What if I told you a story about twin sisters who grew up in the human world, changing from one foster family to another for 18 years? Suddenly, a magical guy appears, reveals their powers and takes them to a special boarding school, where they learn how to use their magic. Soon they’re recognized as “Chosen Ones” the surviving daughters of the Savage King, that were believed to be dead for all these years.
Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it? For all the fans of Harry Potter, who grew up and want to read something refreshing with the same vibe, a bit of astrology, and a teeny weeny bit of smut, here you go! I present the Zodiac Academy series, magically brought by amazing sisters Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti.
This series has eight books that follow the story and four side novellas to be read in between. The 8th book came out in December 2022, and a few weeks ago, the sisters dropped a connecting book between 8 and 9, named “Beyond the Veil,” which includes a lot of hints for the next book, 9, coming in December this year. It will be boring to follow the summary of each book, and it will be hard for me to avoid major spoilers, considering the cliffhangers each book ends with, but I can try to tell you what to expect in those approximately 17000 pages. So, let’s emerge into the magical world of Solaria…
Strong female leads:
The books have two main female characters, the Vega twins, Tory (Roxanya) and Darcy (Gwendalina), who have to fight their way to claim the throne to the kingdom of Solaria and prove that they’re the rightful heirs of the Savage King. However, I cannot pass on without mentioning other female characters here, like Geraldine Grus with her buttery bagels and incredible vocabulary (standing ovations to the authors for creating such an authentic character): Sofia Cygnus, a pegasus with one of the strongest characters. Later on, more and stronger female faes are introduced.
Strong Male leads:
It is not one of the books where we have a strong female lead that will save the whole world and will fall in love with prince charming, who will worship her at every step she takes. Oh no!! Nothing like that! We have Celestial Heirs, the four boys who will ruin all of your men’s standards because after reading about them, your standards will skyrocket. Darius, Caleb, Max, and Seth are the main heirs to the throne, as Tory and Darcy were believed to be dead all this time and will do anything in their power to prove that the throne and Solaria should be ruled by them rather than the Vega twins, who have just recently found out about the fae realms. We also have Lance Orion, the teacher of theirs and the character who will play a significant role in the story.
Different Orders with Different elemental magic:
So, let’s figure out what’s happening in the Zodiac Academy. Every character in the books is fae, meaning they possess different elemental magic powers and are a part of different order groups. Earth, Water, Air, and Fire (Avatar the Last Airbender vibes, right?!) are the elements, and each Fae may have a combination. Some have just one element, and some might even have all four. It all depends on the strength of the order and the zodiac signs.
There are different orders: Tiberin Rats, Minotaurs, Centaurs, Cerberus, Cyclops, Pegasuses, Vampires, Werewolves, Dragons, Nemean Lions, Hydra, Siren, Harpy, Phoenix, and so much more. Those listed are the ones you will encounter the most. Every order has its power in addition to the elemental magic, and it is so much fun finding something new about each order while reading!
College Bullying:
The major part of the story takes place in the Zodiac Academy, a magic school where the characters study and train to use their magic. And when you put a bunch of teenagers in one place, a little bit of bullying is unfortunately unavoidable. If you are a fan of bully enemies to lovers romances with a little bit of fantasy, this series is perfect for you. Here we must introduce the trigger caution because the first few books contain an incredible amount of bullying scenes, so many that you might even consider giving up at some point (but don’t put them down just yet, it gets better, I promise). The main characters are the worst enemies of each other and make each other’s lives as insufferable as possible in as many dark and twisted ways as one can imagine. At some points, they will almost kill each other even, but they will warm up soon enough, so don’t worry.
However, as the storyline develops, we see more acts of violence. It is not only school bullying that you will encounter, but also a few rough scenes of torture, which will be more common in the later books. Sometimes the scenes are so violent that I wanted to teleport there and somehow interfere. There will be a lot of misunderstanding, miscommunication, and unspoken things, which will be the reason for impulsive choices and certain awful situations. But don’t be scared here. Ultimately, it is all for the good (or at least, it’s what I tell myself as I fight the need to tear the books into pieces).
A lot of love stories:
So we have many main characters in the books, and the authors leave all of them with a significant other. I will not spoil the books here, but we will have: a lot of drama, love triangles, LGBT+, polyamorous relationships, forbidden love (I swear every single couple here is facing forbidden love), enemies to lovers to enemies to friends to lovers, friends to lovers, lovers to friends, enemies to friends and many many more. Every character has a story to tell us, so get ready to have your heart torn out from your chest. Brace yourselves for Darius and Caleb’s scenes!
Remember how most of the YA books had mates?! Well, we have something similar to mates here, the Star Bonds. The characters can be Ellysian mates, Nebula Allies or Astral Adversaries.
A few main villains:
There are not one, but three villains in this series. And just when you think they defeated one, two more show up out of nowhere!
The main villain is Lionel Acrux, Darius’s father, but I will not name the other two as they will show up later in the storyline. An interesting fact about Zodiac Academy is that each chapter presents different points of view, including those of the villains, which makes for an interesting understanding of their perspectives and why they are the way they are. This is kind of a redemption arc for them, not a very good one, but still, those chapters are very eye-opening.
Cliffhangers:
If you are not a fan of cliffhangers, well, these books will be torture for you! Every single one of the books has a cliffhanger! And you might think that it’s just a light one! NO!!! You will have never seen such significant cliffhangers in none of the books! Not even Sarah J. Maas has tortured her readers this much! But you are lucky because most of the books have already come out, and you can dive into the next one as soon as you finish the previous one! So, just get ready and accept my deepest condolences for everything you are about to go through…
Conclusion
On this cliffhanger, we shall end the story. I hope I did a good job of making you interested in reading the series and dragging you into this big world of Solaria, with its astrological references, different orders, elemental magic, love, friendship, and much more. Even at some point, you may seem like you want to give up reading this series, just don’t. You will thank me later! Good luck waiting for the last book!
Zodiac Academy series order
- Book 0.5 – Origins of an Academy Bully
- Book 1 – The Awakening
- Book 1.5 – The Awakening as Told by the Boys
- Book 2 – The Ruthless Fae
- Book 3 – The Reckoning
- Book 4 – Shadow Princess
- Book 5 – Cursed Fates
- Book 5.5 – The big A.S.S. Party
- Book 6 – Fated Throne
- Book 7 – Heartless Sky
- Book 8 – Sorrow and Starlight
- Book 8.5 – Beyond the Veil
