Review Time #64

Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead

In The Fiery Heart, Sydney risked everything to follow her gut, walking a dangerous line to keep her feelings hidden from the Alchemists.

Now in the aftermath of an event that ripped their world apart, Sydney and Adrian struggle to pick up the pieces and find their way back to each other. But first, they have to survive. 

For Sydney, trapped and surrounded by adversaries, life becomes a daily struggle to hold on to her identity and the memories of those she loves. Meanwhile, Adrian clings to hope in the face of those who tell him Sydney is a lost cause, but the battle proves daunting as old demons and new temptations begin to seize hold of him. . . .

Their worst fears now a chilling reality, Sydney and Adrian face their darkest hour in this heart-pounding fifth installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series, where all bets are off.

WARNING: THE FIERY HEART SPOLIERS AHEAD

I don't know how I feel about Silver Shadows. I feel like that the series has changed from the first three books which I loved, but after TFH and SS I feel like the series has gone backwards to me. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed TFH and SS but just not as much as the first three, Vampire Academy and The Age of X.

Silver Shadows picks up about 6 months after Sydney was taken into re-education by the Alchemists. I admired Sydney a lot in the opening chapters with her bravery and determination to not give into the alchemists and being able to withstand everything that they threw at her. Adrian however I wanted to hit up the side of the head! After Sydney was taken to re-education, he completely lost focus on everything and relapsed into his bad habits that he had worked so hard to kick.

Adrian had a lot of home issues too and being back at court will was good in theory was horrible idea in practice. Queen Lissa wasn't very helpful with Adrian's situation about Sydney since no besides the Palm Springs crew knows about Sydney and Adrian and the fact that she has to be diplomatic enough to not piss of the Alchemists. 

Sydney made some allies in the re-education centre and now how she went about it was pure Sydney Sage logic. The new characters in re-education were written perfectly with them wanting to follow the rules but still didn't want to abide by the Alchemists rules. The Palm Springs gang was completely lost about what to do without Sydney and Eddie, god love him, really needs to tell Jill about his feelings *shake some sense into the poor guy*. 

Also the cliffhanger man, Richelle Mead you sure know how to leave your fans hanging!

The great thing about Mead's writting is that you are never going to know what she will throw at you and Silver Shadows was no different with car chases & Vegas, oh and the fact that Adrian is in this story the impulsiveness shows!

Thank you Penguin Teen Australia for this e-arc!

Rating: 4/5

Keely xx

Review Time! #10

Hey guys, so for the inactivty lately been super busy with school and will hopefully be back posting more in the next two weeks!

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she's been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.

But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don't die. But it's her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her.

When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney's loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.

Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart? (from goodreads.com)

I couldn't wait for this book! I searched and searched every store that sold books until I got my hands on it and boy was it worth it. We start where bloodlines left off, Sydney is now head of the Palm Springs post, still watching over Jill now with Angeline (from VA academy series, she is from the keepers) and Eddie who still head over-heels for Jill at boarding school and Adrian *sigh*.

Thanks to Trey, Sydney finally starts to let loose and start thinking about dating (I could name a few people who she should be with) and meets Brayden, someone who rivals Sydney's brain. Sydney is still of course against magic whether Moroi or her own, but starts to get an open mind about it, which suprises me. There is alot more romance in this book than the previous and there is less attention to the "Vampire Hunters" which were discussed in bloodlines and was more towards Sydney and her "magical" ablilties and the relationships being formed.

The focus is now on spirit and the connections to strigoi. Dimitri and Sonya from YA are back conducting "expirements" on Dimitri and Eddie (Sonya and Adrain conducting the expirements). The way Adrain feels about Dimitri make him try and avoid these expirements and annoy him when ever he can.

The romance in this book is more complex and forbiden then before which drags you in. In TGL you see a different side of both Sydney and Adrain which is intriging and keeps you hooked until the last line. While there is still some action in it, it isn't alot which was depressing because i like all the action that comes with Richelle Meads books. However there is still some action.

Today the title for book 3 was released: The Indigo Spell! Cannot wait until February next year!

Rate: 4.5/5 (loses 0.5 for less action)

Keely x