Silver
Shadows
Author: Richelle Mead
Series: Bloodlines
Pages: 380
Publisher/Source:
Penguin Books Australia
Release date: 29th July
2014
Amazon
– TBD
Synopsis. (Goodreads)
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.
Review: 4 out of 5 stars
Contains possible spoilers
from the previous books
After the jaw dropping ending in book 4, The
Fiery Heart I was more than excited to read Silver Shadows and
despite a few minor issues I had, it was still a great addition to the series and has left
things in a very interesting place.
When the Alchemists discovered Sydney Sage was in a
relationship with a Vampire, she is taken to an unknown location for
re-education where she will have her soul cleansed of this impurity. The events that
took place in this facility were pretty brutal, the alchemists form of
punishment involved a lot of mind tactics that would break anyone but Sydney
remained strong and continued her attempts to work her way out of the hell that
they were putting her through but in doing this she needed to gain the trust of
the other imprisoned Alchemists, not an easy feat when the crime she committed
is considered the worst of the worst.
Quote: Out
of old habit, I put my hand on my collarbone, touching a cross that was no
longer there. Don’t let them change me, I prayed silently. Let me keep my mind.
Sydney.
Adrian on the other hand wasn’t as strong and surprised
me - not in a good way, I won’t reveal his behaviour while Sydney was locked up
but I just couldn’t sympathise with him. For me, he progressed drastically as a
character from the first book Bloodlines through to The
Fiery Heart but in this he let himself go deeper and deeper into his
wallowing self-pity ways which was reminiscent of his VA behaviour – he didn’t
remain consistent or persistent, admittedly he did try for a long while but he
seemed to just give up. In saying that, he did end up redeeming himself and I
admired him for it but I’m not sure I completely agree with how they went about
it all, the repercussions of their actions are going to be very interesting to
see play out.
Quote: “But with Sydney... with Sydney, I'd had it all- And lost it all. Love, understanding, respect. The sense that we'd both become better people because of each other and could take on anything so long as we were together. Only we weren't together anymore. They'd ripped us apart, and I didn't know what was going to happen now.” Adrian
There is a lot of kick-butt action sequences and
destruction in parts of this book which I liked, the first part I found to be extremely slow
which was to be expected with what Sydney was going through, the middle part
lagged in parts but the last third really kept me interested. There are many
surprising developments I didn’t envision happening and I’m super excited to
see how it all comes together in the end – I’m really hoping in the next book
there is some more page time with Zoe and Sydney’s father and of course more
magic use.
I don’t feel we got to see as much of the secondary
characters again in this book, I missed their presence in The Fiery
Heart as well but I did appreciate the role Marcus played and I wish
there was more mushy moments between Jill and Eddie.
Richelle Mead’s writing is exciting and engaging, the
dual POV again worked perfectly and the outcome of the events blended
beautifully to create a wonderful page-turner. The wait for The Ruby Circle is going to be painful.
Thank you to Penguin Books Australia for the
opportunity to read and review Silver Shadows.
Books in order:
Bloodlines
2011
The
Golden Lily 2012
The
Indigo Spell 2013
The
Fiery Heart 2013
The
Ruby Circle
About the author:
Scorpio Richelle Mead is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of urban fantasy books for both adults and teens. Originally from Michigan, Richelle now lives in Seattle, Washington where she works on her three series full-time: Georgina Kincaid, Dark Swan, and Vampire Academy.
A life-long reader, Richelle has always loved mythology and folklore. When she can actually tear herself away from books (either reading or writing them), she enjoys bad reality TV, traveling, trying interesting cocktails, and shopping for dresses. She's a self-professed coffee addict and has a passion for all things wacky and humorous.