Zodiac Academy: The Awakening
Ratings146
Average rating3.3
Took all my critical thinking and morals, wrapped them in a shiny box and launched them out the window. (Recommended course of action before starting this)
I loved that the magic system took exactly 2 brain cells to understand, so it was really just a fun time with no effort.
Yes this is addicting and yes i’m going to immediately jump into the next one.
3.5 Stars
2024 Reflection Time: My feelings are so conflicted. It wasn't as awful as I first remembered but it wasn't great either. Dunno. Need time to think. Leaving my original review up for transparency and also because it's iconic as fuck.
2022 Review:
Buddy read with Kayla!
I normally don't rate books that I don't finish but this completely deserves it. This was extremely disappointing. But honestly, I went in expecting something like this.
This book was written by two popular sixteen year-old parents-are-Republican preppy-cheerleader-type girls and you can't convince me otherwise. I think that the authors's goal here was to get me to never say another bad thing about Michael Waldron or Chris Chibnall's writing ever again (and it nearly worked). It's cringy, it's poorly-written, and it's a shitty Harry Potter/Winx Club/Victorious fanfiction. With typos and grammatical errors galore, I completely understand why this was self-published. If I was a publisher and was offered this, I would laugh in their faces and kick their asses to the curb. This read like something I would find in the depths of thirteen year-old me's Wattpad library. It literally has me wondering how this series is so popular.
I have been told by many (including my bookish group chat friends who have been pestering me to read this for weeks) that this series gets better in later books. However, I would rather stab myself multiple times than force myself to read any more of this. Honestly I wanted to get a bit further in this book since it was my first buddy read but I just couldn't continue torturing myself. Sorry to my friends who like toxic aLpHa males but I'm done. I'm so fucking done. Cope.
And the true queen of Solaria is my girl Stella thank you very much.
TL;DR this one should've stayed in the Wattpad drafts besties.
Original Rating: 1 Star
Edit: I found this on YouTube and it's my new favorite video on the internet. <3
I like the world that this is set in. I think the magic etc is interesting. However, nothing happened in this book except for realllllly bad dialogue and exposition. I think the whole 400 pages took place over a week? Two weeks? I'm not sure.
I will likely read this whole series in a similar way that I read 50 shades. Which is to say with equal horror and enjoyment.
Is it well-written? No. Does it have good world-building? No. Is it entertaining? Hell yeah.
i made it 10% through this book and if i pushed any further i would have put myself into another reading slump and ive only just got myself out of a 2+ year slump so into the DNF dungeon it goes. I may revisit later on.
20/12/2024
Soooo I read this again and absolutely loved it!!!! Is the writing good nope but did I love it hell yes I did
Contains spoilers
I'm currently at a point in life where I don't want to use my braincells all that much and just want to be taken on a fun and unhinged ride. ZA has certainly delivered on that department!
!!!WARNING!!!! CONTAINS SPOILERS
So, the book reads like a classic Wattpad fiction story which, if is a pet peeve of yours, this might not be for you (personally, I find it to just add to the unhinged vibe). I struggled to get throug the first few chapters until the twins actually made it to Solaria and started exploring the new world. In a way the whole setting seems to be a bastard child between Winx Club x Harry Potter. The magic system and the world of Solaria is something which my 15 year old Witch craft phase ass would have been obsessed with, so points for that aesthetic. Another thing which made this whole thing more enjoyable is the Graphic audio audio book which I would highly recommend (it's just more fun imo).
When it comes to the plot, the whole book seems to span a course of 1/1.5 weeks and oh boy are they eventful. So i didn't feel bored throughout the story but there were definitely lots of WTF moments, main one being this wierd tension between Darcy and Orion. Now, I don't know who are the end game couples (the Twins seem to be having a trial run with all the Heirs anyway) but I'm so not comfortable with this "Forbidden love", "Teacher/Student" relationship thing. It just feels so wrong and kinda gross to me. But no judgment towards people who like this trope!
The characters.... did i mention that I dislike Orion already?? He is my least fave character in the series rn, obviously big part being his "romantic" tension with Darcy as a professor, but also his absolute batshit crazy behavior with his students. Actively insulting them, harming them and threatening them is just wild to me. I get that things work differently in this "mirror world", but I just think Orion ain't the person to be a professor with his temper...
The heirs are just a bunch of unhinged frat boys, which I ain't complaining about. It's like "just here for a good time not a long time". But something odd which I felt was that Max wasn't really all that much in the story... like I sometimes would forget that he is even there because there aren't many interactions with him.
Another thing which annoyed me is that how fast the twins seems to have forgotten that the heirs hate them and actively trying to get them out of ZA to not loose their throne. Like girl, he was just holding you by the neck and dangling you over the ravine and the next day you are just fine with it?? This especially ticked me off in the second later half of the book when the heirs were being "nicer" to them to ask for the dance (and before that the whole club scene) and they were just FINE with it. Seemingly forgetting that these bitchasses want them GONE (i was especially left speechless at the Tory x Caleb classroom spice scene...). So when the girls finally got their well deserved punishment at the end of the book, I was laughing and giggling sO much. They absolutely deserved that and hope they got some braincells back.
So, is this the best thing I've ever read? Absolutely not. But is it entertaining in a "guilty pleasure" sort of way? Yes. So far ZA is "here for a good time not a long time" sort of vibe for me. It's a fun no braincells required story and has gotten me out of a reading slump.
I listened to the graphic audio of this book because I didn't really enjoy the writing style. People do say that it improves as the series develops. I just couldn't really get myself reading the too long paragraphs in the book.
Overall, the story is great. The first book is what they say a bully romance and I felt really sorry for the Vega twins. The mystery hooked me and the guys, wow, they do seem gorgeous as the author describes them. Just wasn't a fan of Orion's voice on the audiobook lol.
For the graphic audio, it also seemed lacking because I read the first few chapters of the book. The Orion's and Darius' POVs and how they dealt with nymphs weren't much presented in the graphic audios. So I thought there were some details missed.
Overall, I loved the story. I'll push through with the series but I do hope they finish it already. 9 books? Really?!
I LOVE the sister bond so much!! but it's sad what happened to make it that strong...
now there's definitely more going on with the guys than what we see
HOWEVER does it really excuse what they did?! Also, does Seth specifically get better? Or am I going to hate him even more as the series continues?
As of right now, I'm not entirely sure how I feel- about them, the book, everything - but I will keep reading the series. Kinda intrigued as to how this is going to play out, but it's mostly for a friend. But I gotta say that last half was just whack and I don't know if I can take all of this for another -what is it 8-10 books?!
Giving it a 3.7 bc I don't even know how I feel about this book right now
Edit: will NOT be continuing the series in the foreseeable future...
DNF after just a few chapters, story line, the characters, the writing - for some reason I just can't get into it.
Actually.... Not bad ... I want to continue the series and I can't wait for that sweet sweet revenge!!
"Be careful you don't scare him," I began but the unicorn beside me let out a snort which sounded annoyed before suddenly lurching towards me and turning into a boy with frosted tips in his hair and a huge grin on his face."
DNF @ 40%
i can acknowlege that i'm not the audience for this book, but even still, this is NOT well written in the slightest. i kept pointing out basic typos and clunky sentence construction, and usually i can tolerate subpar prose to a certain degree, but it was just not good here. did nobody read that sentence in the editing phase??? did they decide it made sense??
and the actual plot... at the very least, i hoped it would be a guilty pleasure sort of story that i can enjoy if i acknowledge its flaws, but no. i genuinely kept forgetting the love interests' names because they were all just the same brand of smirking hot male love interest. if you want to write about that, fine, but at least try to make them meaningfully different. i also don't understand this book's use of multiple POVs, since both tory and darcy sound like the exact same character.
the sole enjoyment i got out of this book was laughing about it with my friends, and sending screenshots every time something insane happened. if you have a high tolerance for bad writing AND just want something to laugh at, you could probably find enjoyment in this book, but otherwise, please don't read this.
I tried reading this in January and just couldn't get into it... but I tried it again a few days ago and WOW. I ate it up. it was SO good. when people say it's a bully romance, they really mean it's a BULLLLLYYYY romance. but it was so good. I can't wait to start the next one and see more of the characters. my favorite so far is definitely Caleb. I love him so much?!?! I keep wanting to look up fan art but I'm so scared of spoilers so I will just wait
So imagine that you and your twin sister are struggling to find ways to pay the rent for your crappy apartment. Then a man shows up and tells you that you are Fae. Your parents who died left you lots of money, but you must enroll in Zodiac Academy and graduate to get all of the inheritance. You will have a stipend the whole time you are enrolled so it beats struggling. Then after you get there you find out your parents were the last King and Queen of Solaria and you must graduate from Zodiac Academy in to take over the throne. However, the Four Heirs, who were suppose to take over, isn't going to make it easy for you.
The bully thing doesn't turn me off, it just makes me root for the good guys a little more. The twisted sisters created a perfect recipe with this one. A little dark academia, a little bullying, a little competition, and some cute fae, and poof now I'm screwed because I can't wait to read the whole series.
Quick read, eager to read the next books. I just don't like helpless mc's, so I will probably rate the next books higher. It was a fun book though, with an interesting magic system, although not nearly as intricate as an epic/adult fantasy book, like Sanderson f ex. This is more of a NA book series, so I am excited to see the character development.
actual rating: 3.5/5 stars
a lot of people either love this book or hate it. i really am in the middle where i enjoyed my time but there are definite problems and I'm not obsessed. my main two complaints are the world is interesting but needs a lottttt of refining and i want more romance which ik it is a series but still. the characters were fun but i would like to see even more distinction between them. this book kinda felt like watching a show like teen wolf or the vampire diaries so take that for what you will.
A disappointing read, my first of 2022.
Zodiac Academy is extremely disappointing and disheartening. The main characters are teenage girls who are having their blood sucked in a sensual way when male characters need it, coerced into humiliating tasks at the will of others, and made to feel dominated and objectified by male staff. The characters are all entitled and egotistical and Tory and Darcy (the teenage twins) are orphans that had it tough growing up so they just grin and bear it....uh yea no thank you.
The story line is predictable and the characters have absolutely no depth. The book did not answer any questions and I finished not sure where the story was leading or why Tory and Darcy are even thrust into this egotistical male dominated world.