r/zodiacacademy

View Poll

okay... i have to say i am so much more impressed with the writing in Ruthless Boys than i was with ZA...specifically the romance and sex writing... and i am just hoping that the rest of ZA is as good as RB, especially because the writing around Darcy and Orion fell soooo flat for me despite it being the story line i was most excited for... anyways, if anyone wants to tell me that things don't go downhill after RB i'll be so ecstatic

I love this ridiculous book series but come on im already in the 4th book and they're still freshmen 😭😭😭

I have just started with book 6 (10% in) and its very very painful to keep reading. I was hoping for some solution but every single development is more cringe than previous. Is whole book like this? Will i find some respite?
Can't continue with this Lionel and Tory trope. 🥺
I was keeping up with reading order till book 4. But i haven't read 1.5 or any of the novellas of book 5. Hope thats not spoiling my experience.

Timing is gonna make the biggest astrology group chat in the entire world that matches all of us into our sun moon & rising sign group chats, and same natal aspects

so we can have an place to talk sh*t about ur signs, Natal aspect, ask for advice, and .. ofc..We can all figure our what tf is wrong with the transit energy.

plzzz join us in discord

I know this is a very unpopular opinion but JESUS MF CHRIST. I hate this man with all my being. Literally.

Not only he is a disgusting bully (tbf, all the heirs are) but I can’t shake the feeling of the r*pey vibe he gives. Him snuggling and licking Darcy, cutting her hair, peeing on Tory… he’s literally disgusting and every time he’s on page it makes my skin crawl.

I’m sorry but he is just unredeemable for me. Like I literally would prefer him attempting m*rder than the bs he does. Idk I just can’t shake it. He irritates me to no end.

Spoilers for ZA shadow princess and heartless sky.

>!When Darcy and Lance bring back Clara, she drinks Lance’s blood. Why do they not form a coven like Caleb and Lance do in heartless sky?!<

So I’m on The Reckoning, just starting Chapter 23 and I need to rant. At this point I am enjoying Darcy’s and even the Heir’s POV’s way more than Tory’s. She’s seriously getting on my nerves at this point.
In the first two books I loved her “don’t duck with me” and “put up with no shit” attitude, but now it’s getting annoying, especially since I think she’s becoming a damn hypocrite.
Firstly, I hate the way she acts like a bit h to Diego, one of the few people who has been kind to them since they arrived at the academy, I don’t know what’s changed in this book but her attitude towards him is shit. He’s upset that a hat that his abuela made him before she passed away was stolen and she had the audacity to say “well my parents died before they could make me anything”. Like that’s just complete attention grabbing and a smack in the face to Diego and making him feel he shouldn’t be upset over something important to him just because he didn’t have the same situation as she did in his life, and it’s later revealed that his family actually seems like pure assholes AKA his uncle. (I already know they’re nymphs.)
Then she’s screwing Caleb and playing these games with him and had basically forgiven most of the heirs for the awful things they’ve done to her except for Darius, like she wants to hate him so bad. I know he tried to drown her, and I would stay the hell away from him after that, but Max fully participated in that with him and Caleb and Seth watched it happen, so I think she’s being a huge hypocrite and holding Darius as the worst of them all while not really minding the others. And then the whole dagger situation. She says it’s Darius’s fault that she had that near death experience too and I had to stop reading for a second because what the hell are you talking about? He didn’t give you that dagger, you took it from his room. He fully deserved his room getting burned down and all of his shit stollen, but you took that dagger and kept it with you like the damn ring in Lord of the Rings. He didn’t even know you were the one who had it. So that’s fully on you honey, and he saved you from getting consumed by the shadows. Now I’m fully with her on being pissed about him trying to choke her out afterwards, but the near death experience with the dagger was not his fault. I feel like she’s turning into the type that’s going to blame everyone else around her for everything that goes wrong in her life. And I already have a feeling she’s going to be extremely pissed in a hypocritical way when she finds out about Darcy and Lance even though she has no room to be because of her situation with Caleb. I know they’re twins and tell each other everything but Darcy is allowed to have her secrets especially when it’s high risk situation like her and Lance. I’m not the biggest fan of Darius at the moment but I think most of the things he does right now is because of his psycho father not because he really wants to. I know Darius and Tory are endgame, and I feel like I’m going to hate it because it already looks like it’s going be toxic as fuck on both sides.

I read ZA 1-3 and currently on savage fae. I am STRUGGLING. It’s put me in a horrible reading slump and I feel like I’m forcing myself to get through it. How bad would it be if I were to skip and go back to ZA 4? I’m trying to appreciate it but I’m not connecting with any of the. Characters and feel like it’s been the same dialogue circulated through 2 books 😭😭😭😭😭 no spoilers please just would love insight on if skipping would ruin my overall experience and understanding.

So I have voraciously read through the first 7 books in about two weeks. I have many thoughts. I feel like the reason it’s so easy for me to read is one because of the writing. Two; these plot lines are a whole bunch of other books and fantasy stories put together. Vampire Academy in the houses and the elemental magic and even a fifth element that has to do with like darkness and energy. Harry Potter with the houses and the points and the fact that Darcey had a vision implanted in her head. I will say the story is there and the romantic part is great. But the reason I feel like I keep reading is to finish these side storylines like what they’re emergent was. If Seth and Caleb are ever gonna hook up etc. I also feel like the authors have been really good and their allegorical comparisons to our real world and real life. Xavier trying to be converted to a dragon (conversion therapy). Also, how comical was it that Xavier was the one that walked in on Seth and Caleb about to hook up when the comparison to him is that he’s gay but in the book he’s straight. And the two most masculine men in all of the kingdom are gonna be gay. It’s an interesting and funny dichotomy to me. Also, Lionel putting down weak people and starting to imprison them like Hitler. To the Stockholm syndrome that the girls seem to have about these men who stalk and prey on them and almost rape them in a way. When I talk to my husband about it, he asked me if these books were written by AI because of all of these elements that are put together. I have many more thoughts, but I just can’t seem to think of them right now. I should write them down when I think of them, but I will probably be done with book 8 and nine in about a week. Let me know what y’all’s thoughts are.

I’m halfway into book 7 and wanted to know if I have to tandem read 8 and 8.5? I’m doing the audiobooks and it’d be a pain in the ass. However I’ll make it work if reading them consecutively would be hella weird. If it matters, I liked reading 1 and 1.5 separately 🤷🏼‍♀️ I don’t much mind retreading old ground close together, but I would mind if one of them won’t make sense without the other

Finally!!

Just finished all of ZA and recommended reading order with RB and DP. (Only took me 13 months 🫠)

Now finally there's an Aquarius MC!!! At least I think she'll be an FMC, Sky Witch!!! Giving some TOG vibes. 100000% recommend the reading order and tandem reading. Getting through ZA was even more fun with all the Easter eggs and inside jokes from RB and DP.

I'm about halfway through the tandem read and I just need to rant because I just can't understand why so much of this was left in the books and not edited out?

the whole >!'will they won't they' with Seth and Caleb!< is driving me insane and it's being dragged out way too long - I want it to happen don't get me wrong but it's getting boring now

why was there a 30 minute long chapter of >!tory and Caleb fighting some monster fish before going into the library !<- just adds absolutely nothing except length to the story

now I've just finished Chapter 15 of 8.5 - >!where Hail is being shown Felisia's memories!< - >!why was this an entire little novella on its own introducing new characters and romance and emotions that we literally do not need to know about? and the irony of Hail wanting the TLDR version, so the authors knew this entire thing was too longwinded but decided to leave it in there anyway!<?!

I'm also liking the tandem read in some ways but can't help but feel it's too repetitive - not only repeating what's happened in ZA8 including the exact dialogue, but also just the general themes and feelings of the characters BTV are literally repeated in every chapter (I know it wasn't intended as a tandem read so I guess if you read it after you need a bit of context and refreshing of the memory)

I don't know whether anyone else felt like this but I'm struggling sooo much to get through it and I can't fathom that there's a whole other book to read after this too

Darcy says in book 4 that she has zero interest or attraction towards Caleb because Tory has "been there" and that's "gross". How and why?

I’m a third of the way into book 6 and I’m having a hard time keeping track of all the heirs siblings. Can someone give me a list of each of the heirs siblings? Obviously leave out any secret ones if they pop up in later books. Thank you in advance!

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! Sorry I can’t change the title 😅

I’m a quarter of the way through book 4. I’ve read some spoilers, so I know they reject their Fated Mate pairing. I don’t know details so please don’t spoil it too much.

I know I shouldn’t feel this way because they’re so toxic, but it upsets me that Tory and Darius reject their pairing. They’re so made for each other I can feel it through the book (good job authors) and it’s like a gut punch they reject it (because I know what happens after they do) and it breaks me in half.

I understand Tory’s side 100% and I want to smack Darius for not talking to her say saying wtf he needs to say. Ugh, it’s so frustrating!

ETA: spoiler warning

I only just started book 6 and I honestly can’t tell if it’s shitty writing or if it’s my autism. Why is Darcy so pissed at him? I understand that she feels betrayed because he switched plans at the last second on his defense case. But several people have explained to her that he did it for her own good. I also don’t totally understand how it was for her own good so I’d like that explained too 😅 But I’m trusting that he DID do it for her own good if that’s what everyone keeps telling her. So I’m just confused why she’s refusing to talk to him. Yeah he didn’t fight for her the way she wanted/expected but he did still fight for her ya know?

It was great just too short for my liking. I feel like the ending was rushed but I still enjoyed it. I was wondering if anyone has read the Sins of the Zodiac and if so was it worth reading? I don’t want to start it and hate it lol

I can't for the life of me figure out when to read 'origins of an academic bully' and 'the awakening as told by the boys'. Do I read it after book 3, 4 or book 6? The reading order if every other book is clear but not these two. All the reading order that I've seen tell me smthn different. Does it contain anymassives spoilet I should be worried about?