Review – The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

• Title: The Indigo Spell
• Author: Richelle Mead
• Series: Bloodlines #3
• Previous Book: The Golden Lily
• Next Book: The Fiery Heart (expected Nov. 19, 2013)
• Source: Personal Purchase

Description from Goodreads:

In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch–a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood–or else she might be next.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, the Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles, and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive—this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone’s out for blood.

Review

This review will contain spoilers for the first two books. If you haven’t read them yet, proceed at your own risk.

*sigh* I think that was another book that had too much hype and build-up for me that I was left to inevitably be let down. Don’t get me wrong. This book was not horrible, or even bad. I actually really enjoyed reading The Indigo Spell, but with all the early reviews, I really expected to be wowed and to LOVE it! Unfortunately, that was not the case.

What I loved about The Indigo Spell, which I have found to be true with most of Richelle Mead’s books, is that it starts off with a bang. It typically isn’t a huge battle or anything, but enough to get the reader interested and the story rolling right away. On the very first page, Sydney is being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night by her teacher, who starts off the whole scene by asking if Sydney’s a virgin. I thought it was hilarious, and it definitely piqued my curiosity as to why someone would be asking her that!

Something that I liked a lot about The Indigo Spell was Sydney’s growth. As I said in my review of Bloodlines, Sydney’s Alchemist upbringing had me rolling my eyes and actually finding myself disliking humans! However, in The Indigo Spell, we really see Sydney start to branch out past what she’s always been taught. She starts to realize that all is not as it seems, so she starts asking questions and forming her own opinions. She still has some annoying moments, but they were far fewer in between. I also really enjoyed seeing her grow into her magical abilities. It’s great to see her using them without the constant fear and paranoia from the earlier books.

Also, as the series goes on, I’m loving Adrian more and more. I’ve said before that I was Team Adrian early on in Vampire Academy, so it’s not hard to make me love him, but I really enjoyed his scenes in The Indigo Spell. Sydney seems to make him a better person, and while he’s still a smart-ass, he also seems much more mature than he did in Vampire Academy.

I didn’t feel like there was a ton of action in The Indigo Spell, as opposed to the first two books in the series, but there was much more romance. The higher romance content seems to be consistent with book 3 of Vampire Academy (Shadow Kiss), however, I felt that Shadow Kiss had a lot more action. I understand that Vampire Academy and Bloodlines are two separate series, but again, a lot of the early reviews I read and I think even tweets from Richelle Mead, hinted that The Indigo Spell would have a similar book-3 feel. In romance, I was highly satisfied. However, I found the whole book leaving me wanting more in regards to action.

The ending left me a little disappointed. There was  a twist at the end that makes me wonder what’s going to happen in the next book, but it didn’t tear my heart out and leave me breathless, which I kind of was expecting due to Shadow Kiss.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed The Indigo Spell but may have set my expectations a little too high. It didn’t completely live up to the hype.

My favorite quote:

“You know,” he said, “under normal circumstances, you inviting me to the bedroom would be the highlight of my day.”

~ Location 1656

Tagged: 4 stars, Bloodlines, paranormal, Penguin, review, Richelle Mead, The Indigo Spell, YA