The Indigo Spell - Richelle Mead

Pages: 401

Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin)

Release Date: 12^th February 2013

Edition: UK paperback, review copy

Other Titles by this Author: Vampire Academy, Frostbite, Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise, Spirit Bound, Last Sacrifice, Bloodlines, The Golden Lily

An ancient magic.

A heart-wrenching decision...

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist. She protects vampire secrets – and human lives.

In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she is struggling to decide between following her Alchemist teachings – or her heart.

Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch, a former Alchemist who is now on the run. As Marcus pushes her to rebel, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought.

There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as Sydney searches for the person attacking powerful young witches, she realizes that she must embrace her magical blood – or else she will be next.

I’m just going to get this out: I love Richelle Mead. Always have and probably always will so my love for The Indigo Spell was completely expected.

I really can’t believe that I was ever anti-Adrian in the Vampire Academy series. What was wrong with me? I mean, I know was Rose/Dimitri all the way, but still, Adrian is awesome! I think I fall more and more in love with him with every word that comes out of his mouth now. The banter between him and Sydney sparkles with intelligence, tension and serious attraction: it’s fantastic. I just found myself wishing that Sydney would give in and admit that she had feelings for Adrian. It was so obvious...

Sydney’s refusal to admit her feelings for the infuriating Moroi were probably one of the last threads of her Alchemist teachings. She’s grown and changed so much over the last three books and so have her beliefs. Her opinions on things like magic, her life task, vampires, duty and love were iron-clad before she met Jill, Eddie and Adrian and now she’s almost turned full-circle. Though her discovery f her feminine wiles and the effect of them was definitely a highlight of her learning curve in The Indigo Spell – brilliant. That’s not to say that she doesn’t do and say things that hark back to those originals beliefs occasionally and really frustrate me.

The finalising of all this change in Sydney in this book is partly connected to all of the mysterious posts going around the US blogs about Marcus Finch. I felt a little smug as I’d already read the book about half-way through this campaign, but I still think it was a brilliant idea. I didn’t really trust Marcus and Sabrina. I was expecting Richelle Mead to turn it around in a horrific, soul destroying ending with The Indigo Spell being the third book in the series, and you know, Shadow Kiss. I still have the emotional scars from that book. Thankfully, a different route was taken.

I loved the deeper insight we got in to the world of the Alchemists that we got because of Marcus’s involvement. I couldn’t even equate that sort of life with Sydney anymore and I can’t wait for something extremely dramatic to happen that brings them all down. I just hope everyone will get out alive and in one piece...

I loved everything about The Indigo Spell, especially the ending, and I’m already counting down the days until The Fiery Heart is released. Ah, so good!

Thank you to Penguin for providing me with a review copy.

Sophie