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A review by rallythereaders
Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead
5.0
Also posted on Rally the Readers.
Although I enjoyed reading The Fiery Heart, I couldn’t help feeling that it just didn’t quite have the same spark as the other Bloodlines novels. Silver Shadows, on the other hand, was absolutely awesome. I devoured it in a little over a day, completely absorbed by poor Sydney’s imprisonment by the Alchemists and both her and Adrian’s attempts to break her out of there.
Sydney is incredible in this book. She’s always been skilled at using logic to escape tough situations, but Alchemist re-education is unlike anything she’s previously gone up against. It’s hell. Re-education has been alluded to in the previous books as something to be avoided at all costs, but it’s another thing entirely to watch Sydney endure physical and psychological torment at the Alchemists’ hands, all in the name of “cleansing” her sin. The Alchemists preach about the evils of vampires, but they’re perfectly fine with breaking their own people.
Even under these conditions, though, Sydney continues to fight. The other detainees in the re-education facility are wary of her because they don’t want association with someone so tainted to delay their own release. Still, Sydney manages to muster a few tenuous alliances in a place where anyone could betray her at any time.
Adrian, meanwhile, is totally falling apart in Sydney’s absence. His spiral into self-destruction is heartbreaking. He’s never felt like more of a failure because he’s unable to find a single clue to Sydney’s whereabouts, even through dreams. Adrian’s struggles may be of a different nature than Sydney’s, but his pain is very much as searing as hers is.
The tension build-up in Silver Shadows is superb. There’s barely a lull in the novel, especially in Sydney’s chapters. Her mind is always at work to undermine her captors, all while she tries to convince them that rehabilitation is working. It takes Adrian a while to find his way, but when he does . . . he’s simply amazing. I didn’t think it was possible to love him more than I already did, but by the end of this book, I’d found tons more love for him. I can’t forget to mention how much I loved Adrian and Sydney’s extended family, too: Jill, Eddie, Angeline, Trey, new-ish guy Neil, Ms. Terwilliger, and, of course, little Hopper. They’d do anything for each other, and that’s truly on display here. Heck, this book even gave me a newfound respect for rebel Alchemist Marcus Finch.
Richelle Mead is brilliant at dropping bombshell endings, and this one . . . . Let’s just say that I wish I could fast forward time to the release date for the next book.
Although I enjoyed reading The Fiery Heart, I couldn’t help feeling that it just didn’t quite have the same spark as the other Bloodlines novels. Silver Shadows, on the other hand, was absolutely awesome. I devoured it in a little over a day, completely absorbed by poor Sydney’s imprisonment by the Alchemists and both her and Adrian’s attempts to break her out of there.
Sydney is incredible in this book. She’s always been skilled at using logic to escape tough situations, but Alchemist re-education is unlike anything she’s previously gone up against. It’s hell. Re-education has been alluded to in the previous books as something to be avoided at all costs, but it’s another thing entirely to watch Sydney endure physical and psychological torment at the Alchemists’ hands, all in the name of “cleansing” her sin. The Alchemists preach about the evils of vampires, but they’re perfectly fine with breaking their own people.
Even under these conditions, though, Sydney continues to fight. The other detainees in the re-education facility are wary of her because they don’t want association with someone so tainted to delay their own release. Still, Sydney manages to muster a few tenuous alliances in a place where anyone could betray her at any time.
Adrian, meanwhile, is totally falling apart in Sydney’s absence. His spiral into self-destruction is heartbreaking. He’s never felt like more of a failure because he’s unable to find a single clue to Sydney’s whereabouts, even through dreams. Adrian’s struggles may be of a different nature than Sydney’s, but his pain is very much as searing as hers is.
The tension build-up in Silver Shadows is superb. There’s barely a lull in the novel, especially in Sydney’s chapters. Her mind is always at work to undermine her captors, all while she tries to convince them that rehabilitation is working. It takes Adrian a while to find his way, but when he does . . . he’s simply amazing. I didn’t think it was possible to love him more than I already did, but by the end of this book, I’d found tons more love for him. I can’t forget to mention how much I loved Adrian and Sydney’s extended family, too: Jill, Eddie, Angeline, Trey, new-ish guy Neil, Ms. Terwilliger, and, of course, little Hopper. They’d do anything for each other, and that’s truly on display here. Heck, this book even gave me a newfound respect for rebel Alchemist Marcus Finch.
Richelle Mead is brilliant at dropping bombshell endings, and this one . . . . Let’s just say that I wish I could fast forward time to the release date for the next book.