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yogicath's review against another edition
5.0
This is book five of the Academy of the Damned series and continues the story of the main character, Madison, as she tries to save the Soule Coven, one statue at a time, starting with Damon. She has been able to hear his voice in her head at times, starting from when she was at La Voisin academy and discovered all the statutes were actually witches from the Soule Coven, drained by the Head Camille Brewster two hundred years ago and frozen into statutes. When one of her new friends is also changed into a statute, she and Krista had to escape and try to find others who would help them to defeat Camille. But Camille has been alive for hundreds of years, draining students and any Soule Coven ancestors she could find, to keep her young and alive over the years. She has persuaded the other covens that the Soule Coven never existed and that Madison is the enemy. She and Krista have already lost Ivy and Jason to Camille’s clutches and Krista is finding the loss of Ivy, to the other side, really difficult to handle.
They travel to Salem after hearing a strange urban legend about one of the statues coming to life at Halloween, when four frat boys carry out a prank, by stealing one of the statues from the academy grounds and carrying it through a hedge. Only problem is that hedge is supposedly enchanted and has hedge beasts inside, who attack anyone trying to get through it. So the girls look into the legend and pretend to be doing a college project to interview anyone that knows about it. Of the four boys, she is told they all died in a car accident, the same night. Except one of them survived, but has been in a coma ever since. She hopes to be able to use her spirit magic, to go into his mind and see if she can find out how they managed to get the statute through the hedge. The statute they took, turns out to have been Madison’s own father, who she never knew anything about. Her own mother had kept his magic a secret, thinking the air magic she displayed meant she was safe from inheriting his magic. But her mother has been keeping a lot of other secrets about Madison’s heritage and more, never mind being an addict for most of Madison’s life.
A few of Madison’s voodoo friends have been called back to New Orleans and Gillian gets badly burned in one attack by Camille, so is out of action. They need Damon for his strong magic, to have any chance to rescue their goddess Hecate, and so defeat Camille and her cronies. Camille can’t be the only coven head that has been using other witches life essence to elongate their own lives, nor can they be innocent of all her evil actions. Madison and Krista must seek another source for assistance and their quest takes them to a Native American village set up for the tourists. A place witches are not usually welcome and Madison meets the girl and her large wolf, who tried to kill her at the gates of the academy! Wards are supposed to be in place, to keep witches from even seeing the village and their lands, so either something is failing or Madison saw a sign that led her there. Her only choice, given to her by the elders of the tribe, is to undergo a quest to a cave at the top of a mountain, where an ancient creature is supposed to live. The creature has god like powers and only if they mark her with their acceptance, will she be deemed a worthy person to give aid to. She could end up badly scarred or even dead!
She has to undergo this test on her own, but is allowed to have the wolf along as protection against any wild animals, but she has to go into the cave alone. When she makes her way in, she has to face off against a male god and a female goddess, with links to old Celtic legends, one who welcomes her, the other who doesn’t want anything to do with assisting her, nor letting her leave alive. She needs to convince them of her true intentions and she finds out that a witch confined him to this cave hundreds of years ago, so possibly linked to Camille and all her evil plans. The female goddess is not confined to the cave and returns to the village with Madison and they gain a few more fighters. They now have some more friends to help them as well as these newest ones and have to do what they can to get Damon out of Camille’s clutches. Her own mother wants her to forget about doing this and Madison wants nothing to do with her. Madison, Krista and her other allies travel to the academy and split into different groups, all with their own jobs to undertake. They come under attack by Camille, other teachers and students, and even Jason and a reluctant Ivy. This is not their only objective, once they have Damon, they need to try and rescue Hecate, but neither of these will be easy, and some unexpected twists will arise. Lots of action in this book and some difficult confrontations for Madison in particular, with lots of secrets being revealed. Loss of strength in people’s powers suddenly has a reason and only putting a stop to Camille and whichever even more powerful being she is working with, will stop the killing. Another good read in this series and it leaves you wanting to know what will happen next! I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
They travel to Salem after hearing a strange urban legend about one of the statues coming to life at Halloween, when four frat boys carry out a prank, by stealing one of the statues from the academy grounds and carrying it through a hedge. Only problem is that hedge is supposedly enchanted and has hedge beasts inside, who attack anyone trying to get through it. So the girls look into the legend and pretend to be doing a college project to interview anyone that knows about it. Of the four boys, she is told they all died in a car accident, the same night. Except one of them survived, but has been in a coma ever since. She hopes to be able to use her spirit magic, to go into his mind and see if she can find out how they managed to get the statute through the hedge. The statute they took, turns out to have been Madison’s own father, who she never knew anything about. Her own mother had kept his magic a secret, thinking the air magic she displayed meant she was safe from inheriting his magic. But her mother has been keeping a lot of other secrets about Madison’s heritage and more, never mind being an addict for most of Madison’s life.
A few of Madison’s voodoo friends have been called back to New Orleans and Gillian gets badly burned in one attack by Camille, so is out of action. They need Damon for his strong magic, to have any chance to rescue their goddess Hecate, and so defeat Camille and her cronies. Camille can’t be the only coven head that has been using other witches life essence to elongate their own lives, nor can they be innocent of all her evil actions. Madison and Krista must seek another source for assistance and their quest takes them to a Native American village set up for the tourists. A place witches are not usually welcome and Madison meets the girl and her large wolf, who tried to kill her at the gates of the academy! Wards are supposed to be in place, to keep witches from even seeing the village and their lands, so either something is failing or Madison saw a sign that led her there. Her only choice, given to her by the elders of the tribe, is to undergo a quest to a cave at the top of a mountain, where an ancient creature is supposed to live. The creature has god like powers and only if they mark her with their acceptance, will she be deemed a worthy person to give aid to. She could end up badly scarred or even dead!
She has to undergo this test on her own, but is allowed to have the wolf along as protection against any wild animals, but she has to go into the cave alone. When she makes her way in, she has to face off against a male god and a female goddess, with links to old Celtic legends, one who welcomes her, the other who doesn’t want anything to do with assisting her, nor letting her leave alive. She needs to convince them of her true intentions and she finds out that a witch confined him to this cave hundreds of years ago, so possibly linked to Camille and all her evil plans. The female goddess is not confined to the cave and returns to the village with Madison and they gain a few more fighters. They now have some more friends to help them as well as these newest ones and have to do what they can to get Damon out of Camille’s clutches. Her own mother wants her to forget about doing this and Madison wants nothing to do with her. Madison, Krista and her other allies travel to the academy and split into different groups, all with their own jobs to undertake. They come under attack by Camille, other teachers and students, and even Jason and a reluctant Ivy. This is not their only objective, once they have Damon, they need to try and rescue Hecate, but neither of these will be easy, and some unexpected twists will arise. Lots of action in this book and some difficult confrontations for Madison in particular, with lots of secrets being revealed. Loss of strength in people’s powers suddenly has a reason and only putting a stop to Camille and whichever even more powerful being she is working with, will stop the killing. Another good read in this series and it leaves you wanting to know what will happen next! I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
jlaynereads's review
5.0
Whoa! That was a wild ride from start to finish! Both action-wise and emotionally ... I do hope for some level of peace between Madison and her mother.
I hope that Ivy & Krista can be happy and thrive. I hope that Madison can save the Soule Coven, Damon and apparently the Magical world.
VERY much looking forward to the next book!
I received this as an Advance Reader Copy from Booksprout with the hopes I would like it and review it .
I hope that Ivy & Krista can be happy and thrive. I hope that Madison can save the Soule Coven, Damon and apparently the Magical world.
VERY much looking forward to the next book!
I received this as an Advance Reader Copy from Booksprout with the hopes I would like it and review it .
nessan651's review against another edition
5.0
Love
Omg this was such a griping series and now I can't wait for the final, what a cliff hanger I need to know what happens next
Omg this was such a griping series and now I can't wait for the final, what a cliff hanger I need to know what happens next
chazacw's review
4.0
This book seems to be back on pace. It feels like the author(s) finally have some love back for the series!
Things are clicking into place for Madison. It isn't an easy path but she is getting closer to figuring it all out and in turn finding out who she really is.
Will her team back her or leave her to fend for herself? What other truths will she discover in the meantime?
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Things are clicking into place for Madison. It isn't an easy path but she is getting closer to figuring it all out and in turn finding out who she really is.
Will her team back her or leave her to fend for herself? What other truths will she discover in the meantime?
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
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