Magic Unchained

Half-Blood Academy #4

by Meg Xuemei X

I abandon all hope that my demigods will come for me.

In Hell's Academy, it's either kill or be eaten. Demons turn violence into an art form, and they've marked me as their newest victim.

A charismatic archdemon offers me a way out of the pit.
His price?
Spend one night with him and his three dukes. They don't want to conquer my heart, but they have every intention of riding my body.

I'm no longer the Marigold my demigods once fell in love with.
I've become a nightmarish monster bred in an inferno.
Yet when my mates find me, they insist I'm still their beautiful monster.
Now and forever.

Too bad the truth is dirtier than they could ever imagine.

Magic Unchained is the fourth book in the Half-Blood Academy series, a reverse harem and enemies-to-lovers romance starring four handsome, cruel, yet overprotective demigods and a badass heroine.

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Magic, Paranormal Romance, Demons, Mythology

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 17, 2019

About the author

Meg Xuemei X is a USA Today and Amazon Charts bestselling author of paranormal and fantasy romance. She loves writing badass heroines and hot psycho alphaholes.

Join Meg’s mailing list for new releases, giveaways, and fun stuff: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webfor...

Reviews

[Davina Herondale · Rating 1 out of 5]

Idk what sort of crack I was on yesterday to give these books any more than 1 star oh my god

[Reva · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I'm only reading this series because I read Loki's first and wanted to know what happened. I swear, reading this series is doing my head in. Does the author believe her audience is Dory? She repeats the same thing over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again, and again, and again, and again. These books would be half the number of pages if she stopped. How many times does she think she needs to tell us something before it sticks? Every other page is an explanation of what JUST happened. We KNOW, we JUST read it.

[TheDailyKaylee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time to embrace the demon heritage

This is the 4th installment in the Half-blood academy, reverse harem, series. It does end on a cliffhanger as there is still one book to go, being published in Feb 2020. I really do like the storyline of this series. The sex scenes are steamy, and the action throughout the book is great! I’ve enjoyed watching Marigold come into her powers throughout the series but I do feel like the story is starting to be dragged out quite a bit. In this book, we see marigold begin to embrace her demon side, while still needing to complete the mating bond with Paxton, apparently that poor guys never gonna get to “finish.” Also, fair warning, there is some “corniness” throughout the series. The pet names the demigods use for our FMC, ugh I cringe every time they use them. Also, the way they actually refer to them as “alphas.” We get it, they’re alphas, we don’t need it shoved down our throats to convince us. And then, sometimes the way the demigods talk to/about our FMC, I don’t know how to explain it other than being corny. I didn’t notice any major grammatical errors, but there was one detail that didn’t fit. When our FMC drank blood from Loki, the half-human/half-demon prince, she said his blood was black, but a little later in the book she stated that half-bloods had red blood because of their human side, only pureblood demons have black blood. So, how could Loki’s blood be black if he’s the half blood prince? Idk if this was just an error she missed, or if something will come from this in the next book and he won’t really be part human, we shall see. Last thing, sex, sex, and more sex. I’m all about books with good shes scenes, but I swear it seems that all they think about is sex. I know they get caught up in a “mating frenzy”, but hell, even Lucifer could only think about sex with Lilith in his one POV chapter. I just feel like everything revolves around getting to each other so they can have sex. The demigods don’t even make it seem like they want to get to her to make sure she’s okay, it’s just about getting to her so they can slide on in, basically. It’s still a good series and I do plan to finish it out. It’s not an all-consuming, tilt my world off its axis kind of series, but it’s definitely still a good read!

[Tiera McMillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-3.5 stars. Well dang.. I really thought we were gearing up for a conclusion here in book 4. How many books are in this series??? Lol. I felt like the author really played this story line here in book 4. She is just so dang clever. This book picks up what seems like right where book 3 left off... but its actually been quite some time. I think it was lucky that we missed the interim there so points for that. We finally get the missing pieces of our backstory which really tied things together.

I was a little torn with Marigold in this book.. she comes off as such a bad A and yet it seems like she is never quite good.. enough. Like during some parts of the story she is like leaps and bounds ahead of her opponents and then when push comes to shove it seems like she is barely holding her own at times. So for the most part our heroine is separated from her mates, but fear not this author won't allow us to go smut free, no not at all.

The biggest surprise here of course came at the end.. Just when it looks like Marigold and her dudes are fixing to come out on top.. it seems that they have jumped out of the pan and into the fire. How much longer till Marigold finally gets her stuff together and lives up to her destiny? And what about Loki and his gang? Is anyone else hoping their leading lady comes along like ASAP? I guess we will see when book 5 comes out lol.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh...

This book wasn’t as good as the others. It started off pretty slow for me, but it finally picked up towards the end. I did like to see the different POV. I can’t wait to see if Marigold finally does what she’s destined to do or how they survive the things to come.

[Tayler · Rating 4 out of 5]

So like, what the fuck was that. Good for Marigold/Celeste or whichever she prefers now and the fact she truly grew into her power, but HUH.

I can't wait to see how they make it out of this one. And of course there was a death in the group. UGH

[Iman’s Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5⭐️
Marginally better than the last book, but only because she wasn’t around her guys for half of it. You know a series is bad when you don’t want to see the MMCs lol

[Jeanny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cliffhanger ending

[Monty Cupcake ☠ Queen of Bloodshed ☠ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marigold is TSTL a lot of the time. I’d expected more character growth.

[☆Mel☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 ⭐

“Yo era la princesa demonio y todos ellos eran mi presa.”

“Te queremos con nuestros corazones, almas, cuerpos y todo lo que hay en nosotros.”

Me pone triste saber que solo falta un libro más, pero me gustó que en este libro hubo más acción y pelea.
Me siguen incomodando los apodos y siento que la relación entre ella y los cuatro no es equitativa, está más pegada a Héctor y Axel, Zak está ahí y con Paxton recién está avanzando.

[Mummy's Naughty Corner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this book was a bit better. I liked her time in Hell and how her mouth got her in trouble. I liked the fact that after 3 books they all start working as a team. I think Loki saved this book. Can't say much. I read better but i have read worse.

[ChocoholicReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here we are in Hell, and Marigold still hasn’t learned anything. She now knows who she is and how powerful she is but she still feels the need to walk around with a chip on her shoulder. In this book she resorts to insulting animals just to look tough.

The guys have been reduced to walking dicks. They spend the whole book doing nothing but “feeding” Marigold.

[Noemi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marigold is Ares and Lucifer's prisoner and she needs to attend the academy for demons in Hell. Moreover, she can't figure out on whose side Loki, her cousin, is on. The final battle is drawing near and Marigold will need all of her mates to survive.

[Jasmine Hoisington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ugh so flipping good

This series keeps getting better and better! I read the first 4 books in a matter of 2 days! It was hard to put them down!

[Skye Minnick · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING SERIES!! Loved every book!!

AMAZING SERIES!! Loved every book!! Could not put it down. OK I did for 6 1/2 hours, I fell asleep, now just been on coffee and finishing this last book. They are ALL incredible!!!!! Don't miss this series!!!!

[Kyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

More bookish content and other reviews here!

Hell's Academy is nothing like Marigold expected. Nothing like the Half-Blood Academy the Demigod of War dragged her too so long ago. All she can remember are the looks on their faces when she was taken. When they found out who she really was-- what she had to do to save them.
"I abandon all hope that my demigods will come for me."

This book suddenly focuses on more of Lucifers world. Which is where she technically came from, as we learn more about Marigold's history. The serious whiplash I felt reading this book was.... a lot. I liked that the story was moving forward at a quicker pace. That we were learning more about this world. I was just... bored by it? Frustrated because this felt more like a book two vs. four of a series? I was over a few parts of the story, so having to read that was frustrating to me.
I think this series is still interesting. And worth the read.
Just not sure when I will finish the series.

[Sarah Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got to ~30% ... the heroine is so over-dramatic, and her tendency to not think before acting got exhausting to read. Her inner-narration is almost petulant; of course, she has every right to be pissed about her situation (she's been kidnapped and tortured by the demons). But, the author continues to attempt to characterize her as "cold" ... which doesn't make much sense when she won't even pause to listen to her demon prince cousin.

Also, what is with her talking shit at the prince's horse? I totally did not understand the point of that (and it happens more than once) ... and basically personifies what I mean when the heroine comes across as petulant.

Maybe when I'm in a different mood I'll pick the book up again, but for now, the heroine is just too frustrating to make reading the book enjoyable.

[Avid · Rating 1 out of 5]

i skimmed most of this awful book because I wanted to find out what happened in the overall series arc. Sadly, there is no real resolution in this novel, and so i'll have to skim another novel to get the info. As with the last novel, there is no character development or romantic development. There is plenty of graphic sex, though, if that's your thing. The hugely disappointing thing here is that the overall series plotline is intriguing, but the characters and relationships have zero depth. There are a couple revelations in this novel, which added to my decision to skim the next.

[Siri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars
it was great i want the next one now!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for me

I have read every book in this series, so far. But, the books are annoying! So much beginning and so many monologues. It takes forever to get to the point.

[J.T. Kingsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Appropriate that a book about hell was torturous to read.

Story time. Two years ago, I read the first book in this series for free on Amazon Prime. I loved it, 5 stars. I loved it so much I actually bought the other 4 books which I never do. Second book, 4 stars. Third book, 3 stars. I started this book, and it was so angsty and awful that I DNFed it. Flash forward to two days ago, I’m in a reading slump and decided to start at the oldest unread book in my Kindle app as a way to get reading kick started again. This book was torture, I can’t tell if the author is a 14 year old angsty teen or just never grew up and wanted to see how many badass quips they could fit into one book. Everything is so petty and the attitude of the main character isn’t cute or endearing. She can’t make a good choice to save her life or benefit anyone besides her most base emotions. There is no development at all either personal or plot wise. If the guys knew the living flame had to be completed, that should have been priority number one, but none of these “battle hardened generals” can keep it in their pants long enough to complete the one mission that would have saved all of their lives and the whole earth. Also, what must reproduction in hell be like if they can just kill hundreds and hundreds of soldiers at their “academy”? It seems like an unattainable model. I understand that this book was meant to mirror the academy on earth, but it was pointless as a plot device. Finally, I almost rolled my eyes so hard I fell off the couch when she said “call me Icy Dagger.” Face. Palm. At this point I’m not sure I will be reading the last book, I normally have a thing about finishing books I buy, but goodness gracious this one was rough. I literally only finished it so I could mark it read and drag it in a review.
TLDR: save yourself from this 300 page plotless pile of horny trash.

[Krissreads · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5⭐️ 2/5🌶️

——• Paranormal Reverse Harem 🖤

This series is really getting on my last nerve😒

There is zero fucking harmony between the men, which is frustrating as shit seeing as ITS BOOK FUCKING 4!? As soon as you think they’re getting along, something happens to prove how much they don’t and most of the time it’s like children chucking a tantrum!

I’m sorry but even the storyline is boring the fuck out of me which is sad because if everything wasn’t so disjointed and the god damn nick names stopped, I probably would have really enjoyed it.

As an example of what everyone means with how the nick names are driving us FUCKING INSANE… see the below and please keep in mind that all of this was on the same page, so this is just a taste of how consistent it was throughout the whole fucking series!

---------

“Rosebud.”
“Cookie!”
“Buttercup.”

We all called her at once, using our urgent, gentle voices to beckon her to us.

“I said I’d do the talking!” Héctor hissed at us, then softened his tone when he turned to her again. “Won’t you come to your mates, lamb?”



“That’s not true. I would—” I said.
“Don’t contradict my lamb,” Héctor warned before I could explain myself to my Buttercup.

[Raven9308 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked Mari and Loki in this book, and especially loved her scheming at the end of the book!

I thought it was interesting to see Mari in the demon academy and seeing how she survived in Lucifer's world. I liked seeing her friendship with Loki (and seeing glimpses of how he became the way he is - still BA but not as bad as we think) and learning more about Mari's mom and her life before she was hidden away. I wanted to destroy Lucifer and Ares even more after this book haha. I am kinda ambivalent that they skipped some of the torture. It would have been nice for her to have a flashback or something, to show she wasn't perfect/impermeable. I thought the guys trying to get to her and Loki's guys were a nice touch. I laughed a lot with Icy Dagger and Black Widow hahaha. I wanted to learn more about some of the new characters introduced but they got their spotlight and then they left that world anyway. I loved seeing Mari have to fight her way through things, even if she was starting to lose herself. I thought how she regained herself was a little too easy for me, but didnt deter much from the story for me.

In terms of narration, I liked it more than some of the others since we didnt have as much Ares or Hector with the French accents. Again, I have nothing wrong with them having French lilts, but the narration couldn't do them justice so it deter from the story for me. Overall 4 stars from me because the of the emotions we got from Loki and from Mari.

[Kristen Dalrymple · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was crazy!!!! She was tortured for months but she was lucky enough to not remember it. Loki the heir of hell was a jerk but he wasn’t evil and he tried to help her. She was enrolled in hells academy. There she killed demons and made a friend who is a witch. The other half blood and witches became her allies. When Lucifer and Ares came for her all her mates were there and a battle broke out. Loki got captured by Lucifer and Zak got killed. She let herself get trapped. She had started to mate with Paxton so she could get a little bit of the living flame to come alive. She trapped Lucifer and Ares and had Loki open a portal to the void. She had found out that her mother had Loki help her to escape the void. He also sent Vi her mentor to watch and protect her, and Vi was also Esme the headmistress at Half Blood academy. Then she gave Marigold her power so she could create illusions. When Loki opened the portal she pushed Ares in. Then she used an illusion of her mother to draw Lucifer in as well. Then she went into the void and destroyed the portal so her mates wouldn’t follow. Only her mates did follow as well as Angel her hellhound. Hector used his ability to save Zak and lost his powers as well as his immortality, he is now a mortal. Loki promised to protect her witch friend and her sister. Now her and her mates need to find a way out of the void to save the earth.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is so much repetition over these books. Take some of that out, and you could easily remove an entire book. My suspicion in a previous book definitely still stands, that this series could have been done in 3 books, rather than 5.

Marigold is still the angry hostile bitch she always has been all the way from book 1. She is in literal Hell, and she still has to provoke others and be a generally unpleasant person to be around. I don't like her. The fact that she has so many friends ready to defend her against anything just astounds me. If these were real people, I have to wonder how many of them are actually her friends vs just hanging around for the drama.

The ending of this book was just... meh. I suppose we have a lot to get through to get closure, but something has been bothering me. Supposedly she can travel to and from the Void. It was mentioned more than once. So... when she got Lucifer and Ares through the portal, why didn't she just step back through? Why did she stay at all? This seems like a plot hole. Either she can't go back and forth, or she can but just didn't want to, and the author wanted to get one more book out of it.

I am going to go ahead and finish up the series. I do like the story and the author. I would still recommend this series, with a caveat of unlikable heroine and repetition.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy crap on a cracker! Okay so Mari is in hell in this book with Loki. She's been horribly tortured by Lucifer and Ares. She's in an iron coffin and Loki cant do a lot for her but he's managed to talk his father into letting him oversee her education at Hell's Academy. She starts to change and her powers are growing fast and although her main power is locked down thanks to the spells Lucifer puts on her she can kick some serious demon butt. She's hardened a little bit because she's away from her mates. She's devastated and angry. Loki still has his own agenda which is to take over and oust his Father. He likes Mari though and does his best to protect her. I mean her Mother is Lilith, the Queen of Hell. She created it although she's in the void. Lucifer has protected Mari since she was a child in some way or another. She's like a sister to him but of course he doesnt want her thinking that. Ha. He's kind of a fun character and I honestly liked him. Her mates are with her briefly but man some twisted stuff at the end and its not over! Poor Paxton...he's been trying to mate with her and bond to her but they keep getting interrupted! Ha.

[Cathy P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magic unchained

I enjoyed the book, but it was my least favorite of the series so far. It was a little drawn out in parts, but not bad. A lot of rehashing. I almost stopped the series because it indicated in summary she slept with Loki and his dukes, but that isn't the case. I realize this is RH, but I didn't want to read about her sleeping with others. So glad that wasn't the case.
Marigold/princess Celeste wakes up after being brutally tortured in hell, to Loki trying to help her. She's distrustful, rightfully. Her first day she gets thrown in a pit to fight her way out. Kill or be killed, in the others of demons. Everyone has ulterior motives. Loki wants help, Ares and Lucifer want her flame and power, then want her as a consort. Her demigods just want her back, especially after thinking her dead. A lot happens, especially toward the end. Looking forward to the final book. Paranormal RH with a LOT of steam, told multiple POV.

[Paige T · Rating 2 out of 5]

So it doesn't appear like this series is getting any better, but i've made it this far and want to see how it ends..

Unfortunately the negatives outweigh the positives..

* There are several occasions where things are overly dramatized and didn't quite make sense. Eg Mari talking about Loki and saying "it'd always been that way with us", when she'd only met/spoken to him I think twice and for pretty brief moments.. Or her not wanting anyone to call her Marigold after parting from her mates, yet they hardly ever called her that - they had super annoying nicknames for her instead..
* What seemed like several inconsistencies - such as Lilith's horns turning crimson which it says indicates she's turned on, yet they also turned crimson when she was with her daughter.
* Mari continues to make decisions for the guys and keeps secrets from them when she's the one still learning about powers and the worlds etc.
* All of the book is in 1st person, except for Lucifer's POV, which was a little jarring.
* Ares and Lucifer acting like immature teens instead of their age
* TSTL moments

[Jane Who Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 ⭐️ rating
1.25/5 🌶️ rating

Thoughts:

This series is more plot than romance or smut. There is very little relationship development between the MCs. I got bored at parts and found myself skipping, no matter how much I tried to force myself not to.

The FMCs forgiveness of one of the MMCs came on randomly considering how she was acting for so long. The FMC honestly irks me with her attitude as it doesn’t make sense. I get the “I won’t bend the knee”, but not understanding when to shut her mouth when there could be consequences is crazy. Her old pack mates were threatened and she closed her mouth for 5 minutes?

This series has SO MUCH potential that it didn’t live up to. Finishing the next book, just to finish the series.

[Sara Enscoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh again

Again Marigold/ Celeste makes stupid decisions. She knew better than to attack Ares and Lucifer. She knew she sould fuck Paxton first. I was expecting her to get it on with Loki and the Dukes she didn't. She is told she can absorb powers and then ahe just dosent? I still dont get why. She could have and should have absorbed Lucifer's power when he slamed it into her. If this was her plan all along why did she wait so long to go to the 7th layer? She could have gone as soon as Loki was there. Instead she waits for one of her mates to die. This is starting to be more frustrating than satisfying.