Antonia Bernardin

I have finally done it, I have read every single Zodiac Academy book, including book 1-9 and all the novellas! This my complete review of the Zodiac Academy Series, I hope my many hours of reading helps you decide what to do with yours.

I haven’t edited these reviews after the fact, so they are my genuine reaction as I made my way through. Use the links below to skip to the particular one you are interested in.

A lot of the novellas are set a few books into the series, so those reviews may contain spoilers.

1. Zodiac Academy – First 7 books
   1. A sort-of summary 
   2. My thoughts 
2. The Big A.S.S party
   1. A brief summary
   2. My thoughts
3. Origins of an academy bully
   1. Brief summary
   2. What did I think?
4. The Awakening – as told by the boys
   1. A summary attempt 
   2. My thoughts
5. Live and Let Lionel
   1. A summary attempt
   2. What did I think?
6. 8.5 – Beyond the Veil
   1. An attempt at summarising
   2. My thoughts
7. Sorrow and Starlight – Zodiac Academy book 8
   1. An attempt at summarising
   2. What did I think?
8. Restless Stars – Zodiac Academy book 9
   1. Plot summary attempt
   2. My review
9. Thoughts on the series overall

Zodiac Academy – First 7 books

A sort-of summary 

The story opens with twins, Tory and Darcy, in the human realm. They have aged out of the foster system and are barely scraping by when a mysterious guys appears, tracks them both down and forcibly takes them to the fae realm. Where they discover that they are actually the lost Vega twins and heirs to the Royal throne. After their father, the king, died and they went missing, the celestial council ruled in their absence and their children have been raised as heirs to the council, knowing that they are destined to rule… until the lost Vega twins are discovered. Fae society is built on survival of the fittest and the Celestial Heirs immediately rise to the challenge of battling Tory and Darcy for the throne… a throne they do not want, nor care about. The twin’s plan is to quietly survive their time at the academy so that they can be granted access to their substantial inheritance but as the heirs escalate the violence against them, they find themselves not only wanting to fight back for their survival but for the throne they never intended to fight for.

Pretty soon the girls discover that their true enemy isn’t the heirs at all and that there’s more at play here then even the celestial heirs knew.

My thoughts 

I loved this series! The friendships are so good, the romances are amazing and they are some genuinely funny, sweet and charming moments. The world has a lot of depth for this kind of series and the writing is pretty good, what could have been a very cheesy series is actually really genuinely enjoyable and that’s probably down to the writing. The magic system is also pretty cool, especially the whole Zodiac element of it all. For the most part these are a pretty easy read, with some devastating moments sprinkled. Some of the criticism about these on tiktok is that there is a lot of filler content, but without it we would miss out on a lot of really cute moments between the characters. How the twins relationship develops with the Heir’s is really well done and quite natural, as are the romance’s that occur. It walks the line between elements that could have been toxic quite well too. 

As a bonus these are all free on kindle unlimited so, yeah, I would definitely recommend them! Anyone who loves the fantasy genre, especially with a little smut sprinkled in, will enjoy these books, as you can tell they are written by people who love the genre.

The Big A.S.S party

A brief summary

This story mostly follows Geraldine’s and Max’s pov’s during the twins’ 19th birthday party, thrown by Geraldine and the Almighty Sovereign Society. Without spoilers, neither of the girls are feeling particularly up to the party because of recent tragic events in both of their love lives but they put on a brave face for Geraldine and the heirs, who had to decided to assist her in her party planning.

My thoughts

I enjoyed this book! It’s a cute little side story and an insight into Gerry and Max, as well as a peak into how the heirs tried to make the twins birthday a little more special, which was kind of sweet. As per, Geraldine’s narration is peculiar and hilarious, I thought it might irritate me to read a whole novella with multiple chapters with her pov but it’s surprisingly tolerable. I loved the books so an extra snippets are exciting to me, it was good, short read!

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Origins of an academy bully

Brief summary

This books follows the events 5 years prior to the start of Zodiac Academy on the fateful night that changed everything for Orion and Darius, the night they were bound together as Guardian and charge and the when Orion looses his sister. 

What did I think?

I thought this was really interesting, especially the way they managed to roll back the characterisation of both characters but still keep their same ‘voice’, especially Darius, who doesn’t have quite the same level of rage and just, heaviness behind his narration in this one. Orion is decidedly less jaded and cynical, on the brink of his big career break in the Solaria Pitball league. If you enjoy the series, this is definitely a fun little backstory, I think it’s not worth reading until after you’re towards the end of the original series or at least you need to have reached around book 3, as it probably will give you a little too much sympathy for these characters and ruin some of the journey they need to go on with their character development and respective love interests, as Darius especially, needs to redeem himself a lot.

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The Awakening – as told by the boys

A summary attempt 

This book opens with Darius and Orion on a nymph hunt, just before Orion sets off on his mission to go and find the girls in the mortal world. Through the eyes of each of the heirs and Orion, we get to see their arrival in the fae world and the impact they had on their lives. This story also offers an insight into the pressure they were under and some of the motivation behind some of the heir’s more in-excusable actions. We also see more of the abuse Darius was suffering, as in the books in the main series, we don’t start to see from his point of view until later, when he has started to stand up to his father and begun his journey as a character. The plot follows up to just after the dance where the heirs pull off their big stunt against the twins and we see the pivotal moments with each of the heirs where they were pushed into being more vicious than their nature by their parents.

My thoughts

I enjoyed reading this story from the heir’s point of view and it was interesting to go back and see these character’s at the start of their story; having read all the way to eight book and seen their character progression. I thought it was really clever how the authors were able to roll them back to the start and it definitely helps you to understand the heirs motivation (however horrible their actions were). I enjoyed how they weaved the narrative into moments from the original book, showing you the lead up to it, what their true feelings about their actions were and, crucially, the moments when the heirs were at a precipice where they could have turned back, feeding into the whole theme of pre-destined fate and the stars ‘testing’ them.

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Live and Let Lionel

A summary attempt

Written with intro’s from our big bad: Lionel Acrux, this series of novella’s cover a bunch of different stories throughout the 8 book series, including: What happened in the hot tub between Seth and Caleb? What did Seth get up to on the moon? It also has a bunch of scenes we already know from different POV’s, such as when Darcy appears at Orion’s door with blue hair. 

What did I think?

So I enjoyed all the stories we get in this book, I did find the intro’s ‘from Lionel’ a bit clunky and honestly, I started to skip them by the end and I think they could have done without it. If you are trying to get through the series in time for the final book coming out I don’t think you need to read this one, it does’t add anything to the overall story. However, if you’re a fan of the series, this is a fun read, especially the ridiculous moon scene with Seth!

Through reading this, I finally figured out something that’s been confusing me for a while when I’ve read the different novellas they’ve released over the last couple years, ahead of the final book… I never read book 8! I read the initial 7 really quickly, before the 8th came out and somehow never came back around to read it, but I have read every novella released since then… so that’s now next on my list.

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8.5 – Beyond the Veil

An attempt at summarising

This book follows immediately after the events at the end of book 8 and takes place ‘beyond the veil’, in the land of the dead. 

(before I continue – SERIOUSLY, MAJOR SPOILERS FOR BOOK 8)

It follows Darius in the afterlife, watching the consequences after the big battle where he lost his life. Time moves strangely beyond the veil but Darius and the twins other loved ones watch over them as Darcy is trapped in the Palace of Souls, bound with a shadow beast within, trying to protect Lance from the death bond. Tory is leading her remains of the rebel army, trying to carry on while crippled by the loss of her mate. The dead desperately try to find the ways they can help the living, including the locations of the Guild Stones. 

My thoughts

To my shock… I did not enjoy this book. I have loved every single Zodiac Academy book I’ve read, including the novellas. But this was… dull, expositional and introduced a whole host of dead characters that I just could not care about. Because of the ‘strange way time works in the veil’ this allowed the story to jump cut through a whole bunch of world building to set up up for the final book. This book just wasn’t for me. It was sad and boring. I nearly DNF’d it. 

I will still read the last book but I’m genuinely so disappointed, after consuming the first 7 in literally a week and reading every other book as soon as I could get my hands on it. I was so surprised to feel this way about this book.

I think, having now read 9, I would recommend skipping 8.5 if it makes you lose momentum because almost everything we learn with Darius beyond the veil, he ends up having to repeat to the MC’s in book 9…

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Sorrow and Starlight – Zodiac Academy book 8

An attempt at summarising

The story picks up after the tumultuous ending of the last book, Darcy is cursed to be a shadow beast that controlled by Lavinia, Orion has struck some strange bargain with Lavinia to free Darcy of the curse but only after he is tortured for 3 months. They are both imprisoned by Lionel in the Palace of Souls.

Tory is trying to pick up the pieces of the rebellion and recover from losing Darius, all while her twin has been captured. She sets out to discover a way to bring him back, using magic that doesn’t rely on the Stars but also one that isn’t dark magic. As her army continue to carry out small missions to help the ‘lesser orders’ Lionel has imprisoned and prepare for another battle, they float on an island in the sea, making it impossible for the captured Gabriel to reveal their whereabouts with the sight.

The heirs are all reeling from Darius’s death too, Seth and Caleb continue their odd dance of pretending that they don’t like the other all that much, even though both are heart sickeningly in love with the other.

Tory discovers magic that predates the Stars and even though it’s highly unstable and requires blood sacrifices, she’s decides to use it to bring Darius back after a mission to rescue Darcy fails, because she chose to stay with Orion (who can’t leave because of the bargain), rather than leave to support her grieving sister.

What did I think?

Now, I will acknowledge the fact that I accidentally read 8.5 first, not realising that it largely covers the events of book 8 from Dairus’s POV beyond the veil. This may be colouring my opinion of this book but I honestly found it a slog to get through. It was morbid speech after morbid speech about how sad Tory was, how sad Seth was and so on and so on. Like it was trying to eek out a nearly a thousand page long emotional response to the, already effectively devastating, end of book 7. It wasn’t necessary and it felt very much like a filler book.

I rinsed through the first 6 books so quickly, I really loved this series and felt so unlike things that were out but also had all the elements I like in a fantasy series but book 8 had me stalled for well over a year or more.

Restless Stars – Zodiac Academy book 9

Plot summary attempt

We pick up immediately after Tory has returned with Darius, reunited with Darcy and the story begins in the aftermath of the twins defeating the strange creatures Lionel invaded Zodiac Academy with. The Stars choose this auspicious moment to speak to them and offer them a choice, they can return the imperial Star to the heart of the fallen Star it was taken from but risk that Star assumming a fae body and walking among the fae, which is guaranteed to cause havoc. Or, they keep the imperial stars power for themselves and curse another generation of Vega’s.

The twins choose to walk their own path, free from this curse affecting their fate and are immediately trapped underground by the Star, who assumes their faces and heads out into the world. They escape to find that the Star has already caused destruction whilst wearing their likeness, but Lionel doesn’t believe the twins would hurt weaker orders because they are weak themselves, so he figures out it is a Star, so he sets out to bargain with it.

The twins begin a co-ordinated approach with the help of the heirs and Geraldine, finding allies by freeing fae from the inquisition centres, approaching the unbound nymphs to see if they will fight, whilst also learning more about Ether and the how to activate the guild stones. Now they are free from this Star cursing their fate, they begin to try and ensure that fate will be on their side by giving themselves every advantage in the coming battle. All while they destabilise Lionel’s rule and try to lessen his advantage over them.

After a series of strategic smaller battles, we finally come to the big fight, where the twins, the heirs and the rebel army make their final stand.

My review

Honestly? I liked the end, I like the way Lionel finally bites the dust. However, we did not need over 110 chapter to achieve it. I found the same issue with as I did 8, it was full on long, drawn out monologues where one characters is lamenting about how much they care about another character and it honestly took the momentum out of some really big moments that would have otherwise been highly emotional just because of the events that were happening. We KNOW how much you care about each other, we just spent 8 books learning that! This was happening in the big battle and felt like it really took away from some of the really big moments. Also, a washer chapter? Totally un-fucking necessary mid battle. I felt exhausted and impatient reading it, I’ll be honest, I just wanted it to end.

I’m kind of disappointed because I really enjoyed 1-7 of this series, but 8 and 9 were too long and drawn out. One of the things I liked about this series and these authors is that we do get lots of those little extra scenes and peeks into the character’s lives that don’t necessarily drive the plot but these books were really long without actually having much of that. It felt like they were trying to hold us in this heightened state of emotion for well over a thousand pages and at some point it loses it’s impact.

I liked the little glimpse that we get into their life post win though, I thought that was cute way to tie it all off.

Thoughts on the series overall

Thing is, I love the world of these stories, I love the characters, the banter, the cute bits and all the extra moments we got. But I think towards the end, I was just trying to finish for the sake of finishing it. I experienced a reading slump for a good year with this series, which is unheard of me, I will usually stubbornly plod through but all it did was put in a reading slump where I wasn’t reading anything else because I was ‘supposed’ to be reading this. So I took a long break before utilising my longer commute to listen to it as an audio.

Also, the fact that when I posted a plea on Tiktok asking if it was worth it, the majority of the comments were just telling me stick it out to get to the end.

I don’t see this to put you off because a certain type of reading will absolutely eat this series up and they are a good time, I just wish the edits on the later books had been a little harsher and that I’d skipped 8.5 entirely…

Anyway, that’s it, we’ve finally reached the end of Zodiac Academy, I might take a small break from these authors before tackling their next series!

I have also read The Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac and you can find the series review here.