Shiirleyy's Bookshelf has migrated to Dear Shirley ! I will continue to post book reviews but there will also be a lot of personal and travel-related posts :)

Review: The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

5 Feb 2013

The Indigo Spell
by Richelle Mead
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Release Date: February 12th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 448 pages

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 aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she struggles to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she finally tracks down the elusive, enigmatic Marcus Finch – a former Alchemist who the organisation denies exists, and who lives in shadows, on the run. With Marcus's help, Sydney realises that the group she's been loyal to her whole life has been hiding the truth from her. Is it possible that her golden lily tattoo might have more power over her than she thinks? 

 As she struggles to come to terms with what that might mean, Sydney is compelled to use her growing magical powers to track down an evil magic user who is targeting powerful young witches. Using magic goes against everything she always thought she believed, but she realises that her only hope is to embrace her special blood – or else she might be next. 

 Forging her own way is harder than Sydney ever dreamed. Maybe by turning off her brain – and following her heart – she'll be able to finally figure out where she belongs. 

 The hotly anticipated third installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series.



Richelle Mead never fails to impress me. There’s something so addictive about everything she writes, and I always, without fail, read every single one of her books in one sitting because…I JUST CAN’T STOP READING. I say this again and again- no series can surpass the brilliance of the Vampire Academy series- but, I’m certainly enjoying her new spin-off series a lot more as each new book becomes released J

I’ve noticed Ms Mead is a master at crafting multiple complex plotlines in her books, and somehow seamlessly makes them work. Usually more than one storyline becomes confusing for me, but in The Indigo Spell, I didn’t mind it at all! Sydney (the poor girl!) has her hands full in every book; at this particular time, she’s being coerced into performing magic by her teacher and then has to set out to investigate and stop the perpetrator behind a series of mysterious magic-related occurrences where the victims are left comatose and decades older. (Which, she does with the help of our favourite Adrian Ivashkov<3) Then, there’s also the mystery of finding out who Marcus Finch is and Sydney’s own doubts about the Alchemists. It must’ve been difficult to keep a balance between the two core storylines, but I found it was executed wonderfully!

As for my favourite part of the book? SYDRIAN<3333 I LOVE THESE TWO! Adrian continues to entertain readers with his humour, wit and sarcasm. He’s cut back on drinking and smoking (all thanks to Sydney’s influence!) and of course, he’s deliciously sexy as ever. Meanwhile Sydney continues to fight her love rapidly developing feelings for Adrian, which was both amusing and a little...tiresome. I mean they have off the charts chemistry, so just GET TOGETHER ALREADY! That aside, I did like how Sydney finally started seeing the Alchemists from an objective perspective and believe it or not, our previously uptight and rule-abiding heroine may be a little rebellious after all! Anyway, some of my favourite moments involving these two include dancing, high-calory food terms of endearment, PAINT AND T-SHIRTS (*squeals and hyperventilate*), a Callistana annddddd a certain Greek and Roman art museum! Be sure to look out for those scenes when/if you read the book J

A small issue (well, not really an issue but I wasn’t very satisfied) I had was Marcus Finch’s character. You see, Marcus Finch was this unknown and to me, a highly respected mystery-character, and I had high expectations for him. Added to this, there’s been all these “Who Is Marcus Finch” posts on blogs almost every day, so you’d probably expect some huge twist when his character is revealed. Yet when he finally made an appearance, it seemed as easy as introducing all the other secondary characters who waltzed into the story…and honestly, Marcus Finch’s character isn’t exciting or extraordinary in any way. He just strikes me as conceited and a little…cowardly. *shrugs* But that’s just me.

I said this in my The Golden Lily review as well; I don’t want Eddie and Jill to be together. I still don’t like Jill and doubt I ever will. Here’s hoping I won’t dislike her anymore than I already do in the next few books….

All in all, this is another masterpiece from our beloved Richelle Mead! The Fiery Heart needs to be released. NOW.

 A massive thank you to Penguin Australia for providing a copy of  The Indigo Spell for review! 

12 comments:

  1. I knew it! I knew Marcus Finch was being hyped up for no reason! Mwahaha I'm so glad I never liked him. I think the publisher was trying to distract us away from Sydrian with the summary and the Marcus campaign. Sneaky sneaky... ;)

    Cannot wait to get my Sydrian fix! <3 Wonderful review!

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  2. SYDRIAN FOREVER FOREVER FOREVER! But damn that Marcus. God. Everyone was going on and on about him and I was SO excited to meet him because I was hoping for another hottie but . . . he was a total downer for me in this book. Pfft. He was kind of a weak character come to think of it.

    Then there's Jill . . . oh my god she is a character I liked in the VA books but in this spin-off series . . . I have just always found her annoying and she's always interrupting what could have been an amazing scene between Syd and Adrian. Argh. I don't want her and Eddie to get together. I forbid it. Hehe.

    Anyway lovely review, Shirley! I'm glad you loved this book. Bring on book 4! I mean that end . . . so torturous.

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  3. SYDRIAN!!! Hahahah love it:) I need to read this series Shirley! I've put it off since I loved VA so much and I've been worried it just won't live up, and while it does seem to play second fiddle to VA, it's clearly a fantastic series in its own right. I can imagine the character of Marcus Finch would be a touch disappointing after that epic marketing campaign, hard to live up to a bar set as high as his was! Glad you loved it overall though:):):)

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  4. Marcus Finch is a bit of a let down, then? I think that marketing strategy probably did more harm than good. ;) Anyway, great review, Shirley! You have me REALLY curious about the whole paint and t-shirts thing! I had a rocky start to this series, but I'm willing to give book 2 a try soon. Hopefully it will be enough to convince me to pick this one up too. :)

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  5. Everybody loves every book that Richelle Mead writes!! I havent started the Bloodlines series, but I HAVE TO! Great review!!
    - Farah @ MajiBookshelf

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  6. Okay, I'm officially green with envy here, Shirley!! But I'm also excited to hear you really enjoyed this. OH MY HEART SYDRIAN!!! I hope I don't need to slap that girl so that she sees resistance is futile! (Sorry for all the !!!!s, but I get a little excited with this series) I don't want Eddie and Jill together either. I can't stand her almost as much as I couldn't stand Lissa. Ugh! Still can't stand Lissa. I want Eddie to realize Angela (was that her name?) is the girl for him. Brilliant review. I CAN'T WAIT!! :)

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  7. AHHH You got an ARC of this... LUCKY LUCKY GIRL! I am dying to read this. I adore Adrian and Sydney. Boo to Eddie and Jill. Well that sucks that all this buildup over Marcus and he is really a non factor. That is lame! I am glad though that this disappoint. I am ecstatic since I just got a copy of Richelle's new adult series!

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  8. I'm not reading this review yet, but yay!! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I had mixed feelings about the first two Bloodlines books, so I'm really glad I started feeling some of the magic in this one. :)

    But like I was saying on Twitter...no one's good enough for Adrian.

    Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

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  9. I absolutely adore all this love going around at the minute for this spin off series, once again I'm totally out of the loop as I haven't read this series or Vampire Academy series up yet (shhhhh we will keep this secret just between the two of us!) But I'm glad that this series is still going strong for you! Lovely review! :)

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  10. I'm liking this more wiht each new book as well! I can't wait to discover those scenes you mentioned, and every other Sydney and Adrian moment. My copy was pre-ordered months ago, hopefully TBD won't take too long this time.
    Great review!

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  11. My eyes are literally crossing every time I see a review of this book. I want to read it so much :c Only 4 more days, though!

    Good thing you enjoyed it. And I'm kind of glad I ignored all those "Who is Marcus Finch" posts; good thing I'm not holding high hopes for this guy. But the bits about Sydney and Adrian... now I'm more impatient than I was 5 minutes ago!

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  12. "Reading any book set in the Vampire Academy/Bloodlines world is like coming home" this is so true. This is exactly how I feel when I read one of these books. I totally agree with everything you said...I think I *might* have preferred the Sydrian build up of TGL, but I lovedlovedloved what happened in this book. I definitely think the plot is getting there, was thrown by that ending!! But still not quite there. Cannot wait for TFH!!

    Ronan Valerio (Seattle Criminal Attorneys)

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