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Wicked Academia #1
Wicked Academia: Lost Stars
Vivian, Marion, and Timothée Greywick’s father told them one thing before he stay away from the Celestial Academy for Fallen Stars. And they’ve done just that, becoming perfectly respectable members of society with no use for star magic. Never mind that Vivian has a mysterious affliction that her siblings call an illness, but she calls a curse. Marion works at a leech shop and hoards blood for some reason. Never mind that Timothée looks exactly like an ancient god who tormented the world thousands of years ago.
Never mind that on moonless nights, the Greywick siblings glow.
When the triplets accidentally save a prince from a vampire attack, they’re not just the Greywicks anymore. They’re the Lost descendants of the gods, harboring unforetold magic. Now they’re bound for the Celestial Academy for Fallen Stars, whether they like it or not.
A university in the sky. Clouds that rain starlight. Students with terrible magic and worse intentions. The Academy will test not only the triplets' ability to survive, but their loyalty to each other.
Vivian falls for a prince and keeps trying to kill him.
Marion discovers a plot that can topple kingdoms and unseat even a god’s power if she claims it for herself.
And Timothée delves into magic so dark, it has been forbidden for thousands of years.
As the triplets unravel the secrets of the school, they begin to realize their father didn’t want to protect them from the Celestial Academy. He wanted to protect the Academy from them.
One will become a monster. The other, a queen. The last, a god.
Anything is possible at the Celestial Academy for Fallen Stars.
Wicked Academia is a new adult fantasy and contains mature themes with sexual content including mf, mm, and ff scenes in the series. It is intended for adult audiences.
Never mind that on moonless nights, the Greywick siblings glow.
When the triplets accidentally save a prince from a vampire attack, they’re not just the Greywicks anymore. They’re the Lost descendants of the gods, harboring unforetold magic. Now they’re bound for the Celestial Academy for Fallen Stars, whether they like it or not.
A university in the sky. Clouds that rain starlight. Students with terrible magic and worse intentions. The Academy will test not only the triplets' ability to survive, but their loyalty to each other.
Vivian falls for a prince and keeps trying to kill him.
Marion discovers a plot that can topple kingdoms and unseat even a god’s power if she claims it for herself.
And Timothée delves into magic so dark, it has been forbidden for thousands of years.
As the triplets unravel the secrets of the school, they begin to realize their father didn’t want to protect them from the Celestial Academy. He wanted to protect the Academy from them.
One will become a monster. The other, a queen. The last, a god.
Anything is possible at the Celestial Academy for Fallen Stars.
Wicked Academia is a new adult fantasy and contains mature themes with sexual content including mf, mm, and ff scenes in the series. It is intended for adult audiences.
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First published April 27, 2022
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About the author
Jasmine Jenkins
3 books93 followersJasmine Jenkins and Sophie Suliman are sisters who write new adult fantasy. They live in British Columbia, Canada. They love telling stories full of magic, adventure, and romance. When not writing, you can find them exploring the beautiful forests of their home, playing Dungeons & Dragons, or connecting with their amazing readers on social media.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 160 reviews
July 25, 2022
Hi! This is my book Wicked Academia!
💫🌙You can read it here💫🌙
Wicked Academia is a new adult fantasy following the adventures and romances of the students of the Celestial Academy for Fallen Stars. It started as a serialized novel on our website.
Now you can pre-order an e-book, paperback, or hardcover!
Lots of love,
Jasmine!
Socials
TikTok
Insta
Discord
Pre-Order
💫🌙You can read it here💫🌙
Wicked Academia is a new adult fantasy following the adventures and romances of the students of the Celestial Academy for Fallen Stars. It started as a serialized novel on our website.
Now you can pre-order an e-book, paperback, or hardcover!
Lots of love,
Jasmine!
Socials
TikTok
Insta
Discord
Pre-Order
June 18, 2022
1.25/5
I don’t know where to start with this book.
1. The pictures.
I’m all for artists sharing art. I’m also all for art being put into books.
I am however also a strong believer of putting things and designing things where and how they make sense.
This book is genres as adult/mature. The art style is, let’s be honest, middle grade vibes and quite rough/draft-like in my opinion. It’s not the right mindset. Not the right style. If you’re wanting mature vibes, find an artist with the accompanying style.
(From what I gather, the authors drew the art themselves? Some of which are fine, cute, but again, middle grade vibes. Then there are some art pieces that genuinely detracted me from the story that was happening because all I could think about was how this book did not look adult. Please understand that designers and artists are literally trained to receive, interpret and deliver on a brief. If you want these characters, you can bring these sketches and ideas to them and get a final product that is more worthy and succinct with the book that’s being written.)
Also that the art was all the same made it a bit hard for me to picture the characters as I wanted to. Some books I’ve read that have included art tip-ins have had art of the same character is different (but still cohesive) styles which have not been all exactly the same but have also worked to support the book itself, not just be thrown in for the sake of it. Some of the characters descriptions in scenes didn’t even match the images drawn (Marion seemed to be described as a lot fuller than the image drawn of her with Khalid??)
I think that having the pictures at each chapter confused me a lot too; I didn’t picture the triplets the way they’re drawn and I think a small motif would have been nicer designed to represent each triplet (similar to the swashes used to separate sections of text).
2. The story.
As mentioned, the book is meant to be mature adult/new adult fantasy. There are minimal spicy scenes (despite being told there were many), and honestly if you took them out, you’d have the same story but, guess what, it could be middle grade.
The end had some good action scenes, but overall it seemed a bit messy. I think trying to explore storyline’s for each triplet plus the overarching one for the group is difficult and I commend the authors for attempting it. But I do feel that it did not hit the mark. This felt like the kind of book you write as a first draft and sent to some friends and family who are doing you a favour to edit it mainly for spelling and grammar but not for actual content.
Honestly, paired with some of the pictures (cough cough the Dark Prophet?), it brought me back to my high school years – the OG Wattpad style and art style that stays the same for all characters (I mean, back to the art a bit, but all the male characters pictures looked pretty much the same to me?)
It’s a bit predictable. Like soap opera predictable. I’m usually a fan of Insta love but eh, it was a bit over the top. Also there was enemies to lovers pushed for this book but honestly I don’t see it; you might’ve set it up but I don’t think it should be marketed as enemies to lovers like it is. (It also shouldn’t be marketed as spicy; I can count how many spicy scenes there were on one hand. Just saying someone was turned on doesn’t count as spice, it’s just writing for mature audiences. But again could have gone without and still had the same story)
3. The formatting.
Right so this is self published there’s bound to be mistakes in formatting if it wasn’t given to someone to format properly on indesign or something specific for printing but there’s no lack of tips, tricks and tutorials out there that explains the importance of spacing, margins, gutters, drop caps and text alignment.
If you have a massive chapter header, you don’t need drop caps.
If you have drop caps, there needs to be enough minimum space around the drop capped letter that it doesn’t cover any of the surrounding text.
If you’re printing anything that’s going to be bound, your margins need to be further away from the edge AND your gutter margin (the margin on the inside) needs to be waaaay further in then any of the other three sides of the page. This is because once the page is bound, the inner margin is losing space where the pages are close together making it difficult for some to see the inner page to read the text.
If you’re including images, and decide to align you text around images and the lines end up 2 words long, it makes for an unpleasant reading by experience since the rest of the text is full lines. Consider the full page layout or risk wasting a lot of space.
If you’re trying to save space, align your text properly. Do not justify your text in blocks as it creates unnecessary and uneven spacing between letters per line.
Titles that long do not need an image accompanying it. If there’s no other way to name the chapter then consider your type size and the typeface you use.
I only have the print version, I’d assume the digital version is pretty much the same though I’d hope there’s more flexibility with the layout too.
These aren’t things that are hard to fix. But even just getting a design consultant in to look at the file would have been good imo; all these things distracted me from reading the storyline (it might not for others but I’ve studied design and pick up these things a lot more now then before; you might be thinking of your reader as someone who only reads, but you’re also creating something visual too)
Overall, did not live up to the hype.
I don’t know where to start with this book.
1. The pictures.
I’m all for artists sharing art. I’m also all for art being put into books.
I am however also a strong believer of putting things and designing things where and how they make sense.
This book is genres as adult/mature. The art style is, let’s be honest, middle grade vibes and quite rough/draft-like in my opinion. It’s not the right mindset. Not the right style. If you’re wanting mature vibes, find an artist with the accompanying style.
(From what I gather, the authors drew the art themselves? Some of which are fine, cute, but again, middle grade vibes. Then there are some art pieces that genuinely detracted me from the story that was happening because all I could think about was how this book did not look adult. Please understand that designers and artists are literally trained to receive, interpret and deliver on a brief. If you want these characters, you can bring these sketches and ideas to them and get a final product that is more worthy and succinct with the book that’s being written.)
Also that the art was all the same made it a bit hard for me to picture the characters as I wanted to. Some books I’ve read that have included art tip-ins have had art of the same character is different (but still cohesive) styles which have not been all exactly the same but have also worked to support the book itself, not just be thrown in for the sake of it. Some of the characters descriptions in scenes didn’t even match the images drawn (Marion seemed to be described as a lot fuller than the image drawn of her with Khalid??)
I think that having the pictures at each chapter confused me a lot too; I didn’t picture the triplets the way they’re drawn and I think a small motif would have been nicer designed to represent each triplet (similar to the swashes used to separate sections of text).
2. The story.
As mentioned, the book is meant to be mature adult/new adult fantasy. There are minimal spicy scenes (despite being told there were many), and honestly if you took them out, you’d have the same story but, guess what, it could be middle grade.
The end had some good action scenes, but overall it seemed a bit messy. I think trying to explore storyline’s for each triplet plus the overarching one for the group is difficult and I commend the authors for attempting it. But I do feel that it did not hit the mark. This felt like the kind of book you write as a first draft and sent to some friends and family who are doing you a favour to edit it mainly for spelling and grammar but not for actual content.
Honestly, paired with some of the pictures (cough cough the Dark Prophet?), it brought me back to my high school years – the OG Wattpad style and art style that stays the same for all characters (I mean, back to the art a bit, but all the male characters pictures looked pretty much the same to me?)
It’s a bit predictable. Like soap opera predictable. I’m usually a fan of Insta love but eh, it was a bit over the top. Also there was enemies to lovers pushed for this book but honestly I don’t see it; you might’ve set it up but I don’t think it should be marketed as enemies to lovers like it is. (It also shouldn’t be marketed as spicy; I can count how many spicy scenes there were on one hand. Just saying someone was turned on doesn’t count as spice, it’s just writing for mature audiences. But again could have gone without and still had the same story)
3. The formatting.
Right so this is self published there’s bound to be mistakes in formatting if it wasn’t given to someone to format properly on indesign or something specific for printing but there’s no lack of tips, tricks and tutorials out there that explains the importance of spacing, margins, gutters, drop caps and text alignment.
If you have a massive chapter header, you don’t need drop caps.
If you have drop caps, there needs to be enough minimum space around the drop capped letter that it doesn’t cover any of the surrounding text.
If you’re printing anything that’s going to be bound, your margins need to be further away from the edge AND your gutter margin (the margin on the inside) needs to be waaaay further in then any of the other three sides of the page. This is because once the page is bound, the inner margin is losing space where the pages are close together making it difficult for some to see the inner page to read the text.
If you’re including images, and decide to align you text around images and the lines end up 2 words long, it makes for an unpleasant reading by experience since the rest of the text is full lines. Consider the full page layout or risk wasting a lot of space.
If you’re trying to save space, align your text properly. Do not justify your text in blocks as it creates unnecessary and uneven spacing between letters per line.
Titles that long do not need an image accompanying it. If there’s no other way to name the chapter then consider your type size and the typeface you use.
I only have the print version, I’d assume the digital version is pretty much the same though I’d hope there’s more flexibility with the layout too.
These aren’t things that are hard to fix. But even just getting a design consultant in to look at the file would have been good imo; all these things distracted me from reading the storyline (it might not for others but I’ve studied design and pick up these things a lot more now then before; you might be thinking of your reader as someone who only reads, but you’re also creating something visual too)
Overall, did not live up to the hype.
April 11, 2022
A wonderful new adult, fantasy web serial updated weekly from authors Jasmine Jenkins and Sophie Suliman.
This series follows the Greywick triplets (Vivian, Marion, and Timothé) after they accidentally save the prince and his friends from danger. Shortly after the triplets soon learn that they aren't who they thought they were and they are in fact the Lost Star Children. Before he passed their father warned them to stay away from the Celestial Academy for Fallen Stars, but upon learning their identities thats exactly where they're heading.
There is a little bit of everything here for most readers: a fantastical world, adventure, romance, dark secrets, blood, and whimsy. I look forward to following the series as it continues to develop and highly suggest everyone check it out.
This series follows the Greywick triplets (Vivian, Marion, and Timothé) after they accidentally save the prince and his friends from danger. Shortly after the triplets soon learn that they aren't who they thought they were and they are in fact the Lost Star Children. Before he passed their father warned them to stay away from the Celestial Academy for Fallen Stars, but upon learning their identities thats exactly where they're heading.
There is a little bit of everything here for most readers: a fantastical world, adventure, romance, dark secrets, blood, and whimsy. I look forward to following the series as it continues to develop and highly suggest everyone check it out.
March 25, 2022
This book really exceeded my expectations 😮
I absolutely love the world building, along with the three houses, Morning Star, Evening Star and Dark Star 👀👀
I especially love the characters 🥰 they were delightful to read about along with some of the side characters 🤌
Definitely recommended 😍
I absolutely love the world building, along with the three houses, Morning Star, Evening Star and Dark Star 👀👀
I especially love the characters 🥰 they were delightful to read about along with some of the side characters 🤌
Definitely recommended 😍
Read
January 15, 2022Hi everyone!
This is my book Wicked Academia: Lost Stars!
If you've been following us on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or from our Discord, thank you for coming here! If you're new, welcome!
We are so excited to announce we are releasing our first official book in the Wicked Academia series, Wicked Academia: Lost Stars!
This first book in the series follows the adventures and romances of the Greywick triplets as they discover they are actually the descendants of the gods and must travel to the mysterious Celestial Academy for Fallen Stars to claim star magic of their own.
And just to complicate things, Vivian falls in love with a prince who hates vampires (LIKE A LOT). She so happens to love drinking blood (LIKE A LOT).
Marion needs to save her family before her sister starts eating people alive, and her only hope is a silver-tongued revolutionary who could charm the pants off a god...which she so happens to be.
And Timothée discovers he looks an awful lot like a god of destruction who brought the world to its knees thousands of years ago. Oh, yeah, and the school's castle keeps talking to him. At least he's making friends...not. The first person he meets at the Academy is a too-handsome-to-be-real academic prodigy who only wants to torment him.
And there's spice. Lots of spice.
You can pre-order the book here:
https://www.wickedacademia.com/pre-order
You belong among the stars ✨ See you at the Celestial Academy!
This is my book Wicked Academia: Lost Stars!
If you've been following us on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or from our Discord, thank you for coming here! If you're new, welcome!
We are so excited to announce we are releasing our first official book in the Wicked Academia series, Wicked Academia: Lost Stars!
This first book in the series follows the adventures and romances of the Greywick triplets as they discover they are actually the descendants of the gods and must travel to the mysterious Celestial Academy for Fallen Stars to claim star magic of their own.
And just to complicate things, Vivian falls in love with a prince who hates vampires (LIKE A LOT). She so happens to love drinking blood (LIKE A LOT).
Marion needs to save her family before her sister starts eating people alive, and her only hope is a silver-tongued revolutionary who could charm the pants off a god...which she so happens to be.
And Timothée discovers he looks an awful lot like a god of destruction who brought the world to its knees thousands of years ago. Oh, yeah, and the school's castle keeps talking to him. At least he's making friends...not. The first person he meets at the Academy is a too-handsome-to-be-real academic prodigy who only wants to torment him.
And there's spice. Lots of spice.
You can pre-order the book here:
https://www.wickedacademia.com/pre-order
You belong among the stars ✨ See you at the Celestial Academy!
July 19, 2022
1.5⭐️
This book was quite disappointing. While it was rated an New Adult Fantasy read, and recommended for readers of Zodiac Academy, I thought it was written more geared for tweens. There were a couple unimportant spicy scenes which I guess brought the rating up, but overall they seemed out of place with the writing and the plot. This book also follows an insta-love trope which makes absolutely no sense. The drawings while enjoyable also add to the childish nature of the book. Overall was unimpressed with the storyline and writing of the book.
This book was quite disappointing. While it was rated an New Adult Fantasy read, and recommended for readers of Zodiac Academy, I thought it was written more geared for tweens. There were a couple unimportant spicy scenes which I guess brought the rating up, but overall they seemed out of place with the writing and the plot. This book also follows an insta-love trope which makes absolutely no sense. The drawings while enjoyable also add to the childish nature of the book. Overall was unimpressed with the storyline and writing of the book.
May 17, 2022
I was sent this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
"Wicked Academia: Lost Stars" was all in all a pretty fun read. The writing was really good and the illustrations are soooo beautiful, but I'm dying to see them in colour! Also, it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year.
The world building is fairly straightforward and easy to understand. There are info. dumps, but for the most part, those didn't bother me too much. I love the magic system and I'm a sucker for books that take place in a magic school. That being said, for a book with "Academia" in the title, it doesn't really have a lot about the school just yet, but I'm intrigued nonetheless. The plot is straightforward, but unremarkable really. There are a couple of scenes that were cool, but the plot felt a bit bland - I'm putting that down to it being the first book though.
The characters in the book are quite likeable, and if there's anything that I adore in stories like this, it's familial bonds. But in all honesty, I didn't find myself getting attached to the triplets, though I'm hopeful I'll become more invested in them as the series goes on. The triplet I feel most connected to is Marion and her fierce desire to protect her family.
Regarding the side characters, again there's a sense of neutrality when it comes to my feelings about them. I like them, don't get me wrong, but none of them really impacted my reading experience. Well, that was until I met Val! He was probably the only character that I felt strong emotions towards. First, I felt immediate dislike, but then when he referred to Rhaemyria as the "sun b*tch", I have to admit I may have fallen in love with him just a little bit.
One of my favourite things about this book is that the representation is pretty good! Of course, I'd want more interaction with the characters that are POC, aside from Khalid as much as I like him, but in general it was quite nice seeing things like the triplets being fed bowls of kheer. As someone who is South Asian, it's little tidbits like the mentioning of kheer that makes me happy!
Now here's where I have a couple of gripes.
Overall, it's a nice introduction to the Wicked Academia world, but I feel like the story is a bit underdeveloped - I just wish it was fleshed out some more. But I'm excited for the rest of the series regardless!
"Wicked Academia: Lost Stars" was all in all a pretty fun read. The writing was really good and the illustrations are soooo beautiful, but I'm dying to see them in colour! Also, it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year.
The world building is fairly straightforward and easy to understand. There are info. dumps, but for the most part, those didn't bother me too much. I love the magic system and I'm a sucker for books that take place in a magic school. That being said, for a book with "Academia" in the title, it doesn't really have a lot about the school just yet, but I'm intrigued nonetheless. The plot is straightforward, but unremarkable really. There are a couple of scenes that were cool, but the plot felt a bit bland - I'm putting that down to it being the first book though.
The characters in the book are quite likeable, and if there's anything that I adore in stories like this, it's familial bonds. But in all honesty, I didn't find myself getting attached to the triplets, though I'm hopeful I'll become more invested in them as the series goes on. The triplet I feel most connected to is Marion and her fierce desire to protect her family.
Regarding the side characters, again there's a sense of neutrality when it comes to my feelings about them. I like them, don't get me wrong, but none of them really impacted my reading experience. Well, that was until I met Val! He was probably the only character that I felt strong emotions towards. First, I felt immediate dislike, but then when he referred to Rhaemyria as the "sun b*tch", I have to admit I may have fallen in love with him just a little bit.
One of my favourite things about this book is that the representation is pretty good! Of course, I'd want more interaction with the characters that are POC, aside from Khalid as much as I like him, but in general it was quite nice seeing things like the triplets being fed bowls of kheer. As someone who is South Asian, it's little tidbits like the mentioning of kheer that makes me happy!
Now here's where I have a couple of gripes.
Overall, it's a nice introduction to the Wicked Academia world, but I feel like the story is a bit underdeveloped - I just wish it was fleshed out some more. But I'm excited for the rest of the series regardless!
August 1, 2022
Rating: 2.5 stars
I feel like this whole book was just a long ass prequel to the actual story. Like nothing really happened.
I feel like this whole book was just a long ass prequel to the actual story. Like nothing really happened.
May 3, 2022
*I was given this book as an ARC on kindle in exchange for an honest review*
I really enjoyed this book. The world building was in depth, and the triplets were interesting and well rounded characters. I loved the multiple points of view (the triplets and a bonus scene from another character).
The authors used a variety of tropes in the book which provides a little something for any reader but also makes certain things somewhat predictable.
I was looking forward to reading the New Adult aspects of the book but honestly they were fairly basic scenes with a lot of build up that didn’t really add to the relationships of the characters or leave anyone feeling satisfied. The book reads more like YA, except for the language and intent during these (few) scenes. I hope the next book allows the characters to explore their desires and relationships more than this one did and lives up to the expectations held for a “New Adult” novel.
Overall I found this book to be engaging, interesting and full of potential, so I look forward to reading the next one!
I really enjoyed this book. The world building was in depth, and the triplets were interesting and well rounded characters. I loved the multiple points of view (the triplets and a bonus scene from another character).
The authors used a variety of tropes in the book which provides a little something for any reader but also makes certain things somewhat predictable.
I was looking forward to reading the New Adult aspects of the book but honestly they were fairly basic scenes with a lot of build up that didn’t really add to the relationships of the characters or leave anyone feeling satisfied. The book reads more like YA, except for the language and intent during these (few) scenes. I hope the next book allows the characters to explore their desires and relationships more than this one did and lives up to the expectations held for a “New Adult” novel.
Overall I found this book to be engaging, interesting and full of potential, so I look forward to reading the next one!
April 23, 2022
I was given an ARC in exchange of an honest review !
Wicked Academia: Lost Stars is the publication of the serialized novel "Wicked Academia" by the same authors. It starts from the beginning and stops when the triplets become students at the academy.
If you're like me and are a reader of the online novel, then great news ! The published book is still worth reading. I'm not sure how it is for people who have access to patreon content but there's a bunch of extra scenes (including spicy ones hehe) that really made a difference for me. I'm thinking in particular about one with Vivian & Darius and especially the ones at the end of the book. It added details that I didn't think were needed but actually were really necessary!!!
Now about the plot itself: I love it. I think it's unique and different from a lot of NA books nowadays. I liked the world building too, it's mostly straight to the point and I didn't feel confused. However I think it's only the beginning and I hope it will be more developped later because there's definitely potential.
I like the 3 main characters. They all have really distinct personalities and are likeable. As a twin, I liked their dynamic: super close but still individuals. It might sound obvious to some, but that's rare to see an accurate representation of multiples' relationship (they too often act nasty to each other or are codependent to a ridiculous extent) and they nailed it !
Side characters need more development though BUT it's only the first book and it takes place in 3 days. The foundations are set in this one and I know they'll be developed later.
For romantic relationships... it's lacking but again, because it takes place in 3 days it's not surprising. In this first book there's one flirt and one insta love relationship. I'm rooting for them, mostly because I read a lot of chapters of the online book. Otherwise I don't like insta love and i wish it would've been more slow burn...
About the pacing, it was good. Nothing special to say about that, I wasn't bored and it wasn't too fast or too slow. There's no fillers (but it's like 200 pages so who's surprised) ? Which is a really good thing.
There's also gorgeous artwork!!! I loved it !!! Please keep putting them in your books. By the way the cover is really pretty as well.
Overall it's a great introduction to the world of Wicked Academia and a great debut novel. I'm only removing 1 star because it's too short. I know I said the pacing is good but 200 pages... I expected more. It really felt like an introduction to me, not like a full first book and maybe it would've been better to "cut" later. Not only so it can be longer, but also because I think it's a bit odd to write a book that only takes place in 3 days... I hope the next book will be twice longer, I'm willing to wait longer for that !
If you like magical schools and are looking for a new NA book to love, I definitely recommend it.
Wicked Academia: Lost Stars is the publication of the serialized novel "Wicked Academia" by the same authors. It starts from the beginning and stops when the triplets become students at the academy.
If you're like me and are a reader of the online novel, then great news ! The published book is still worth reading. I'm not sure how it is for people who have access to patreon content but there's a bunch of extra scenes (including spicy ones hehe) that really made a difference for me. I'm thinking in particular about one with Vivian & Darius and especially the ones at the end of the book. It added details that I didn't think were needed but actually were really necessary!!!
Now about the plot itself: I love it. I think it's unique and different from a lot of NA books nowadays. I liked the world building too, it's mostly straight to the point and I didn't feel confused. However I think it's only the beginning and I hope it will be more developped later because there's definitely potential.
I like the 3 main characters. They all have really distinct personalities and are likeable. As a twin, I liked their dynamic: super close but still individuals. It might sound obvious to some, but that's rare to see an accurate representation of multiples' relationship (they too often act nasty to each other or are codependent to a ridiculous extent) and they nailed it !
Side characters need more development though BUT it's only the first book and it takes place in 3 days. The foundations are set in this one and I know they'll be developed later.
For romantic relationships... it's lacking but again, because it takes place in 3 days it's not surprising. In this first book there's one flirt and one insta love relationship. I'm rooting for them, mostly because I read a lot of chapters of the online book. Otherwise I don't like insta love and i wish it would've been more slow burn...
About the pacing, it was good. Nothing special to say about that, I wasn't bored and it wasn't too fast or too slow. There's no fillers (but it's like 200 pages so who's surprised) ? Which is a really good thing.
There's also gorgeous artwork!!! I loved it !!! Please keep putting them in your books. By the way the cover is really pretty as well.
Overall it's a great introduction to the world of Wicked Academia and a great debut novel. I'm only removing 1 star because it's too short. I know I said the pacing is good but 200 pages... I expected more. It really felt like an introduction to me, not like a full first book and maybe it would've been better to "cut" later. Not only so it can be longer, but also because I think it's a bit odd to write a book that only takes place in 3 days... I hope the next book will be twice longer, I'm willing to wait longer for that !
If you like magical schools and are looking for a new NA book to love, I definitely recommend it.
May 3, 2022
I was graciously provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
First of all, I want to start this review by saying that, in spite of my rating, I did very much enjoy my read of Wicked Academia. I had first stumbled on the story through tiktok sometime last year, and spent hours getting lost in their fantastically put together website. Due to unforeseen events, I was unable to keep up with reading the serial as it was released, and so when it came time to read the published work I jumped at the chance, and I remain glad that I did.
The lore and the world building crafted in this series is truly where it shines. It has just enough familiarity and delicious trope-y goodness (the swallowing stars immediately bringing to mind the iconic scene in Studio Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle, and the gods having a distinctly Final Fantasy-esque edge to them) without being overburdened with references to keep lovers of those things hooked, me included. It is fun, original, and deeply fascinating. The parts of the story where the lore was delved into in depth were some of my favorites, and there are elements of the story that have me buzzing with theories and questions. Overall, it is a wonderful fantasy tale.
My first criticism, however, comes along-side the double edged sword of those well loved fantasy tropes. Our initial introductions to both characters and love interests felt very rushed and painfully predictable. It necessitates, but the level of affection between Darius and Vivian especially, feels almost unwarranted despite the insistence of Fate playing part.
The Greywick triplets are perfectly lovely characters, though I did feel at times that they war between their desires as characters and these YA-esque tropes in which they are cast. Part of this is on purpose, of course, as they fight against their natures to come out the other side stronger than before, but it doesn't stop the brief bouts of growth they experience through the narrative to be stifled by Vivian being The Waifish One and Marion being The Stubborn One and Timothée just sort of being... There. The moments of Marion's weakness, Vivian's strength, and Timothée's impulsiveness were where they really came into their own. I hope to see more of that as we move into the next part.
Carmilla has yet to do much of anything for me as a character just yet. Finding out that she and Darius had been lovers was not my favorite twist and that's really all I have to say about her as she didn't provide much else to the narrative. Khalid has much more character potential for me, though at the beginning it, once again, felt like a very ham-fisted attempt at him being The Snarky Bad Boy with his convenient, plot-relevant intuition. I found the cuts back and forth from the action to be sure the reader experienced his quips during the fight with the Dark Prophet wholly unnecessary. The kind of thing that I can very clearly see what the authors intended in including, very cinematic, but that fall flat for me in a narrative. I hope that the tensions between him and Darius and their political situation are brought to more light in the next installments, because those were the most interesting things about him for me. All other side characters like Taf are pretty much set dressing and little else.
In addition, and this may just be nitpicking on my part, but I felt like overall the whole book could have done with a much heavier editing hand. There were parts that felt very choppy sentence-wise, and the repeated use of a character, like Setviren's, titles or Val's full name, despite us having already been introduced to them, felt very indicative of it having been a serial release. While such things might be necessary to remind the reader of who a character is when it's been several weeks since the last time we saw them, they become clunky when you're reading the narrative as a whole and distract from the truly lovely parts of the writing. These are very little technicalities that I believe, in the hands of a skilled editor, could be eliminated and the reading experience improved and elevated immensely, and while not detrimental to the story as a whole, were pervasive enough that I took note of them every time.
Overall though, I found Wicked Academia to be a thoroughly enjoyable read. If you are a lover of fantasy there will be plenty to revel in in this story. Both the setting and the characters have great amounts of potential, and now that we are sort of through the weeds of the introduction as it were, I have the expectation that the quality will only improve from here. Clearly both authors have a masterful grip of narrative, it is evidenced in how elaborately the world of their gods and the background setting is crafted, and I can't wait to see that reflected in the story of the Greywick triplets as a whole!
First of all, I want to start this review by saying that, in spite of my rating, I did very much enjoy my read of Wicked Academia. I had first stumbled on the story through tiktok sometime last year, and spent hours getting lost in their fantastically put together website. Due to unforeseen events, I was unable to keep up with reading the serial as it was released, and so when it came time to read the published work I jumped at the chance, and I remain glad that I did.
The lore and the world building crafted in this series is truly where it shines. It has just enough familiarity and delicious trope-y goodness (the swallowing stars immediately bringing to mind the iconic scene in Studio Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle, and the gods having a distinctly Final Fantasy-esque edge to them) without being overburdened with references to keep lovers of those things hooked, me included. It is fun, original, and deeply fascinating. The parts of the story where the lore was delved into in depth were some of my favorites, and there are elements of the story that have me buzzing with theories and questions. Overall, it is a wonderful fantasy tale.
My first criticism, however, comes along-side the double edged sword of those well loved fantasy tropes. Our initial introductions to both characters and love interests felt very rushed and painfully predictable. It necessitates, but the level of affection between Darius and Vivian especially, feels almost unwarranted despite the insistence of Fate playing part.
The Greywick triplets are perfectly lovely characters, though I did feel at times that they war between their desires as characters and these YA-esque tropes in which they are cast. Part of this is on purpose, of course, as they fight against their natures to come out the other side stronger than before, but it doesn't stop the brief bouts of growth they experience through the narrative to be stifled by Vivian being The Waifish One and Marion being The Stubborn One and Timothée just sort of being... There. The moments of Marion's weakness, Vivian's strength, and Timothée's impulsiveness were where they really came into their own. I hope to see more of that as we move into the next part.
Carmilla has yet to do much of anything for me as a character just yet. Finding out that she and Darius had been lovers was not my favorite twist and that's really all I have to say about her as she didn't provide much else to the narrative. Khalid has much more character potential for me, though at the beginning it, once again, felt like a very ham-fisted attempt at him being The Snarky Bad Boy with his convenient, plot-relevant intuition. I found the cuts back and forth from the action to be sure the reader experienced his quips during the fight with the Dark Prophet wholly unnecessary. The kind of thing that I can very clearly see what the authors intended in including, very cinematic, but that fall flat for me in a narrative. I hope that the tensions between him and Darius and their political situation are brought to more light in the next installments, because those were the most interesting things about him for me. All other side characters like Taf are pretty much set dressing and little else.
In addition, and this may just be nitpicking on my part, but I felt like overall the whole book could have done with a much heavier editing hand. There were parts that felt very choppy sentence-wise, and the repeated use of a character, like Setviren's, titles or Val's full name, despite us having already been introduced to them, felt very indicative of it having been a serial release. While such things might be necessary to remind the reader of who a character is when it's been several weeks since the last time we saw them, they become clunky when you're reading the narrative as a whole and distract from the truly lovely parts of the writing. These are very little technicalities that I believe, in the hands of a skilled editor, could be eliminated and the reading experience improved and elevated immensely, and while not detrimental to the story as a whole, were pervasive enough that I took note of them every time.
Overall though, I found Wicked Academia to be a thoroughly enjoyable read. If you are a lover of fantasy there will be plenty to revel in in this story. Both the setting and the characters have great amounts of potential, and now that we are sort of through the weeds of the introduction as it were, I have the expectation that the quality will only improve from here. Clearly both authors have a masterful grip of narrative, it is evidenced in how elaborately the world of their gods and the background setting is crafted, and I can't wait to see that reflected in the story of the Greywick triplets as a whole!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 19, 2023
Interesting elements
Rounding up to 4 because it's a debut. This had some really interesting elements, however I had a couple of issues. One was the art scattered throughout the book (the cover art while making it appear YA, was fine). For me, it pulled me out of the novel and detracted from the experience. I'm extremely visual, so it was hard to ignore it and stay with the story. The second was that there are some really promising elements and threads to this story, but I think they could have been spaced out a bit better with some of them developed more and over the course of several novels. There are certain things like the myths, the religious & political structures, along with the whole star-swallowing & associated characteristics that I want to know more about and wish there was a bit more world building up front - but keep in mind I'm a reader who loves all the details. I do like each of the Greywick triplets & want to find out what's in store for them next. I would have like more of a slow-burn on the relationships. I definitely got the vibe that the authors must play DnD.
I'm going to give the next book a go, because I'm intrigued about certain aspects and would like to know what happens to each of the Greywick children.
Rounding up to 4 because it's a debut. This had some really interesting elements, however I had a couple of issues. One was the art scattered throughout the book (the cover art while making it appear YA, was fine). For me, it pulled me out of the novel and detracted from the experience. I'm extremely visual, so it was hard to ignore it and stay with the story. The second was that there are some really promising elements and threads to this story, but I think they could have been spaced out a bit better with some of them developed more and over the course of several novels. There are certain things like the myths, the religious & political structures, along with the whole star-swallowing & associated characteristics that I want to know more about and wish there was a bit more world building up front - but keep in mind I'm a reader who loves all the details. I do like each of the Greywick triplets & want to find out what's in store for them next. I would have like more of a slow-burn on the relationships. I definitely got the vibe that the authors must play DnD.
I'm going to give the next book a go, because I'm intrigued about certain aspects and would like to know what happens to each of the Greywick children.
April 17, 2022
*Note: I was given an ARC for an honest review
This book has been sitting in my Goodreads TBR for too long, so when I saw the opportunity to get an ARC I jumped.
Wicked Academia is a very well written fantasy book, with well-written characters.
I liked how it slowly built up to the triplets going to the Celestial Academy, and didn't rush into it, like many other fantasy books.
This created a good atmosphere and you really get to know the characters.
The triplets are each so unique and different, completing each other. Marion is a traumatised, sweet girl who takes a lot of responsibility, Vivian is sweet and romantic, and Timothee deserves to be wrapped in a blanket because he is stepped on too much.
I am not a fan of a romance, love at first sight and all that, but I am lenient towards the enemies to lovers/love hate trope, like Khalid and Marion's relationship. They have me rooting for them like British lads at Wembley, and THAT ONE SCENE! I was reading it on the Underground and my face went like :-O.
Darius and Vivian are so pure and cute, and it's easy to see where their dynamic is going.
I thought the book was going to continue past the Star Ceremony (which held me on edge till all of them swallowed their stars) and I want more: I am glad the sequel is being released soon.
Well executed world, well built relationships and friends, and well thought of magic. I can see the world and the society was thoroughly planned to the smallest details, and so were the characters.
In the future sequels I would like to read more of the original story of the Gods, and about the triplets' father/kidnapper??
I enjoyed this very much and I am excited for the sequels. 10/10
This book has been sitting in my Goodreads TBR for too long, so when I saw the opportunity to get an ARC I jumped.
Wicked Academia is a very well written fantasy book, with well-written characters.
I liked how it slowly built up to the triplets going to the Celestial Academy, and didn't rush into it, like many other fantasy books.
This created a good atmosphere and you really get to know the characters.
The triplets are each so unique and different, completing each other. Marion is a traumatised, sweet girl who takes a lot of responsibility, Vivian is sweet and romantic, and Timothee deserves to be wrapped in a blanket because he is stepped on too much.
I am not a fan of a romance, love at first sight and all that, but I am lenient towards the enemies to lovers/love hate trope, like Khalid and Marion's relationship. They have me rooting for them like British lads at Wembley, and THAT ONE SCENE! I was reading it on the Underground and my face went like :-O.
Darius and Vivian are so pure and cute, and it's easy to see where their dynamic is going.
I thought the book was going to continue past the Star Ceremony (which held me on edge till all of them swallowed their stars) and I want more: I am glad the sequel is being released soon.
Well executed world, well built relationships and friends, and well thought of magic. I can see the world and the society was thoroughly planned to the smallest details, and so were the characters.
In the future sequels I would like to read more of the original story of the Gods, and about the triplets' father/kidnapper??
I enjoyed this very much and I am excited for the sequels. 10/10
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 8, 2022
STUNNING.AMAZING.WONDERFUL
A magic school on a floating island, not one but three romances, characters you can’t help but love, and beautiful sibling relationships? What more could you ask for?
I absolutely ADORED this book. It was an adventure from start to finish. I can’t even explain the felling it me. The characters? The world? The magic? Amazing!!
The setting was so whimsical and interesting and the magic system was unlike anything I’ve read before, I could not get enough.
My only qualm—if I can really even call it that, was that at times, certain relationships felt a bit insta love-y BUT I loved the characters and their romances so much that I ended up not even caring that much about the insta love (which I normally cannot stand in books).
I’ve been interested in this story for awhile but decided to wait until it was published rather than check out the weekly chapters, WHAT MISTAKE THAT WAS.
I’m so mad at myself that I could of had this in my life months ago.
I read this as an ebook but I loved this book so much that I’m buying a physical copy.
Cannot wait to get my hands on book 2—even tho I’ll definitely be diving into the weekly chapters ASAP.
I think it goes without saying, I completely recommend this book!
A magic school on a floating island, not one but three romances, characters you can’t help but love, and beautiful sibling relationships? What more could you ask for?
I absolutely ADORED this book. It was an adventure from start to finish. I can’t even explain the felling it me. The characters? The world? The magic? Amazing!!
The setting was so whimsical and interesting and the magic system was unlike anything I’ve read before, I could not get enough.
My only qualm—if I can really even call it that, was that at times, certain relationships felt a bit insta love-y BUT I loved the characters and their romances so much that I ended up not even caring that much about the insta love (which I normally cannot stand in books).
I’ve been interested in this story for awhile but decided to wait until it was published rather than check out the weekly chapters, WHAT MISTAKE THAT WAS.
I’m so mad at myself that I could of had this in my life months ago.
I read this as an ebook but I loved this book so much that I’m buying a physical copy.
Cannot wait to get my hands on book 2—even tho I’ll definitely be diving into the weekly chapters ASAP.
I think it goes without saying, I completely recommend this book!
April 28, 2022
Loved It!
I really enjoyed the story and all of the characters introduced so far. I was happy with the world building and how it was written into the story without slowing things down or stopping the narrative.
There were also so many moments throughout the book that caught my attention, hinting at past events or foreshadowing future ones, and has me looking forward to the next book to see those things being elaborated on.
The only thing that threw me off at first was the pacing with all the POV changes. Each chapter was from a different siblings POV and while I do like that the perspective of all three MCs is shown relatively equally; it took me a few chapters to really get into the story.
Each of the siblings had interesting personalities and motivations throughout and their interactions with others were never dull. I really enjoyed their different experiences within the same story.
Overall Lost Stars was a great introduction to the world of Wicked Academia and a solid set up for some amazing adventures following Timothée, Marion and Vivian in the books to follow.
I really enjoyed the story and all of the characters introduced so far. I was happy with the world building and how it was written into the story without slowing things down or stopping the narrative.
There were also so many moments throughout the book that caught my attention, hinting at past events or foreshadowing future ones, and has me looking forward to the next book to see those things being elaborated on.
The only thing that threw me off at first was the pacing with all the POV changes. Each chapter was from a different siblings POV and while I do like that the perspective of all three MCs is shown relatively equally; it took me a few chapters to really get into the story.
Each of the siblings had interesting personalities and motivations throughout and their interactions with others were never dull. I really enjoyed their different experiences within the same story.
Overall Lost Stars was a great introduction to the world of Wicked Academia and a solid set up for some amazing adventures following Timothée, Marion and Vivian in the books to follow.
September 4, 2022
I'm not even going to lie to you—this was a mess. In fact, I'll lay it out simply and hopefully never speak about this book again:
Dull, flat characters.
A focus entirely on insta-love romance with no development or care.
Boring?
No plot.
Etcetera.
Just don't read it.
(Also, unrelated, but this was supposed to be adult, but I've read middle grade books more mature than this. A few randomly placed metaphors for sex does not an adult book make.)
Dull, flat characters.
A focus entirely on insta-love romance with no development or care.
Boring?
No plot.
Etcetera.
Just don't read it.
(Also, unrelated, but this was supposed to be adult, but I've read middle grade books more mature than this. A few randomly placed metaphors for sex does not an adult book make.)
July 24, 2022
What is up with the horrid pictures? Reminds me of children’s books. Poorly written. Boring. So many “tropes” it’s ridiculous. Supposed to be adult but written like it is for tweens. Do not waste your time.
September 16, 2022
DNF @ 62%.
The only thing that makes this book for adults is the randomly placed “spicy” scenes. Without those, you could have told me this was a middle-grade book and I would have believed you.
The only thing that makes this book for adults is the randomly placed “spicy” scenes. Without those, you could have told me this was a middle-grade book and I would have believed you.
April 26, 2022
I was sent an ARC of this book (I read it before getting the arc, when it was online if that changes anything)
I first heard about this book on the good old tiktok. I usually have issues getting invested in new books because I don't get attached to characters quickly but it wasn't a problem here. the characters are loveable and easy to form connections with. the story is also really intriguing and the world building wonderful. it does not take long to be sucked into this wonderful world. and that ending.....when is the second book coming out I beg???
the only thing I have to say about the book is that it felt more like a YA book than an adult one except for certain scenes you wouldn't see in adult books. I hope this will change in the following books.
Overall I would recommend this book to anyone looking to escape the real world and who enjoy fantasy.
I first heard about this book on the good old tiktok. I usually have issues getting invested in new books because I don't get attached to characters quickly but it wasn't a problem here. the characters are loveable and easy to form connections with. the story is also really intriguing and the world building wonderful. it does not take long to be sucked into this wonderful world. and that ending.....when is the second book coming out I beg???
the only thing I have to say about the book is that it felt more like a YA book than an adult one except for certain scenes you wouldn't see in adult books. I hope this will change in the following books.
Overall I would recommend this book to anyone looking to escape the real world and who enjoy fantasy.
February 27, 2023
Okay, this is a solid 3/5. Cons: There is a lot of world building in this book (almost too much), and the characters do not even get their powers until the very end. Pros: I enjoyed the difference in personalities, and the building conflict between magic, politics, and religion. I particularly loved the Cinnamon role character, Timothee. But honestly, the ending of this book really kind of made it for me, and I absolutely will be picking up the second book in the series because of it.
August 16, 2022
So this book was recommended to me as 'a queer friendly, harry potter like story' and it totally is, i loved reading it! Great story, great characters and well written spicy scenes. I'm looking forward to the next part.
May 23, 2022
It was really cute, and i cant wait to know what will happen next :)
June 2, 2023
I really couldn’t get into the book. Only the final chapters were intriguing enough for me to give it 3 stars. Have not decided yet if I wanna continue on with the series.
November 22, 2023
This book was fine, it did take a while to get to anything really happening though. That might have been because almost everything was read about 3 times from each of the triplets pov’s
Anyway, I’ll probably read the next one just for Khalid and Marion and Timothée and Val. If Vivian and Darius could drop off the face of the earth tho that’d be great
Anyway, I’ll probably read the next one just for Khalid and Marion and Timothée and Val. If Vivian and Darius could drop off the face of the earth tho that’d be great
June 2, 2022
Wicked Academia Saga #1: Lost Stars by Jasmine Jenkins and Sophie Suliman is getting 5 / 5 stars from me.
I want to thank Jasmine Jenkins, Sophie Suliman, and Luna Fox Press for giving me an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. I would like to apologize for how late I got it in.
Thoughts: Wicked Academia Saga #1: Lost Stars is an amazing book filled with adventure, romance, fantasy, mystery, and some sexual content for the hornier readers. It is reminiscent of the late 2000s/early 2010s YA books and includes drawings of characters and scenes like a children’s picture book – something I believe should be more common in YA and NA literature. The entire time I was reading, I was unable to put Lost Stars down. It was just so good – switching povs between the triplets, the build-up, the little mysteries and hints interwoven into the book, the art, the descriptions of characters and places. There was so much going for this book and it left you wanting more by the end, especially with that last scene concerning Timothee.
Themes, Tropes, & Warnings: Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Violence, Explicit Sexual Content, Blood, Murder, Discrimination, War, Parental Death, LGBTQ+, Vampires, Magic, Bullying, Magic Academy, Children of Gods, Multiple POVs
Reviewed under RosesandSundragons16 @ Amazon, Goodreads, Instagram, and StoryGraph.
I want to thank Jasmine Jenkins, Sophie Suliman, and Luna Fox Press for giving me an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. I would like to apologize for how late I got it in.
Thoughts: Wicked Academia Saga #1: Lost Stars is an amazing book filled with adventure, romance, fantasy, mystery, and some sexual content for the hornier readers. It is reminiscent of the late 2000s/early 2010s YA books and includes drawings of characters and scenes like a children’s picture book – something I believe should be more common in YA and NA literature. The entire time I was reading, I was unable to put Lost Stars down. It was just so good – switching povs between the triplets, the build-up, the little mysteries and hints interwoven into the book, the art, the descriptions of characters and places. There was so much going for this book and it left you wanting more by the end, especially with that last scene concerning Timothee.
Themes, Tropes, & Warnings: Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Violence, Explicit Sexual Content, Blood, Murder, Discrimination, War, Parental Death, LGBTQ+, Vampires, Magic, Bullying, Magic Academy, Children of Gods, Multiple POVs
Reviewed under RosesandSundragons16 @ Amazon, Goodreads, Instagram, and StoryGraph.
April 25, 2022
An ARC of this book was provided to me in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
——————————————————————————————-
Title: Lost Stars (Wicked Academia #1)
Author: Jasmine Jenkins & Sophie Suliman
———————————————————————————————
The concept laid out here is really cool and interesting. I found this book to be very full of promise, and yet there was something not quite fulfilled here. It feels like there was more story to be told before this first volume of the series concluded. Across the plot, the characters, and the world building, I felt like there was so much richness swirling just under the surface, but they just did not quite come to the fore.
I am very much in love with the concept of “magical college”, but that just didn’t come through in this story. We learned a little about the world and the rules of magic, but otherwise there wasn’t a lot of world building. The pacing of the novel was also a bit strange: I feel like the story ended in the middle, but not in the way a story is part of a larger series. This felt like the first half of Book 1, and we are missing the second half.
The characters felt very archetypal and two dimensional. Their motivations are simplistic- Marion is the waspish mom, Vivian is cursed and sick, and Timothée is a foolish romantic. The backstory provided for the triplets felt flat. I failed to connect with any of them on a deeper level. Without spoiling the story, the only moment where I could see a glimpse of further meaningful development is during Vivian’s trial.
Things I disliked:
1) Insta-love. Hate that trope. Insta-attraction and insta-connection, sure! Those are fine, and more realistic. Marion and Khalid’s immediate attraction and Timothée and Val’s instant hate-like connection are more realistic. But Vivian and Darius falling in love at first sight? I like them as characters and I can see them together, but to have them be in love immediately ruined their relationship for me. I can see if their instant attraction was the foundation for the development of a bond that became a relationship that had to battle through Vivian’s curse and Darius’ prejudice. But I’m a firm believer in letting love grow over time.
Things I loved:
1) The illustrations were very beautiful, and it’s a refreshing concept to do some illustration of an adult novel.
2) I liked that this was fantasy geared for a new adult audience - there’s a dearth of these stories for this specific age group, and I’m glad more inroads are being made on this genre/age intersection.
3) The queer representation and normalization was pretty good. I appreciate that one of the leads is openly pansexual (assuming they’re pan until told otherwise). I will say that I found that having the only two overtly queer characters both be associated with the “dark and evil” house was a touch problematic, but I’m going withhold judgement on that because I don’t want to “Slytherin-ize” the Dark Stars.
I think I will read the second book in the series, because what “Lost Stars” has set up here has piqued my interest enough to carry on with the next book. I hope we’ll finally drill down further into the richer contexts that I know are there.
——————————————————————————————-
Title: Lost Stars (Wicked Academia #1)
Author: Jasmine Jenkins & Sophie Suliman
———————————————————————————————
The concept laid out here is really cool and interesting. I found this book to be very full of promise, and yet there was something not quite fulfilled here. It feels like there was more story to be told before this first volume of the series concluded. Across the plot, the characters, and the world building, I felt like there was so much richness swirling just under the surface, but they just did not quite come to the fore.
I am very much in love with the concept of “magical college”, but that just didn’t come through in this story. We learned a little about the world and the rules of magic, but otherwise there wasn’t a lot of world building. The pacing of the novel was also a bit strange: I feel like the story ended in the middle, but not in the way a story is part of a larger series. This felt like the first half of Book 1, and we are missing the second half.
The characters felt very archetypal and two dimensional. Their motivations are simplistic- Marion is the waspish mom, Vivian is cursed and sick, and Timothée is a foolish romantic. The backstory provided for the triplets felt flat. I failed to connect with any of them on a deeper level. Without spoiling the story, the only moment where I could see a glimpse of further meaningful development is during Vivian’s trial.
Things I disliked:
1) Insta-love. Hate that trope. Insta-attraction and insta-connection, sure! Those are fine, and more realistic. Marion and Khalid’s immediate attraction and Timothée and Val’s instant hate-like connection are more realistic. But Vivian and Darius falling in love at first sight? I like them as characters and I can see them together, but to have them be in love immediately ruined their relationship for me. I can see if their instant attraction was the foundation for the development of a bond that became a relationship that had to battle through Vivian’s curse and Darius’ prejudice. But I’m a firm believer in letting love grow over time.
Things I loved:
1) The illustrations were very beautiful, and it’s a refreshing concept to do some illustration of an adult novel.
2) I liked that this was fantasy geared for a new adult audience - there’s a dearth of these stories for this specific age group, and I’m glad more inroads are being made on this genre/age intersection.
3) The queer representation and normalization was pretty good. I appreciate that one of the leads is openly pansexual (assuming they’re pan until told otherwise). I will say that I found that having the only two overtly queer characters both be associated with the “dark and evil” house was a touch problematic, but I’m going withhold judgement on that because I don’t want to “Slytherin-ize” the Dark Stars.
I think I will read the second book in the series, because what “Lost Stars” has set up here has piqued my interest enough to carry on with the next book. I hope we’ll finally drill down further into the richer contexts that I know are there.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2024
I think this book is self-published, and honestly, I'm always very careful with those kind of things, because most of the time, there's a good reason why no sane publisher would want them in their catalogue. But I got intrigued by Wicked Academia - and rightfully so, if you ask me.
There were a couple of things that could have been better. I'll get straight to them:
1. I could have done without the insta-love for two of the three triplets (and four of the six main characters). If it had been just one, I still wouldn't have been a big fan, but I wouldn't have minded it much either... But two is definitely one too many. The only one who doesn't get all swoony over one specific person from the very start is Tim, and that's it.
2. While some of the artwork (the cover - see below!) is great, some of it is... nearly or fully subpar. There is no general art style present; instead it's just three or four different styles mixed throughout the book, which is just very odd. Why not stick to one style in particular and use that consistently?
3. What the fuck is up with the word 'shoppe'? Fine, I get that this book is set in an older (medieval?) world - 'It's a fantasy, what did you expect?' he added mockingly - but if you're going to do stuff like this, then also do it more consistently and use some more old-style language or spelling. But 'shoppe' is the only word where it's done, even though the Jenkins & Suliman do use it all the time, which is a good thing on itself, of course. But in case they didn't get the memo: It's written 'shop'. Now you know.
4. Finally: I don't like it when a synopsis includes things that don't actually happen, and that is definitely the case here. It seems as if the synopsis already goes ahead and a couple of things from Book 2 are added or something? Whatever the case, when you read the Lost Stars synopsis, forget everything that is said in the second half of it, because it doesn't feature in the book. It annoyed me to no end.
But that really is all the negative stuff I had to say, and it's not as if that stuff is making me subtract two points out of ten, obviously. I noticed here on Goodreads that some people aren't too happy because there is hardly smut in there. Which is true, fine. Although it does seem at first as if there will be. But I didn't read this for the smut, so that didn't bother me, and there still are a handful of smut scenes anyhow.
Onwards to the good stuff now.
Probably the main reason why I noticed these books, was - yep, you guessed it - the cover because holy fuck doesn't it look awesome? Okay, so maybe the drawing style seems to be aimed more at younger people, but I read books for younger people too, so that wasn't going to stop me. I just loved the style, the colours, and the looks of the characters themselves. There's something in there that reminds me of Justine Cunha, I think it's the pen strokes that have a bit of those very small dots in them. That looks terrific! Also, if you have bought the hardcover, like me, the book itself contains a different cover, which features Darius, Khalid and Carmilla (she's a real stunner, by the way!) and which is also fantastic.
(So, yes, it was a bit of a let-down when I found out that the art style inside the book differs. That's true.)
The three 'main' main characters are Vivian, Marion and Tim. You can't go wrong with the last one, obviously (*smug, conceited laugh*). It's always fun to read about the character with the same name as yourself. Despite that, I definitely prefer Marion. All three of them are clearly different, but Marion has some extra layers to her personality that I liked most. She seems to be the smartest of the bunch, and also pretty undaunted at the start, but that all changes throughout the book and I liked that change. Tim is more of a clutz, physically speaking (all three of them are quite smart, in my opinion). Vivian is fun as well, but there's just not as much to tell about her as the others - except she's a vampire.
Then there are the three 'minor' main character, as I like to call them, which are Darius, Khalid and Carmilla. First of all: It's so great to see that they are best friends, even though Khalid and Carmilla were actually - historically speaking - his equals and now need to be happy with having no real power of their respective kingdoms anymore because Darius has gotten it all. It could all be a ruse, the way they're acting, of course, but I'm not buying it. These three really are the best of friends, despite everything that's happened, and it's not going to change. Carmilla definitely steals the show, especially with her background as Dark Star, so it's a bit of a shame that she is also the one who isn't present as much as the other two. Khalid and Darius are fun to have around too, though. Especially Khalid with his banter.
All that remains, then, is Val - he could drop dead right now for all I care - Archpriestess Kassandra - who is odd, to say the least, I'm not sure what to think of her -, and Setviren - whose name always reminds me of Viren in The Dragon Prince , but I'm hoping he'll turn out better.
There is... a lot going on in Lost Stars, and frankly: I'm amazed that I could easily follow the story. There's a lot of background to get through, on two major levels: A) the mythical history with the gods, which all started centuries ago, and B) the history of the past twenty years, in particular twenty and three years ago. During the book, I got so many question marks in my eyes, because there were a bunch of things about which I had questions. Some of those questions have been resolved, but most of them are still left open?
This does mean that the book hardly ever contains any action (well, er, apart from that kind of action) except at the start, when the triplets meet the three young rulers in rather harrowing circumstances. The rest is mostly a lot of worldbuilding and background-building and question-raising. Just to give an idea, here are a couple of the questions I'm asking myself: Are the triplets really children of the gods? What is their background, why did their 'adoptive father' steal them away, why would they be dangerous? What's all that stuff with Dark Stars? Kassandra is definitely up to something - but what?
To put it briefly: Book 1 sets the scene and already provides us with some clues, but not nearly enough to get a clear picture. I'm hoping Book 2 will already give us some answers.
The worldbuilding probably isn't the most original one I've ever come across, but it is fun and interesting - those three kinds of star magic, to give you an example - and seeing it all unfold through the eyes of Marion, Vivian and Timothée was lovely. I would have loved some chapters from the point of view of Darius, Carmilla and Khalid, but you can't have everything of course.
Then there are things like the vampires, and the Dark whatchamacallit, and even more stuff I haven't even covered here. (And the fact that Tim doesn't seem to be interested in Carmilla, which, personally, for the life of me, I cannot understand at all, because of those three other youngsters, she's definitely the most awesome one - looks awesome too in the art - and the most curious one, with the Dark Star, but okay then.) You get the picture: There's a lot to talk about.
All in all a very satisfying read. It's always good to be positively surprised, and Jenkins & Suliman definitely did that.
8.3/10
There were a couple of things that could have been better. I'll get straight to them:
1. I could have done without the insta-love for two of the three triplets (and four of the six main characters). If it had been just one, I still wouldn't have been a big fan, but I wouldn't have minded it much either... But two is definitely one too many. The only one who doesn't get all swoony over one specific person from the very start is Tim, and that's it.
2. While some of the artwork (the cover - see below!) is great, some of it is... nearly or fully subpar. There is no general art style present; instead it's just three or four different styles mixed throughout the book, which is just very odd. Why not stick to one style in particular and use that consistently?
3. What the fuck is up with the word 'shoppe'? Fine, I get that this book is set in an older (medieval?) world - 'It's a fantasy, what did you expect?' he added mockingly - but if you're going to do stuff like this, then also do it more consistently and use some more old-style language or spelling. But 'shoppe' is the only word where it's done, even though the Jenkins & Suliman do use it all the time, which is a good thing on itself, of course. But in case they didn't get the memo: It's written 'shop'. Now you know.
4. Finally: I don't like it when a synopsis includes things that don't actually happen, and that is definitely the case here. It seems as if the synopsis already goes ahead and a couple of things from Book 2 are added or something? Whatever the case, when you read the Lost Stars synopsis, forget everything that is said in the second half of it, because it doesn't feature in the book. It annoyed me to no end.
But that really is all the negative stuff I had to say, and it's not as if that stuff is making me subtract two points out of ten, obviously. I noticed here on Goodreads that some people aren't too happy because there is hardly smut in there. Which is true, fine. Although it does seem at first as if there will be. But I didn't read this for the smut, so that didn't bother me, and there still are a handful of smut scenes anyhow.
Onwards to the good stuff now.
Probably the main reason why I noticed these books, was - yep, you guessed it - the cover because holy fuck doesn't it look awesome? Okay, so maybe the drawing style seems to be aimed more at younger people, but I read books for younger people too, so that wasn't going to stop me. I just loved the style, the colours, and the looks of the characters themselves. There's something in there that reminds me of Justine Cunha, I think it's the pen strokes that have a bit of those very small dots in them. That looks terrific! Also, if you have bought the hardcover, like me, the book itself contains a different cover, which features Darius, Khalid and Carmilla (she's a real stunner, by the way!) and which is also fantastic.
(So, yes, it was a bit of a let-down when I found out that the art style inside the book differs. That's true.)
The three 'main' main characters are Vivian, Marion and Tim. You can't go wrong with the last one, obviously (*smug, conceited laugh*). It's always fun to read about the character with the same name as yourself. Despite that, I definitely prefer Marion. All three of them are clearly different, but Marion has some extra layers to her personality that I liked most. She seems to be the smartest of the bunch, and also pretty undaunted at the start, but that all changes throughout the book and I liked that change. Tim is more of a clutz, physically speaking (all three of them are quite smart, in my opinion). Vivian is fun as well, but there's just not as much to tell about her as the others - except she's a vampire.
Then there are the three 'minor' main character, as I like to call them, which are Darius, Khalid and Carmilla. First of all: It's so great to see that they are best friends, even though Khalid and Carmilla were actually - historically speaking - his equals and now need to be happy with having no real power of their respective kingdoms anymore because Darius has gotten it all. It could all be a ruse, the way they're acting, of course, but I'm not buying it. These three really are the best of friends, despite everything that's happened, and it's not going to change. Carmilla definitely steals the show, especially with her background as Dark Star, so it's a bit of a shame that she is also the one who isn't present as much as the other two. Khalid and Darius are fun to have around too, though. Especially Khalid with his banter.
All that remains, then, is Val - he could drop dead right now for all I care - Archpriestess Kassandra - who is odd, to say the least, I'm not sure what to think of her -, and Setviren - whose name always reminds me of Viren in The Dragon Prince , but I'm hoping he'll turn out better.
There is... a lot going on in Lost Stars, and frankly: I'm amazed that I could easily follow the story. There's a lot of background to get through, on two major levels: A) the mythical history with the gods, which all started centuries ago, and B) the history of the past twenty years, in particular twenty and three years ago. During the book, I got so many question marks in my eyes, because there were a bunch of things about which I had questions. Some of those questions have been resolved, but most of them are still left open?
This does mean that the book hardly ever contains any action (well, er, apart from that kind of action) except at the start, when the triplets meet the three young rulers in rather harrowing circumstances. The rest is mostly a lot of worldbuilding and background-building and question-raising. Just to give an idea, here are a couple of the questions I'm asking myself: Are the triplets really children of the gods? What is their background, why did their 'adoptive father' steal them away, why would they be dangerous? What's all that stuff with Dark Stars? Kassandra is definitely up to something - but what?
To put it briefly: Book 1 sets the scene and already provides us with some clues, but not nearly enough to get a clear picture. I'm hoping Book 2 will already give us some answers.
The worldbuilding probably isn't the most original one I've ever come across, but it is fun and interesting - those three kinds of star magic, to give you an example - and seeing it all unfold through the eyes of Marion, Vivian and Timothée was lovely. I would have loved some chapters from the point of view of Darius, Carmilla and Khalid, but you can't have everything of course.
Then there are things like the vampires, and the Dark whatchamacallit, and even more stuff I haven't even covered here. (And the fact that Tim doesn't seem to be interested in Carmilla, which, personally, for the life of me, I cannot understand at all, because of those three other youngsters, she's definitely the most awesome one - looks awesome too in the art - and the most curious one, with the Dark Star, but okay then.) You get the picture: There's a lot to talk about.
All in all a very satisfying read. It's always good to be positively surprised, and Jenkins & Suliman definitely did that.
8.3/10
April 27, 2022
I have had the honour to recieve this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This will, however, not influence my opinion.
I really enjoyed this book and I think it is a great debut for the authors.
When I first came across Wicked Academia, I was enthralled by the world-building. The magic system is quite interesting as are the places. Wolfhelm, Thraina, the Celestial Academy etc. are fantastic places, I really would like to visit. Jasmine and Sophie did a wonderful job describing the setting and have created a magical world.
The main characters all are likable enough, even though most of them are a bit clichée (unfortunately). We have the secret reluctant vampire, the protective sister, the lovable idiot brother. Their love interests are introduced in the same way and there is little to no suspense on who will end up with whom. Here lies one of the problems I discovered during the read... the insta love between Darius and Vivian. I don't mind love at first sight, but this was just a bit much. Maybe it wouldn't have bothered me as much, if Marion and Khalid had gone a different route. They may seem to be reluctant, but there is instant chemistry between them.
I would have loved to see more magic in this book. The magic is such an important part in the lives of the people of Thraina but there is little to no magic done in almost 400 pages.
Lastly, I think that the time span in the book is a problem. The story happens in the course of three days, but the characters behave as if it has been years since they have met. This is especially distracting during the last couple of chapters. I was really confused by the way Valentine spoke in certain scenes. I also got distracted by the hard cuts during the last say 5 - 10 chapters. They were cut off to extend the suspense, but the cliffhangers didn't really work for me (with the exception being the final one). Also, the switch between characters got annoying from time to time, even though I can see, what the authors tried to do.
All in All, I would definitely recommend this book to people who love magical worlds and creative magic systems. The triplets are interesting characters and this book definitely wants to make me read more about them, their world and their new destiny. It's a great debut by Jasmine Jenkins and Sophie Suliman.
I really enjoyed this book and I think it is a great debut for the authors.
When I first came across Wicked Academia, I was enthralled by the world-building. The magic system is quite interesting as are the places. Wolfhelm, Thraina, the Celestial Academy etc. are fantastic places, I really would like to visit. Jasmine and Sophie did a wonderful job describing the setting and have created a magical world.
The main characters all are likable enough, even though most of them are a bit clichée (unfortunately). We have the secret reluctant vampire, the protective sister, the lovable idiot brother. Their love interests are introduced in the same way and there is little to no suspense on who will end up with whom. Here lies one of the problems I discovered during the read... the insta love between Darius and Vivian. I don't mind love at first sight, but this was just a bit much. Maybe it wouldn't have bothered me as much, if Marion and Khalid had gone a different route. They may seem to be reluctant, but there is instant chemistry between them.
I would have loved to see more magic in this book. The magic is such an important part in the lives of the people of Thraina but there is little to no magic done in almost 400 pages.
Lastly, I think that the time span in the book is a problem. The story happens in the course of three days, but the characters behave as if it has been years since they have met. This is especially distracting during the last couple of chapters. I was really confused by the way Valentine spoke in certain scenes. I also got distracted by the hard cuts during the last say 5 - 10 chapters. They were cut off to extend the suspense, but the cliffhangers didn't really work for me (with the exception being the final one). Also, the switch between characters got annoying from time to time, even though I can see, what the authors tried to do.
All in All, I would definitely recommend this book to people who love magical worlds and creative magic systems. The triplets are interesting characters and this book definitely wants to make me read more about them, their world and their new destiny. It's a great debut by Jasmine Jenkins and Sophie Suliman.
April 20, 2022
The Greywick siblings have easily stolen my entire heart. I’m already anticipating the release of Stormwind of Shadows so I can read more of the trio’s adventures. Lost Stars follows the Greywick siblings in their adventures from supposedly ordinary people, besides the fact that they glow on moonless nights, to saving a prince and finding out the three of them are the Lost Stars: descendants of the gods. Their father’s rule about staying away from the Celestial Academy for Fallen Stars gets thrown out the window -not without some hesitation of course- when it’s revealed who the triplets really are and they end up at the academy to find answers about their family and life. I love following their journey and can’t wait to see where the continuation of their journey takes them, or rather who it’ll turn them into.
You could see right from the beginning, and even more so after getting to the Celestial Academy, that the triplets each have their own very different personalities and each gravitated towards a different falling star and their students at the academy. Giving them that independence from one another made them a better trio in my opinion. It also made the sow of their loyalty to one another more significant.
I liked having POV’s of each of the siblings, it meant getting to read three separate little adventures as well s having the overall adventure of the story. Giving each of the Greywick’s a love interest made me so happy, and the fact their individual love stories each had a different trope made it even better. I’m a bit impartial to Timothée and Marion’s romances since grumpy/sunshine and enemies to lovers are my favoured tropes. There is definitely something so sweet about Vivian’s love story though.
Also, Timothée being the bisexual little cinnamon roll that he is makes me want to protect him with my life. I think given his story was the one that left on the biggest cliffhanger ending I’m most curious to see where the next part of his story leads.
The whole ending definitely left me wanting more and I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here!
Thank you so much to Sophie and Jasmine for the arc!
You could see right from the beginning, and even more so after getting to the Celestial Academy, that the triplets each have their own very different personalities and each gravitated towards a different falling star and their students at the academy. Giving them that independence from one another made them a better trio in my opinion. It also made the sow of their loyalty to one another more significant.
I liked having POV’s of each of the siblings, it meant getting to read three separate little adventures as well s having the overall adventure of the story. Giving each of the Greywick’s a love interest made me so happy, and the fact their individual love stories each had a different trope made it even better. I’m a bit impartial to Timothée and Marion’s romances since grumpy/sunshine and enemies to lovers are my favoured tropes. There is definitely something so sweet about Vivian’s love story though.
Also, Timothée being the bisexual little cinnamon roll that he is makes me want to protect him with my life. I think given his story was the one that left on the biggest cliffhanger ending I’m most curious to see where the next part of his story leads.
The whole ending definitely left me wanting more and I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here!
Thank you so much to Sophie and Jasmine for the arc!
August 30, 2022
Listen...the only thing I liked was their sibling dynamics and i guess the magic was also kinda cool, but everything else was very meh.
What were those drawings???
This is NOT a young adult/adult book... it read like a middle grade. A bad middle grade.
And the insta love!!!!! Oh my gods I hated that so much. Viv and Darius (I think that's their names) fell in love and were ready to die for each other after 1 day of having met, and it's not like they spent the entire day together or spent hours talking..nooo! They had like 3 conversations that lasted for about 10 minutes each.
The other romantic relationships were also very insta lovey...
There were so many tropes I didn't like
With that said, am I still going to read the next book? Probably hahahah cuz I'm curious and I want to know what's going to happen but I'm pretty sure I'm also not going to enjoy it.
What were those drawings???
This is NOT a young adult/adult book... it read like a middle grade. A bad middle grade.
And the insta love!!!!! Oh my gods I hated that so much. Viv and Darius (I think that's their names) fell in love and were ready to die for each other after 1 day of having met, and it's not like they spent the entire day together or spent hours talking..nooo! They had like 3 conversations that lasted for about 10 minutes each.
The other romantic relationships were also very insta lovey...
There were so many tropes I didn't like
With that said, am I still going to read the next book? Probably hahahah cuz I'm curious and I want to know what's going to happen but I'm pretty sure I'm also not going to enjoy it.
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