here and find our way back to them.
“And who are we counting as that beyond us three, Tory, Xavier and Caleb?” he asked.
“Max, plus Sofia and Tyler. And don’t act like you’re not dying for a Seth snuggle,” I said with a hint of a smirk around my lips.
“Actually, I think I’ll go back to the cage,” he deadpanned.
👗🧛🏻Darcy and Orion
No surprise here, my favorite couple, as always, made even the boring and uselessly long bits bearable. They are a goal in every way that matters and I'm constantly in awe by how much I can love them.
“Well, it wasn’t very professorly of me when I took a student to my bed either, was it?” he said. “Or when I had you over my desk, at the Fairy Fair, in the archives-”
“We don’t talk about the archives,” I jibed, and he nodded seriously.
“Great night, shit morning,” he said matter of factly. “It all worked out in the end though, right?”
“Yeah, now we’re Lavinia’s prisoners and the whole world is doomed.”
“Exactly. It’s all coming together, beautiful.”
I'm really glad they weren't separated, but I think even the stars knew there would have been a riot among the readers if these two would have been apart.
“You know, people usually ask someone if they want to marry them, not just command it,” I whispered.
“You’re already mated to me by the stars, what’s there to ask?”
“Just because we’re mated doesn’t mean you get to skip a proposal.” I shot him a sharp look. “So you’d better ask really, really nicely the next time you bring this up. And I am making no promises that I’ll say yes.”
“Or that I’ll agree to it,” Gabriel tossed back over his shoulder.
They are precious and they definitely need to be protected at all costs.
🧜🏾♂️👩🏻🦰Max and Geraldine
Well, I'm definitely glad they are togheter and that everything worked out well for them in the end, but I felt like some scenes were a bit too long and Geraldine's chapters did give me a bit of a headache.
“You cannot look at me thus and not expect to dive deep into my lady waters,” I panted. “Avert your eyes or make true on the vows that shine within them like the star you are named after, Max Rigel.”
“Is that code for ‘please fuck me’?” He smirked, and gracious, that smile was a mountain which I wished to climb, to bury my flag in its peak and announce it as mine.
“I could not be clearer,” I panted. “Take me to Davy Jones’ Locker, and plunder my treasure chest with your sea cucumber.”
Sometimes, when it's 3AM and you reach a Geraldine chapter, you just know it's time for bed because you need a fresh brain to deal with her language.
🐺🧑🏼 Seth and Caleb
Ohhhh I love seeing them do that "he can't be in love with me but how I wish he was" dance. It's funny, frustrating, sweet, confusing and funny again all at once.
“So you…weren’t joining in with them? You were just trying to direct them?” I asked, piecing his words together.
“Yeah, I was trying to be an orgy conductor, I waved a stick and everything to make it easier for them to follow my orders."
I loved seeing from both of their perspectives how things went and I'm rooting for them in book 9.
🧑🏼👸🏻Caleb and Tory
"Tory Vega was one hell of a friend to take on a night out, but our destiny had never been meant to merge in the way I had once thought it might, and I found that there was no sting left to that truth anymore, no lingering hurt or resentment. Me and her were a train wreck waiting to happen as a couple, but as friends we worked out pretty damn well."
I liked Caleb a lot from the very first book and I remember wishing for a proper closure for him and Tory and this book definitely gave us that. So the development of their relationship definitely made me super happy.
👸🏻👗Tory and Darcy
"So no, I won’t sacrifice myself so that the world can have more of her. I’d rather sacrifice the world itself, just so that I can be there to make sure I see her when she rises up to claim it. By her side, where I belong. Two halves of one fucking whole."
Having them interacting so little and going through so much shit was very intense, especially since they started walking very different paths. But their love for each other, even with all the tests and the modifications is still very strong. It feels more complicated now and I can see how they are struggling to understand each other even with their fierce connection.
🧛🏻🦅Orion and Gabriel
“Damn,” Orion breathed.
“Do not get a boner over my sister while I’m touching you,” I warned.
“Too late,” he muttered, and I cursed, flying us towards Darcy as fast as I could.
Missing the Orion-Darius bromance, I was happy to get at least a bit of Noxy-Orio bromance and moments, even though they were few and only in the last part of the book (like all the good things).
👸🏻🐲Tory and Darius
"That kiss was hello and goodbye, a bittersweet reunion, and a promise of everything we should have had. It was a breath of life into the silent cavity of my chest, a wordless plea for me to return to her, for the world to somehow make sense again purely because we were together.
But it was a lie."
Damn! This couple... they've been to Hell and back. Tory did the unthinkable and yes BIG SPOILER: we get Darius back. Towards the end, of course, we don't get to fully process his return but every chapter was emotional and the changes that his return brought are major.
"I knew we were thinking the same thing. That that was wrong. That we shouldn’t have been so willing to sacrifice the world for the sake of this, but it didn’t change the truth. Darius and I had been bad news from the first moment we’d laid eyes on one another, we were toxic, hateful, and limitless. But we were still here, and we wouldn’t be turning from each other now or ever."
Their scenes were very powerful and they've given me all the chills. I'm a bit scared to think about the consequences of Tory’s choice, but they do deserve a happy ending so I'm hoping for the best.
"He was the destroyer of me. The ruination of the girl I’d been and the creator of the woman I had become. He was my one true love, without any help or hinderance from the stars. He was more than my Elysian Mate. He was more than my equal. He was my end. And I was ready to keep the vow I’d made to him all those weeks ago."
Tory’s path towards him was full of really impressive moments and their connection was acknowledged by a lot of characters. I love my Darcy-Orion, but Tory and Darius have such a rawness that it's difficult not to look at their relationship and love them.
》》Favorite Scenes《《
👸🏻👩🏻🦰Tory and Geraldine saving the Heirs and their families
👗🧛🏻Darcy - Orion reunion
“I wish you didn’t have to see me like this,” she murmured, and a growl rose in my throat. “I’m poison.”
“I’d love you in any form, poisonous or otherwise.”
⭐Marguerite being helpful
🧑🏻Miguel showing up
🐺🧑🏼👸🏻Seth being jealous over Caleb and Tory
“Oh sure, let’s just go with Tory’s plan. She’s so pretty and has such perfect hair and has magical tits that can-”
“Dude, are you in love with your dead best friend’s widow?” Leon hissed in a whisper so loud even the clams in the distant sea could surely hear him. “’Cause that’s fucked up.”
“No,” Seth blurted, looking horrified.
📖The Ether book
🧙♀️The three Nymph witches
👸🏻🧛🏼Tory punching Orion after finding out about his Death bond
👸🏻🐺Tory bonding a little with Rosalie
“Why fight in the war if you don’t care for heroics?” I asked.
“I’ll never say no to a fight. Besides, my grudge with Lionel Acrux was personal long before he gave me the additional reason to kill him of being a tyrannical stronzo with a small cock complex.”
🧑🏼🐺 Seth explaining the orgy conductor situation
🐺🧑🏼Antonia and Melinda catching Seth in bed with Caleb
🦄 Xavier getting his wings back
🐺 Seth explaining couple names
“Behold…a gift from Darion.”
“Who’s Darion?” I breathed and Seth stood upright, jerking his fist away from us again with a huff.
“By the moon, you don’t even know anything, do you? Darion. As in Darcy and Orion. Dar-ion. It’s their couple name. Like you guys would be…Xavylia. And Tory and Darius are Torius-” His expression grew tight and he barrelled on. “Geraldine and Max are Maxaldine. And well, obviously we’re not a couple and never would be or anything, but just for shits and giggles as we’re the only ones left out, Caleb and I would be Saleb. Everyone caught up now?”
👗🧛🏼Darcy - Orion interactions
🩸Stella's blood tank moment
👗🐻 Darcy and the Shadow Beast
"I got my magic and Order back from it and-”
"You did?”
“Yes.”
“Thank the sun,” he said
“Um, also, the Shadow Beast is free too and… I think it’s coming with us,” I added quickly.
“What?” Orion growled, his expression falling stern in an instant.
🧛🏻Orion fighting with Hail Vega's sword
👸🏻Tory being badass
🧛🏻🦅Orio and Noxy moments
👑The kneeling
“I pledge myself and all that I am to you, my Queen,” I breathed, emotion wracking my core as those words tumbled from me at last, my place in this world somehow fixing there as if I had found the truth of my own destiny, and all that I had ever needed to be. “I would be your sword to fight your enemies, your shield to protect your people, your monster to own and to wield. I would be yours in any and all of the ways I could be, and I should have told you that a long, long time ago. I am your creature, your servant…yours.”
📱The group chat discussion and the nicknames
🐺👗Seth - Darcy reunion
👩🏻🦰👗Geraldine - Darcy reunion
👑 The second kneeling
👑A new reign
》》Conclusion《《
I love this series and this world, but I think it's time for an ending. They've been through enough and the first 75% of this book is proof that all things must have and ending, because I felt like that was more wasted energy than actual creation. While I'm going to miss the characters, I really hope book 9 will be the last one, hopefully as good as the last part of this book was.
"Maybe we were never meant to win, maybe this was a tragedy, and I was in the final act, moving towards an inevitable end along with everyone I loved. Maybe I never really had a choice in how this would go."
There is a finality in this book, in the points each character has reached. I'm really looking forward to the last book, but I don't know what to expect. Sometimes, when you reach a peak, there's no way to go but downwards and I'm dreading that. But I'll keep my optimistic approach. Fingers crossed.
“I have sacrificed!” I shouted and the flames which lit my body blazed like a beacon for all to see. “I have given everything I was and everything I am to this fight. I have cried and raged and pleaded for the heavens to favour us just once, but they turned their games on us instead and took all I had to offer. I never promised to give them any of this. I never agreed to the price they chose, so let my love be unbreakable and brutal and cruel and endless, the harbinger of war and the summoner of violence. Let it be all those things and more because I am done sacrificing myself for the stars and their entertainment. I am done being a puppet in their games. They took from me too many times and now they will have to face the monster they made when they incited me because I. Have. Had. Enough!” -
I truly need these authors to go to faederal prison after subjecting us to reading 1200 pages filled with filler chapters, pov’s of characters I literally forgot even existed, and about maybe 30% of actual substance in this entire story.
I have so much to say but first things first, the one thing that stopped this book from getting a 1 star rating was the fact that Darcy’s chapters showcased probably some of the best writing I have seen so far from this series. Mind you, she only had 11 chapters in this ENTIRE book. Granted some of her chapters were quite long, but when you compare how much time some of these useless pov’s are taking up in the book, it gets really frustrating. Forfeiting Darcy’s chapters so that you can write about Milton of all people joining the A.S.S club at Zodiac Academy is a very bold (and DUMB) choice if you ask me.
I can tell you all right now that almost nothing is accomplished within the first 45%…like half of the pages could’ve been ripped out of the book and it literally wouldn’t have made a difference.
Okay let’s talk about the RELEVANT characters shall we?
Tory, oh dear Tory. Where do I even begin? 😭 I used to really like Tory’s character in the first few books in the series. However, after book 6 I just feel like her character has been at such a standstill. I know a lot of people may disagree and that’s okay, I won’t get mad for not seeing eye to eye over words on pages. But I just think when you look at how far the sisters have come to get to this point in the series, we should’ve seen way more character development at this stage. In this book Tory’s favorite phrase is saying “I’m just so alone.” and I think that bothered me the most out of anything. Because she WASN’T alone. She was surrounded by people who loved, supported, and respected her but was wallowing in so much self pity that she refused to see any of that, even as we reached the end of the book. I think she has a tendency to push people away and self sabotage her personal relationships, and maybe it’s too much to ask for but i was really hoping to see her overcome some of that in this book. I still have hope for her character in the next book, and don’t want to say TOO much as this isn’t a spoilery review. (Also just a LOT of strange shit happened in Tory’s chapters? For example: was chapter 35 even REMOTELY necessary? That’s the grand question here…)
Anywayssss let’s move on to Darcy. This girl said I may only have a handful of chapters, but i’m here to get shit DONE. And that’s exactly what she did! I think Darcy really came into herself in this book, and she did it all while being cursed and without her powers for pretty much most of the book which is nooot an easy thing to do in this world. I really don’t have much to say other than i’m extremely proud of how far she’s come, and that her chapters really pushed me through this book.
As for majority of the other characters in this book, ima be so fr…i really didn’t give a shit. Besides the main characters aka Darcy, Tory, Lance, and Darius of course. I still love Geraldine, Seth, Caleb etc. but not enough to read about whatever the hell they’re going through while the main girlies are suffering.
*THIS PART MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*
Bluelance you will always be famous!!! Their chapters were so fucking good and I just love seeing them be happy together. I say that very lightly considering the fact that they were tortured for majority of the book…but at least they were together. A win is a win idc! 😭
As for ToryDarius…I have a serious question for Miss Susanne. What the hell is going on? I honestly don’t know what this lady decided to take before writing this book, but whatever it is i need her to stop IMMEDIATELY. I don’t even know what to say without their stans absolutely coming for my neck but I know damn well I did not read the same book y’all are feening over. I believe that angst is good majority of the time. But when it’s 8 whole books of angst, when will we give it up and say enough is enough?
Unfortunately, I will be reading book 9 and the other future books in this series because let’s be honest…unless book 9 is 4000 pages it probably won’t be the last in the series. They have a million things to wrap up that even i’m stressed just thinking about it.
-
finished on 12/10
review to come but just know these authors will pay for their crimes -
First half of this review will be absolutely spoiler free and then I will give a huge warning to look away before I talk about a few spoilery things I would like to address.
I have some mixed feelings about this book. I simultaneously really really loved it and also was very frustrated at times. I really struggled with deciding on a rating for this book. I think the root of the frustration came primarily from the fact this book is just too damn long! I have no qualms with long books but it has to make sense. There was a lot of repetition, where characters instead of moving forward feel like they are stuck in a vortex and at sometimes even taking steps backwards. This made the book drag at times and it felt exhausting. There are a lot of additional POVs' and some were necessary and others definitely were not. But ultimately, even though there are shortcomings this book made me feel all the feelings so intensely, and I can't stop thinking about everything that happened. There are certain things that happen that just outweigh any frustration I may have had bc they were just that HUGE!
When this book was good, it was sooooo damn good! And there was a lot of good (disclaimer: good doesn't mean not painful!) There was a lot of anxiety and adrenaline reading this book, I was completely absorbed in the story telling. There is heartbreak and triumphs, laughs and payoffs that are so totally worth it! I do think certain characters really carried the book and their chapters were the ones that really gave me the most "meat" if you will. As usual with ZA the last 20 percent of the book is really where everything gets kicked up a few thousand notches and this book followed that formula and it was pretty amazing. So much emotional heavy lifting happens in this book that I genuinely felt exhausted and drained when I was done. There is also so much important new information that we get that I will absolutely have to go a back and read it again when I get my physical copy.
Ultimately, even though I was frustrated at times and question some of the choices that were made I still really love these books and these characters with my whole heart and can't wait to see what happens next!
Note: I don't think they will finish with book 9 tho, I feel like they might make it to a book 10.
STOP NOW FOR SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!
🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑
Ok, is everyone who doesn't want spoilers gone?! Good! Because I need to address some things!
-The Seth/Caleb situation. WHY?!!!!! It has been four books by now that this pining has been going on and it's absolutely ridiculous that neither of them have come clean by now about how they feel about each other! It feels very baity and I hate it! Seth has kind of done a backslide as far as his character development and although they are having intimate moments that's not good enough at this point in the story. I hated so much how their relationship turned so contentious! WHY?! Just let them be together at this point! It doesn't feel like a slow burn anymore, it's like they are toying with us and it's not cool.
-Darcy and Orion carried these books for me! I loved their chapters so much! Their love is so beautiful and the way they protect each other and believe and support one another makes me so happy. Their banter is also top tier. Stella sacrificing herself was predictable but I still really loved it. BTW thank god they made it so that Lavinia couldn't SA Orion bc I would have lost my shit!
Darcy is my freaking Queen! She is such a badass, I love her confidence and her grit even when she had no power and then when she took it back!!!! AMAZING! I love her with my whole heart. And my absolute favorite thing in this book is that she has a little shadow beast pet now!!! Did not have that on my bingo card! ADORABLE!
- Tory makes me so frustrated. I loved so much about her arc in this book, She was so raw and broken and defiant and I loved all of that until a few things happened.
First, That memory orgy was BS. WHY?! It really cheapened her storyline for me, why do that? It wasn't necessary, not everything has to be about that with her. It was like they just wanted her to have a sex scene so they inserted that. I hated it, it felt almost like a violation to me.
Now for my biggest issue with her, WHY the hell is she treating Darcy like that?! Is she serious?! Darcy is freaking possessed by a monster that turns her into a soulless murdering animal that is stealing all of her magic that will eventually leave her mortal and unable to even live in the FAE world and her mate is being tortured and his soul being ripped from him every time it happens but you need to come with me bc I'm sad. Where is the sisterhood?! Tory would never leave Darius if the situation were flipped. Darcy didn't choose him over her, she chose to stay to save the people she loves from herself! I am hoping that it’s the ether making her act this way and not something she genuinely feels bc that’s crap.
I get why they are doing this and I think most people saw it coming, They are going to pit the twins against each other. I hoped they wouldn't go this way but they totally are going to do it. Tory and Darius are obviously going to lose themselves into bloodlust and it's going to draw lines and people are going to have to pick sides and I hate it already. I have always said that as much as I love all these characters the heart of these books for me has always been the Vega sisters and their love for each other. I know it will probably all mend together in the end but I wish it didn't have to go this route.
-Tory going into the afterlife to get Darius was absolutely beautiful, I loved every word of their reunion. I never doubted he would come back but I am so damn happy that our Grumpy Dragon is back. I wish we hadn't been robbed of more of a glimpse into his reunion with the others though especially Xavier, he suffered his lost so deeply.
-The payoff when all the heirs and the councilors bowed and pledged themselves to the Vegas was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't think it would happen in this book at all and I loved it so much I was screaming!!!!
-There is no way they finish this book with just one more right? I feel like they have sooo much they need to wrap up now either that or it's going to be a 1500 page book next time.
-I'm still obsessed with this series and will probably be rereading as soon as I get my physical copy.
Darcy/Orion own me and I am with them to the bitter end. 💙💙💙💙💙
AND Seth/Caleb better get their shit together or I am going to lose mine! -
3.5 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
With him, pain and pleasure were weapons he forged out of the sweetest kind of sins, and I was more than happy to let him use them against me.
Okay I know I said I'll keep this sweet and short but I want to get this off my chest. I haven't given any book after Awakening a rating less than 4 and it physically pains me to rate one of my most anticipated reads this year 3.5 because this series quickly became a comfort series for me.
- minor spoilers ahead -
I absolutely adore all of these characters and it's such a joy to return to this world (even though I was dreading it after that heart-wrenching cliffhanger) but powering through this book was an ordeal itself. Someone pointed out there are 19 POVs and I knew there were a lot but no way in hell they could be that many... and guess what? It's true. 19 characters get POVs. Why? I get using character POVs to get different perspectives on what's happening around Solaria but come on.
I don't know how to explain it but so much and so little happen at the same time. When I saw that this book is around 1200+ pages long I was concerned about the filler chapters—and unfortunately it happened.
This is the main issue. This is why I found myself skimming some parts and getting bored because I want to follow the main characters.
I adore Leon and Dante but I certainly did not need their POVs in this book when they have their own series already (Nox is already enough). I did not need the POVs of other side characters who did not serve the story much. As much as I love Geraldine but even her POV chapters are getting annoying for me. The best chapter of a side character is Francesca's and it's only a one-time chapter.
I'll be frank and say Bluelance are the saving grace of this series. They have always carried the series and I loved every scene and moment between them in this book.
The Heirs were fantastic in this book, especially Caleb and Seth. Max finally gets some development and spotlight but a little too late in my opinion.
The miscommunication trope between Caleb and Seth needs to throw itself out the window because I'm at my limit. Needless to say I'm happy with the crumbs I got.
Tory's arc was handled well and is finally given her due. There is one Tory scene I did not like at all and it rubbed me the wrong way. It made me uncomfortable because given her desperation I don't think it was... you know? and I wish the authors thought this through. Before anyone makes assumptions, no it wasn't cheating on Darius or hooking up with someone else.
There's a lot of action and nerve-wrecking scenes that put me on edge and we get more answers in this book. I get that the twisted sisters enjoy writing the villains but at this point its getting exasperating, it's the same villains and nothing happens to them much. No one is taken down for good and it's only all the characters on the good side who continue to suffer. At least one villain should've died in this book.
The authors need to chop down POV chapters and the number of pages especially when a large chunk of it are filler chapters and it makes me lose interest in the progression of the story. Please just give more page time to the main characters but cut down on the side characters.
I'll still be saddened to bid this world and these characters farewell when the time comes, especially Darcy, Lance, Seth, and Caleb who are currently my top favorites. -
Well, well, well. This was interesting. I have a lot of things to say. This was both better and worse than I expected.
This could have been at least 800 pages shorter. So much bullshit and filler content. Also, the first half was incredibly boring and nothing happened. The pacing was horrible and it kept dragging.
It had so many useless povs. I firmly believe that only the Vegas and Heirs deserved their povs. I don't care about all the other random and irritating povs. They were even more povs than before. I hate Xavier's povs so much. I don't care about his awesome threesomes.
Just please stop. Don't add more povs and I can't take it.
Well, tbh nothing much happened. There was no plot. Things only happened during the last 80%.
Tory firmly carried this book on her back. She was the best character here. She was the only one who had a sense of urgency. She was making things happen. I liked her character arc a lot. She is kind of an anti-heroine and I like that. I hope her character is gonna take a dark turn in the next book. She must pay for the actions. I enjoyed her friendship with Caleb. But otherwise, she was very alone in this book.
Though I liked Tory a lot, frankly, there were still some scenes in which she was quite annoying.
Darcy's character arc wasn't that enjoyable in comparison to Tory's. She acted weirdly and was very out of character at times.
This is the first book where I felt Darcy and Tory's bond weaken.
Orion was as good as ever. I liked the character development of the other heirs.
Also, Geraldine was so annoying. Her povs gave me a serious headache. She needs to stop talking so damn much.
Also, Lionel is a terrible villain. Not in a good way. He is such a weak villain. He has no personality or motivations except wanting power. I have no idea how they haven't defeated him yet.
They should have ended with this book. Why keep dragging this series? Remove all the filler and you could easily fit a second book here and end the series. -
ONE thing about this series is that it’s ENTERTAINING AF AND SO UNSERIOUS 😂😂😂😂😂 faebook hashtags got me giggling ngl.
This book was frustrating but there wasn’t much dull moments…. It did however has unnecessary POVs so yea only 4 stars😠😒
Nobody wanted that Pegasus 3some or Lionel‘a… whatever that was. Monster of a book but I finished early bc I did skimmed through few chapters.
Let’s talk about cal, max and seth?? They were amazing standing up for right side. I was cheering on Max so much.
This books indefinitely proved that TORY VEGA IS THE WOMAN. She was born to lead. Her strength is so fiercely and well executed here lwad.
My queen is bruised, batters and broken with grief, losing her husband, couldn’t find her twin, enemies tearing through entire kingdom yet her leadership never faltered. Even dead spirits were so proud of her including her own parents.
Seth and Cal FINALLY progressed. I sided with Seth in that argument tbh let’s be mad at Darius for dying. I know it’s the grief speaking tho which led them to- AND WHAT WAS THAT PEACE SIGN??
The page of friendship between Cal and Tory was so precious too.
Bluelance moments were another favourite tbh. Him talking about marriage and babies… He’d be PERFECT hus band. Everytime he called Darcy “beautiful” I got butterflies. Next book I want both sisters pregnant idc let’s make both vampire and dragon daddies 😌😌😌😌😌🥰🥰🥰 they’ll be perfect fathers and perfect uncles to each other’s kids.
I just wish Darcy wasn’t written so out of character and should’ve gotten more POVs. Darcy was needed MORE by her sister but again if she went she legitimately could’ve hurt Tory and she was already bearing guilt of hurting Gerry so I understand her view.
It’s just that except Cal in few scenes Tory was alone for most of her time and she deserved to be someone’s first choice 😔 Given the way she has stolen and conned for 18 years to feed both of them, loving and protecting Darcy as much as she could should’ve counted for something.
Also the ending argument about their powers and path Tory might be right about divide and conquer. Their individual powers can come in handy. But then again they made up 15 seconds later saying they’d work together and exchanged I love yous so I’m not pitting two queens against one another.
Neither is in the wrong here (* look at that - me being diplomatic)
NOW.. *deep breaths *
DARIUS VEGAAAAAAAA
Not only that whole afterlife scene with Tory with the roses, the gown, the first DANCE?? I didn’t want to move on from that chapter. It was heart wrenchingly gorgeously ASTONISHINGLY WRITTEN.
AND HE BENT THE KNEE YALL: yes yes he’s stubborn and shit but we knew it was going to happen anyway and it was a glorious scene too.
The way Tory is so devoted and determined to bring him back from the dead whew her love for Darius is UNMATCHED and even he said okay FINE I’ll abandon death for you😭😭😭😌 anyone doubting legitimacy of this relationship is just blindly hating FRFR
Their fluffy moments was cute asf.. he’s deadass talking about her feet size…
ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT THING was they all bent the knees to the true rulers of Solaria IKTRRR. That scene got me chills bc they are so iconic.
Darius didn’t do much in this book considering he was dead80% of it but he had good heartfelt scenes with Tory.
I seriously wish Darius came back WAY sooner and have time with not only his wife but lance and heirs too? Like we were robbed of that heartfelt reunion specially when lance was the first one to find his body AND the way Seth, Cal and Max broke down in his grave.. if the authors are going to write long ass book again I expect this the most. The collective friendship of 4 heirs is unmatched and Darius-Lance are soulmates so we deserve more of their scenes.
Lastly, I genuinely got into this book thinking I’d hate it but I didn’t (as much as I thought?) Dragon coming back plays a huge role there tbh.
Anyways, I had great time, I giggled, I cried a lot and had overall a good time. Let me stop blabbering 😭🤔. -
4/5
A good instalment, but there was SO many unnecessary POVs. As always I love Tory and Darius the most <3
I’ve never been more scared for a book in my life. As a Darius Acrux and Tory Vega stan, I think those of you who have read Heartless Sky understand what I mean when I say I am in pain.
The Awakening - 4.5
Ruthless Fae - 4
The Reckoning - 5
Shadow Princess - 5
Cursed Fates - 5
Fated Throne - 5
Heartless Sky - 4.5
Untitled #8 - TBR -
only read bluelance chapters but there really was no need for a book 9. someone needs to snatch their laptops away and chop their hands off so they can’t release another book ever again.
-
Holy fucking shit!! What was that ending!!!??? The author sisters are so cunning and clever at weaving alluring stories. I feel like they should be awarded for it. Like wow the plot made so much sense now. I absolutely loved it!!!
The book picks up right after that chaotic ending of Heartless Sky and shows the progression of each character. Though it was very much required to know the after effects of the battle it was too long winded in my opinion. And very boring to the point where I felt like skipping it altogether. But I didn't. Thankfully.
Moving on to characters I was so annoyed at having to read almost each and every characters POV. There were total 19 POVS. Yes I counted it. And some of those POVS were pure torture to read because of the character's personality. But the authors have crafted and lengthened the story as per each POV so it's really necessary to read them.
I was immensely satisfied with the plot of this book. And the character development was beyond amazing. I loved Tory and Seth's POV the most in this book. I have a huge admiration and respect for Tory's character more than ever now. Even after suffering so much she still acted as a queen and took on her responsibilities. And I enjoyed the Seth- Caleb scenes the most. They are like Tory- Darius 2.0 . Lol. Seth is so hilarious and his pining for Caleb was so cute. I literally loved that dude!!!
SPOILER ALERT
" 𝙄 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙢𝙮 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙣, " 𝙄 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙙.
My favorite part was the reunion of Tory and Darius. When Darius bows to Tory on the gates of death. And when she brought him back to the living realm of Fae.
Another favorite moment was ending of war scene at Zodiac Academy when every freaking body BOWS TO DARCY AND TORY 😍😍😭😭💗💗 I truly cried when Darius first bowed to them immediately followed by the Heirs and the remaining people!!!
Overall this was a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it despite being initially anxious to read it coz of the title. I feel like I can conquer the world after reading this book. 😂
Can't wait to read the next book!!!
Initial Review ~
So it seems that now I won't get any happiness from this book. Only misery and sorrow because there's gonna be another book after this so definitely the sisters duo will snatch away our happy moments from this one. 😐
PS I'm kinda mad that there's no symbol of Cancer sign on any of these books 😐 -
✅ Characters
✅ Strong bonds
✅ World-building
✅ Action
✅ Villains that we hate SO MUCH
✅ Magic and faes
✅🆗 Plot (some lengths)
✅🆗 Multiple POVs (too many POVs to be honest)
🆗 Pace
🆗 Repetitive inner monologues and some parts felt SO LONG
❗️❗️Trigger warnings: torture, gore, and death of loved ones
Well, that felt sorrowful indeed…
Seriously?! I went through over 36 hours of long descriptions and unending inner monologues for THAT ending?!
Seriously, I feel like the authors are just making fun of me at that point. I don’t mind a good cliffhanger, even if it’s cruel, but this ending is so unsatisfying, especially after over 1200 pages… I don’t even feel like reading the next book now because I am just tired of the plot dragging on and on and on. This series should have ended with book 7 or this one if we’re pushing it… But a 9th book?! Seriously?!“Yes, I expected a happy fucking ending,” I snarled. “I expected a tale where the beast was defeated, the treasure was claimed, and everyone lived happily ever after.”
The plot is good, and it could have been a 4-5 stars book if it had been 800 pages instead of 1200, and with a satisfying ending instead of yet another cliffhanger. This book felt SO LONG at times, especially since I was listening to the audiobook, some scenes felt interminable. I was not even that involved in the plot near the end, I just wanted it to be over because I was tired of all the repetitive inner monologues and never-ending fight scenes.
I admit that the fight scenes would have probably been much better if I’d read them, but in the audiobook, I had to listen to people fighting each other for 40 minutes a few times. I like action and fighting, but 40 minutes is just too long for a fight to hold my attention.I was too angry for subtle, too full of rage for calm, I had no patience for clever, nor the time for caution. I was fury given wings, grief given strength, and power given life.
The first part of the book was well done. It was slower at moments, but it allowed us to absorb everything that happened at the end of Heartless Sky, and it allowed the characters to try to come to terms with their loss and grief. After that though, it got so long and repetitive at times, and after the 50% mark, I just lost interest in most of the plot and wanted it to be over. Thankfully, the last 20% were better, with more action and relevant things happening, but it still was not enough to save this book from my low 3.5 stars rating.
Besides the slow pace and lengths, another thing that annoyed me was the smut that felt forced at times. I do enjoy smut, but the context and mood are important too. I understand that Darcy and Orion are mates and that they do not know if they will make it out of the palace, but them having sexy times in the cage they are being held in, in the middle of the throne room where anyone can enter at any time, and after Orion has been tortured and healed again is just too much for me. It didn’t feel romantic, or even desperate, it just felt as if they were two horny faes that couldn’t control their hormones… Or as if the authors wanted to add smut just for the sake of having spicy scenes in the book, even if it didn’t fit with the mood and context. But maybe that’s just me being too picky.
That being said, I am still in love with Darcy and Orion, and I hope with all my heart that they will get their HEA. Their intensity, loyalty, and fierce love are everything. Tory on the other hand disappointed me. She started off well, and her feelings were very relatable, but she ended up being selfish as she tended to be in the previous books. I am not judging her actions because I have no idea what she is going through, but the fact remains that she would have been willing to sacrifice everyone and everything (except Darcy) to achieve her insane plan to get Darius back.
The scenes with Leon and Dante were just amazing. I missed Leon’s silliness and their interactions… It made me want to reread the Ruthless Boys series. The part where they are building a giant nest to grab Gabriel’s attention so he doesn’t have visions of the rebels, but only has visions of the nest instead made me smile so much. It’s a typical crazy-but-kind-of-brilliant Leon plan. I am sad that we didn’t see more of Gabriel though, I feel that his character’s potential is being wasted…
While I immensely enjoyed the moments with the Ruthless boys a lot, other chapters were simply annoying and frustrating. Why have so many POVs? I don’t really care about Justin, Vard, or Mildred. I don’t need or want chapters from their POVs and let’s be honest, it’s not as if their chapters were relevant.
Origins of an Academy Bully ⭐⭐⭐
The Awakening ⭐⭐⭐
The Awakening as Told by the Boys ⭐⭐
Ruthless Fae ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Reckoning ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Shadow Princess ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cursed Fates ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fated Throne ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Heartless Sky ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Follow me on Instagram 🙂 -
edit #2 the 1200 pages scared me and i havent read it yet, but gosh it looks like a filler
Edit: I just got this book and 1200 pages!! i swear if nothing happens im going to be pissed
stop. I just remembered what happened at the end of the last book. I think i gaslighted myself into forgetting about it.
how am I going to survive this book -
my disappointment shows no bounds, like me giving this a 3.5⭐ ?? no way
sooo the ending wasnt as bad as Heartless Sky but rather it actually is kinda annoying ???
i cant believe im saying this too but i dont really care about bluelance as much as before? ofc i still love their moments and will never forget how much i loved them in books 1-7 but here im just😕 TORYDARIUS ALL THE WAY (ironic i found reasons to love them more when darius wasnt even here)
also im sorry but seth and caleb im so sick of the miscommunication... theres only so much i can take and ive reached my limit. actually so done with them💀
OKAY BUT I LOVE TORY SO SO MUCH LIKE EVEN MORE THAN BEFORE. darcy annoyed me halfway thru (like i understand the reason but at the same time looking at the situation😭) but i do still adore her <33 tory's acceptance of herself and her character is just !! made me so emotional actually
CHAPTERS 73-76 BEST CHAPTERS THERE IS NO DEBATE THERE. the absolute most perfect lines and scenes there🥹
AND LASTLY as others have said, this did NOT need to be 1.2k pages like??? what?? and 19 different POVS ??? 🤡🤡 the middle was SUCH a slog it killed me, that was so slow and nothing was happening... i really shouldve skimmed but i didnt😭 last 25% was amazing tho as always !! praying ZA9 is actually the last book and not as long as this please im begging
_________
the author's note in book 7 does not give me hope:"And yes, maybe book 8 looks a bit like a psycho killer approaching you across those sharp rocks at the moment, with a knife in hand and a smile on his face."
HAHA I AM BROKEN YOU CANT EXPECT ME TO WAIT UNTIL DECEMBER -
1/5
I can't rate this higher than a 1. I'm happy with the ending but it was an absolute drag to get here. 1244 pages. 600 could be cut. Useless POVs. Geraldine's sections kill me and make me roll my eyes. The book picks up in the last 80% as per usual but everything before that is a slog. Book 9 will probably be just as big as they now try and wrap up the extra plotlines they added in this book. -
unnecessarily long.
-
wow 😃
-
1,200 pages.
19 POVS.
2 stars.
Ooooof what a fucking let down.
The twisted sisters are killin’ it & not in a good way. This started off SO GOOD. I was truly fighting for my life to not break down and sob over Darcy & Tory’s POV in the first few chapters. And then came almost 800 pages of filler. EIGHT HUNDRED PAGES. I am down on my knees begging for an editor at this point because half of this book didn’t need to exist. I didn’t give a shit about so many of the POV’s, I don’t need anymore wholesome moments, I don’t need Seth and Caleb to fall victim to the miscommunication trope for yet another book, and most importantly I DO NOT NEED AN ENTIRE NEW STORYLINE ADDED IN THE LAST TWO CHAPTERS!!!
At the rate the authors are going the next book is going to be 3,000 pages just to dig themselves out of the hole they created with the ending of this book ON TOP of wrapping up the entire series. And of course I’ll read it because I’m not a fucking quitter 🤡 -
This book is two things: long and boring.
Every time I got to an irrelevant POV (and there were a LOT), I contemplated throwing my kindle across the room.
I swear, only 20% of this 1200 page book contained relevant information. Why does it feel like this was a filler book… and if that’s the case, why is the 8th book in a series a filler???? Don’t you think we’d pass the need for something like that about 5 books ago? 😭
Sure, I finished this book optimistic compared to the depressed mess I was at the end of the last one but STILL 🫠 I need a coffee.
Rating: 2.75⭐️/5
Original review:
SORROW and Starlight??? Excuse me, WHAT.
