Synopsis from Amazon:
Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.
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.
Anyone that knows me knows that I am absolutely in love with this series and the Vampire Academy series. Richelle Mead has this great skill of writing these strong, determined female characters that you always want to root for.
I’ve loved every book in this series so far and this one is no exception.
For anyone that has no clue what this series is about here’s some helpful terms:
- Alchemist – a human who’s sole purpose is to hide the fact that vampires exist from humans; they have very strict and seemingly religious beliefs and although they work with vamps they by no way approve of them or even like them
- Moroi – these are the more human like vampires; they’re essential the good vamps; they can live and walk around in the daylight just like humans although it does make them very tired and weary and they do still need to drink blood
- Strigoi – the evil vamps; these are the vampires you here about in scary stories; they burn in the sun and have red eyes and will kill vamps or humans with no remorse (they don’t have a soul)
- Dhampir – originally the product of humans and vamps getting together, however they cannot reproduce on their own and if a dhampir gets with a vampire it still just makes another dhampir; they don’t drink blood but have more super human abilities than regular humans; they act as body guards to the Moroi
The main character in this series is Sydney, an Alchemist, who used to drink the Alchemist kool-aid but has since learned that they’re a little excessive in their believes. She’s very cool with vamps and dhampirs now and has even fallen in love with one named Adrian.
In Silver Shadows Adrian and Sydney have been separated after the Alchemists kidnap Sydney and send her into reeducation. While Sydney attempts to cling on to her sanity, humanity, and love for Adrian and her other Moroi and dhampir friends, Adrian struggles with keeping his spirit magic in check and not completely losing his mind.
Keeping this review spoiler free I won’t give away too much. What I will say is this book is filled with love, drama, unexpected surprises, some of our favorite characters from Vampire Academy, and adventure with plenty of action.
The love between Adrian and Sydney is still very evident despite them being apart. I found it both inspiring and cute to read. Behind their love however are these very serious issues that they have to face. Besides the fact that Sydney is locked up she has to face the fact that if she does get free it comes at the cost of officially leaving behind everything she once believed and her family, possibly for good. Meanwhile Adrian is forced to face the darkness of spirit and has to make the hard decision between running from spirit or using it to find the love of his life.
Besides Adrian and Sydney all our other favorites including Jill, Eddie, Trey, Angeline, and Marcus show up and we also meet some new characters.
I greatly enjoyed this book and if I had the time I probably would’ve read it all in one sitting. The novel shifts between Adrian and Sydney point of views giving the reader so much to experience because they’re both going through so much. Also from chapter to chapter there’s so many mysteries that need be solved or crises that arise and it just makes you want to keep reading because you want to know what in the world are they going to do next?
Truthfully I’m a little sad I read this one early sense now I have to wait just a little longer for the final book in the series, The Ruby Circle (release date: February 10, 2015), to come out. And trust me you’ll be anxiously awaiting the sequel as well when you get to the end of this book (I have a love/hate relationship with cliff hangers). Still it was totally worth it and I’ll probably be rereading this book until February anyway.
Definitely a must read of the summer. Between all the funny quips, romance, action, adventures, and drama this book will have you on the edge of your seat all the way through. Or if you’re like me laughing (or crying) on the subway.
Favorite Line: Let me just say it was very hard to a) find one quote to use and b) find one that was spoiler free. Therefore I won’t say who said this line although if you’ve read the other books I think you can guess.
“I expected to see the most beautiful woman in the world, to feel my heart skip a beat in her presence, and to want to carry her off to bed for a night neither of us will forget. So to answer your question, I got exactly what I expected.”
Stars: 5 out of 5. I can’t say anymore how much I loved this book. I think it’s pretty obvious at this point.
Borrow or Buy: BUY!!! You will need to reread this. I guarantee you.
Zakiya N. Jamal 