Review: Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti

In Zodiac Academy 4: Shadow Princess, we left both Darcy and Tory on the worst night of their lives. Darcy and Orion made a serious mistake, one that could hurt every Fae in Solaria. While Tory ruined her personal life, possibly ending any hope of being with Darius Acrux.

Tory and Darcy have no idea how to proceed when it feels like everything is falling apart. But surprisingly, they find three unexpected allies: Seth Capella, Caleb Altair and Max Rigel, who have stopped their asshole ways and start to help the Vega twins. The three come up with a plan to try to fix everything between Darius and Tory.

Unfortunately, things are getting more difficult for Darcy. When her biggest secret gets out, she and Lance Orion have to fight for their relationship…but it won’t be easy.

At the same time, Lionel Acrux is getting stronger and has more control in Solaria than anyone thought possible. He has a plan, which requires Tory, Darcy and the Heirs to fall for his trap. And with the Nymphs now on his side, everyone in Solaria is in danger.

Writing the summary for Cursed Fates was difficult because it was nonstop excitement, but we didn’t want to spoil too much. The characters all had a lot of personals growth, yet faced so much turmoil. Give them a chance to breath, Peckham and Valenti!

An interesting aspect of Zodiac 5: Cursed Fates is that it was set during a longer period of time. It goes from New Years’ Day to the end of the school year. That also means it’s the longest book so far. But despite it being so long, we still found ourselves reading it so quickly. We could not put it down because we needed to see what happened next to the girls.

One aspect we predicted was that Zodiac Academy 4: Shadow Princess would end up being a transition book. The fifth installment had the Celestial Heirs grow up a bit and focus on the changing world, instead of just the Vega twins. The reader can tell the political tides are shifting…in Lionel Acrux’s favor.

We also learned a lot more about Solaria and the Vega’s parents. The backstory was necessary to understand what will happen. It also revealed that the Vega twins have another living relative, but we won’t say who. Just know that we really liked the unexpected reveal.

For the characters, our opinions stayed pretty much the same. We had fun seeing more Geraldine Grus and her hilarious banter with Max especially. Orion did piss us off a lot, even though we know he had good intentions. We just wish he talked to Darcy before changing her life! But for the rest of the characters, check out our previous review for a more in-depth description.

Overall, Cursed Fates made us so anxious. The stakes are more real than ever and that ending was the darkest one so far in the series. It made us so mad and need to start Fated Throne right away. While we have the next installment, we have some other books to read first. If you haven’t yet, think about starting Zodiac Academy!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐