Title: Shadow Princess (Zodiac Academy #4)
Author: Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti
Genre: Fantasy, fantasy romance
Publisher: N/A- Independent
Publication Date: 2020
Format: Paperback
Length: 678 pages

Rating:

I’ve ranted about The Zodiac Academy too many times to count, and I’ve only just made it to book four. It’s such an addictive series with a lot of angst, drama, and spice, and Shadow Princess was certainly no exception. I found the pacing in this fourth instalment to be a little slower, but no less enjoyable. In typical Peckham and Valenti fashion, they also blew the entire plot up in the final scenes and even weeks later, I feel like I’m still reeling from it.

This is my go-to series for a good binge and I was thrilled that the momentum carried forward through this book. I already can’t wait to get my hands on book five.

Fair warning: spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t read this book or the other books in this series.

The Book: Shadow Princess by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti

In Shadow Princess, we’re immediately thrown back into the conflict that Darcy, Tory, Orion and Darius have just escaped: the kidnapping and use of the twins to funnel shadow magic from the shadow realm into Lionel Acrux and his loyal followers. Both Tory and Darcy are traumatized from the event, and worse yet, have been infected with the shadow magic in the same way the willing participants were. The event also caused them to discover their order forms, which are phoenixes, but because phoenixes are the most powerful order ever recorded, Orion and Darius insist they keep their orders a secret to prevent Lionel from finding them and trying to kill them immediately.

While Darcy is scared and stressed by the events, Tory is downright enraged. She immediately blames Darius and Orion for not doing more to keep them safe and makes the quick mental decision to never forgive them for their roles in the ceremony. She insists that Darcy keep the shadows a secret from them both until they can figure out whether or not they can manage them without their assistance.

From here, the girls are thrown directly back into the school year. Having passed The Reckoning, they’re now enrolled in more intense magic classes, which take a significant majority of their time. This proves to be a blessing as the girls prepare themselves for the next wave of assaults from the Heirs.

Up until now, Darcy and Tory have been an unbreakable team, but when Darcy and Orion are caught in the act by Seth Capella, he uses the discovery to blackmail Darcy into keeping her secret from Tory. This creates a massive rift between the twins as Tory feels slighted and like Darcy has left her out in the cold. Tory’s rage at this point is becoming all-consuming, and the shadows under her skin become stronger as they feed on the intense emotions. As Darcy becomes more panicked with Orion about how they can ensure they both remain safe while helping her sister and Darius, Tory isolates herself further and further until she feels truly alone.

While this rift is happening, Darcy and Orion discover that Orion’s sister is alive in the shadow realm and has been trying to contact Tory and Darcy through the shadows themselves. The three of them bring Darius into the loop, and they all hatch a plot to retrieve her from the shadow realm on a day when the veil between the two realms is at its thinnest. The tension between the four of them is thick with secrets, but they’re all united in this quest, knowing it’s the right thing to do. It’s also not long before Darcy stumbles upon a way to reveal to Tory that she’s been blackmailed, and much of the tension dissipates.

In the meantime, while they wait for the right day of the year to perform the ritual, Tory and Darcy return to the castle where their parents had reigned from and learn some of the deep, dark secrets of why their parents abandoned them and the events that surrounded their fall. Their walk down memory lane is promptly interrupted by the Heirs and their families though, which is then further interrupted by a Nymph attack that forces Darcy and Tory to reveal their order forms to everyone as they work to defeat the Nymphs using their unique powers.

Immediately following the attack, they’re taken back to Zodiac where they continue their studies until the day that they must retrieve Orion’s sister from the shadow realm. However, just when all looks to be moving according to plan, the fates bring Tory and Darius together to face their ultimate destiny, leaving Darcy and Orion to perform the ritual by themselves. Despite their careful planning, everything promptly goes to hell for both pairings and they’re forced to make decisions that will impact the rest of their lives and the lives of those around them.

The Review

This was by far the meatiest of the Zodiac Academy installments yet. I typically rip through these books quickly and feel like almost no actual time has passed in the plot, but with Shadow Princess, there was a lot less of that. A considerable amount of narrative unfolds throughout this book, and a lot of character arcs are moved forward. We also finally learn more about the twin’s origin stories, which provides some much-needed context to the events happening around them.

Plot and character-wise, I loved this book, though it did feel a little long in stretches, particularly on the Tory front. I like Tory, but she felt flatter in this instalment. She kept raging herself in circles and refused to grow by even the tiniest margin and by the time the book closed with her explosive plot twist, I found myself frustrated that she hadn’t done more work to make her way through her issues. I don’t fault her for the decisions she made; she’d been treated poorly the entire year and never really received anything that resembled a meaningful apology, but she didn’t grow enough that she could grasp the ending I’d wanted for her. I’m very curious about how the next book will unfold because while I see why she made the decision that she did, I’m not sure I’m going to love how it’ll unfold next.

Despite my frustrations with Tory though, the rest of the cast kept it going for me. Darcy and Orion were both adorable and stressful, and I loved seeing different sides of Darius as he also attempted to work through his issues. Geraldine, who to me was the most cringe character I’d ever encountered in literature at first, has also become a hysterically wonderful piece of comic relief. Her interactions with Max were always entertaining and I loved seeing her use her weirdness to empower herself over him.

In traditional Zodiac fashion, the end pretty much blew up the plot altogether and left me wondering where exactly things are going to go from here. I’m excited to see more of the twin’s history and future unfold, and the drama and relationships should also be extra thick with angst given how considerably everything was destroyed at the end. I’m not sure where the books will go from here but I’m excited to see.

This book was a touch less bingeable and felt a little long in the Tory-heavy parts, which is the only reason why I gave it a 4-star rating. Looking forward to diving into the next one though and seeing where things go from here.