Title: Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy #8)
Author: Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti
Genre: Romantasy, Fantasy Romance
Publisher: N/A- Independent
Publication Date: December 11, 2022
Format: Kindle Unlimited
Length:  1242 pages

Read if you like: Contemporary fantasy, magic schools, enemies to lovers, fae, fated mates, elemental powers

Rating: 

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with The Zodiac Academy series (though in case you don’t read any further: it’s mostly love). 

I love the setting of these books, the magic, the total and utter chaos and the cringe and ridiculousness of all the characters involved.

I hate that each book emotionally guts me and is also somehow a million pages long.

The nature of my struggles with these books means that I haven’t read them back-to-back. I’m simply incapable of reading that many books of that length in a row, or of dealing with that kind of emotional damage for such a sustained length of time. It’s taken me 2 full years to make it this far, and I’m not ruling out that it might take me 2 more before I’m done.

Sorrow and Starlight, to me, was incredibly consistent with the rest of the Zodiac series. It had all of the things I love about the story and all of the things that have traditionally devastated me. This series is one of the wildest literary rides I’ve ever taken and this eighth book was no exception.

It would be virtually impossible to review the eighth book in a series without some kind of spoiler, so I’ll endeavour to be brief and high-level. The long and short of it though is that I loved this book, and will continue with the next when I feel recovered enough to do so.

The Book Synopsis: Sorrow and Starlight by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti

Bloody, lost, broken. We live to fight another day. But with so much stolen from us, can the fates ever twist in our favour again?

My sister and I have been torn apart by shadows and despair, and now we each stand alone.

Our sorrow is spun like a web, trapping us tight, and I fear our enemies will soon come to feast upon our souls.

But if I have my way, the merciless sky will have dealt us its final fortune. It’s time for us to take back the power that’s been ripped from our grasp and turn the tide of this war.

All stars must fall, and all Phoenixes must rise.

Long live the Savage Queens.

The Review

This is probably the longest book that I’ve ever read, and while I wished so often that it was shorter just for my own sanity, it was so excellent that for weeks I didn’t want to put it down. 

The Zodiac Academy books are all devastating in their ways, but I so appreciated that in this one, there was finally some redemption for some of my favourite characters. Not everyone had a happy ending, but I at least felt hope, something I was completely devoid of in previous books. Darcy and Tory still endure their share of suffering (more so, if I’m being honest), but I loved that Peckham and Valenti broke it up with so many other character perspectives. I can only handle Geraldine in brief stints, but seeing the perspectives of the Heirs, and particularly Seth and Caleb, really added a lot for me and made for some of the more enthralling storylines.  

Also, I loved how much more intricate the magic and the Zodiac Academy universe became in this book. The exploration of the fifth element in particular was a unique twist I hadn’t been expecting, and I’m very keen to see exactly where its use takes us in the next book. 

I’m not a huge smut fan so I appreciated that this book was more plot-forward. Don’t get me wrong, this book was still exceptionally steamy at times, but it was also focused on building more complexity onto the magic system and plot elements. I loved this new balance, it was so enjoyable.

While this book took huge plot leaps, it maintained the same completely ridiculous and cringeworthy aspects that I love so much about the series. I had a great time reading this, and while I wish it had been 400 pages shorter (strictly for my own reading preferences), I still enjoyed every second of the ride. I can’t wait to read the conclusion of the series. Or I guess I can wait since I desperately need a break from this type of book-length before I even begin to attempt it.