Zodiac Academy - The Awakening

3.5 stars

I wanted to read this book because of the hype on TikTok. It’s a bit of a mixed bag for me.

The story follows Darcy and Tory who are two broke 18 year old girls just trying to survive. A mysterious man follows Tory home after she had stolen a motorbike and sold to her regular dealer. This mysterious man named Orion advises that they are heirs to a throne in a fae magical kingdom called Solaria and they were once thought dead until their magical presence was highlighted with them being in the mortal realm. If they follow him, they will have food, shelter and enough money to not worry about… as long as they past whatever tests are being held at the Zodiac Academy. They will need to prove their worth and also face the challenges that come with being an heir to a throne they know nothing about.

Definitely loved the fae world that the twins Darcy and Tory have been thrust into, though not much specifics were given about their personal history and why they were sent to the mortal realm. I would have liked someone to go over the world in which they’ve entered, the history of where they came from and more about their parents. If I was them, I would have wondered about this myself and gone to the library or just asked someone to spend time with me to explain how it all works… like really thoroughly. The fallen star towards the end offered a specific piece of the history.

The celestial heirs… we’re supposed to hate them right? Even though they’re hot? They are cruel and bullies. In fact, pretty much the whole school are bullies besides Diego, Sofia and the A.S.S group. The story really displayed the strength these girls continue to show and they take everything in their strides. That ending with the pool and hair was just so traumatic and it’ll be interesting to see how they soldier on in the other books.

I did get confused by the timeline until about 260 pages in, I think it mentioned a week had passed, so I was like wow so much is happening! Totally understand that they are in this academy learning about their powers and trying to get a hold on that, but there is much repeated dialogue of them not knowing how anything works. On repeated dialogue, I don’t know how many times the heirs kept repeating that their throne was threatened and in response the twins saying they didn’t want it.

Definitely enjoyed the magical system, the different orders (in which people could shift), the description of the world they now live in, the MCs are balanced in personality, the side characters are great, I was engaged the whole time and it did leave me wanting more. I am going to continue on reading through the series because I’m intrigued!

Do check your trigger warnings!