I don't know what else to say other than this book has so thoroughly broken me.

At the end of Zodiac Academy: The Reckoning, Tory and Darcy Vega were brought before their worst enemy yet, and though they ended the night with the knowledge of their order emerging, the events of the evening only brought forth more questions and more issues. It's time for them to step into the world of Solaria as fae, and potentially, as queens with their eyes set on the throne and the men who can help them secure it - all while battling an overwhelming darkness that grows stronger at every moment.

I'm genuinely sitting here in tears because I don't know what to say or think about the last ten percent of this book. Actually, I don't even have a star rating logged right now as I type this because I don't know if the sheer emotional weight has settled on my shoulders yet, or if it'll turn to rage the moment I give myself some time to process the sheer events in this book. I think I'm finally grasping the absolute wrecking ball of events that happen in these books. It falls into a sort of pattern - especially with my knowledge now after reading Ruthless Boys of Zodiac, I know for every impossibly wonderful high, there is a truly crushing low that makes you question everything.

This book was (I believe) written to be the true climax of the series. Which, again, falls in line with what I know from Ruthless Boys. I knew it would get bad, but I think I was too stupid to realize just how bad I had it coming. And now I'm baffled because on one hand - I absolutely adored the way Tory's character was written in this book. I know a shit-ton of people do not agree with me on this, if other reviews are to be believed, but the sheer darkness in her character and the movement of her arc left me a little breathless, especially at the end. I have more than enough room in me to be mad, but also impressed that the authors committed to the decision and went full-throttle with it - because when does Tory Vega ever do anything half-assed?

I think I'm just going to ramble now about my favorite scenes, which are all the ones in the palace. Because I've read RB and had it spoiled, I know about the boy and the mystery surrounding that, and I had a lot of sheer freaking hope we'd get that moment in this book. Instead, I found myself sinking into the tidbits of knowledge we did get about the Savage King, the Vega's mother, and what potentially might lie in their futures from glimpses hidden away in the past. The entire section from Christmas onwards was one of my favorite portions of anything in this series, including the absolutely devastating ending. It emotionally wrecked me, but in a way that I have to be a little bit impressed over.

I simply don't know what to think. So I won't. But I think I've at least come to the conclusion that this is getting five stars from me for the sheer weight I feel resting on my chest right now. Gone are silly pranks and careless hookups - the fight for the throne is upon us.

Also, Seth Capella can choke. Leon Night would never.

Content Warnings: blood, mild violence, suicidal thoughts and self harm (present throughout this book heavily), sexual content, alcoholism, drugging (brief scene halfway through, antidote is given), physical and emotional abuse by a parent, and probably more that I'm missing.

What an absolutely wild book. Major lack of expected outcomes. Norm breaking. Middle finger to plot devices. Crazy shit.

This series is starting to stress me out. Also, I totally called the outcome of BOTH of the events at the end and being right was a freaking PUNCH TO THE CHEST. 

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I must admit that I struggled at times while reading ”Shadow Princess”…

I found that the only chapters that I was looking forward to reading were Darcy and Orion’s — Tory’s were frustrating me immensely because it just felt as though we were stuck in a loop that just kept repeating itself the entire time.

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One aspect of “Shadow Princess” that I did enjoy, though, was seeing the Vega twins visit the palace for the first time! :)

Seeing their parents love story play out, and seeing the love that they had for their children, was so heartwarming and sweet…

(The snowball fight scene was also adorable — I’m so glad that Xavier was able to participate in his order form! He deserved that moment of freedom after everything that he’s been through…) 

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P.S. Orion is still my number number one man — I refuse to believe that he is dead. ♡

No book has ever made me as angry as this one, I wanted to punch the screen multiple times. I grew to hate all of the main characters because of their stupidity and refusal to learn from mistakes we've seen them make over and over throughout the series, and I'm still not convinced it was worth finishing it. I persevered this far based on reviews saying the series improved in books four and five but this was the most infuriating one yet. Rather than having character development they actually got worse; for a bunch of characters who are meant to be at least 18 they were unbelievably immature and really haven't had much real character development. Perhaps that is down to the bizarre pacing of this series because while we have slogged through four increasingly, unnecessarily long books, only about one semester has passed in the plot, with most of the books being filled out with constant repetitive bullying. Not to mention this book was filled with my two least favourite lazy tropes: miscommunication and the dreaded betraying body trope. I wanted to shake the characters and scream at them so many times. Take tory for example,

rejecting Darius and becoming star crossed

was the most sensible decision she made when it came to him. 
I'm torn over whether or not I want to continue reading this series. I'm a sucker for magical academy settings and I'm desperate to see the Vega's grow into their powers and earn their place on the throne but it feels like these authors refuse to let them catch a break. Any time there is hope for them the Heirs or Lionel do something even more horrific to them (and then no doubt a vega will "get back at them" by immediately screwing them *cough* toxic Torius *cough* and make me want to throw my phone at a wall), so I don't know if I could put up with more of the inevitable bullying and abuse.

Chile…. 

I’m over it like I really tried to figure why I’m still reading this series like yes they are a mess and slightly entertaining but these books are truly bad (and problematic). Especially after having read this one in particular I can not keep going I just can not.