The Indigo Spell
Richelle Mead
Razorbill 2013
The Indigo Spell is
the third in Richelle Mead’s Bloodlines
series. If you haven’t read the first
two books then this review will contain. You have been warned.
Life for Sydney Sage isn’t getting any easier. In charge of the protection of Jill Dragomir,
sister to the Moroi queen (and in hiding because of it) she has found herself
spending more and more time with those whose existence she has been taught was
repellent her entire life. And it’s
making her question everything she’s ever believed. After her recent discovery of the Warriors of
Light, an intimate interlude with a Moroi, not to mention the discovery that
she seems to be some sort of magical adept, Sydney has no idea what has
happened to her life. Desperate for
information, she sets out to find the mysterious Marcus Finch, a rogue
Alchemist who may just have the answers she seeks. At the same time, she discovers she’s in
danger from some sort of evil old witch who might just want to suck away her
power and youth while continuing to battle with her conflicting feelings for
the increasingly alluring Adrian Ivashkov.
Same old, same old, then…
God love Sydney
and her indefatigable work ethic.
Regardless of what task she sets herself to, she knuckles down like
there’s no tomorrow. From meeting and
then dealing with Marcus, to learning a host of the magic she’s so very scared
of, to looking after her charges (a job seemingly more akin to herding bats
than anything else, especially in terms of the glorious Angeline), to ignoring
Adrian, she tries terribly hard.
Interestingly, when she then decides to question her own personal
rhetoric, she sets about things with the same kind of gusto – an attitude which
is both in keeping with her character and great to read. Sydney ,
despite her conflicting loyalties is proving that she is nothing if not true to
herself. This true self is something
that is coming into clearer focus for readers of the Bloodlines series. While The Golden Lily touched more on the fact
that Sydney was
woefully under-socialised, The Indigo
Spell shows her starting to relax a little, to enjoy life and to confront
her own true feelings. As a character she
just gets better and better and is a truly enjoyable protagonist to read.
New character, Marcus, while vital to the plot is rather
underwhelming. He’s very pretty with a
sort of Robin Hood-esque charm about him but at first seems to only exist for
the sake of some interesting exposition.
However, he quickly emerges as a character who provides Sydney with options, both
practically and personally, helping her on her journey as a person (dude). Eddie, Angeline, Jill and Trey remain well
written with Jill particularly lovely and Ms. Terwilliger gets more page space
this time round, emerging as being pretty awesome. Obviously, though, as with ALL the other
books he appears in, Adrian
completely steals the show. I may have
mentioned this before, but Adrian
is just my kind of trouble. Disregarding
the fangs, he sounds like 90% of the men I’ve dated. Gorgeous?
Check. Be-clothed in a cloud of
smoke and whiskey fumes? Check.
Charismatic? Hilarious? Poor, but in an I’m-a-struggling-artist-and-secretly-probably-live-in-a-garret
sort of a way? Check, check, check! He
could have been written just for me.
Mead has always written his character well, especially when she’s put
him through the ringer and The Indigo
Spell is no exception. He clearly
adores Sydney
and watching him patiently pine for her is both touching and swoonsome (yes, it’s
a word). In short, yum.
The Indigo Spell
moves Richelle Mead’s series along at quite a pace. The writing is as slick as ever, with the
dialogue particularly believable regardless of the supernatural subject
matter. Her world building remains
superb even as she carefully deconstructs the Alchemists and their secrets and
there are plenty of intriguing questions dangling in terms of final book, The Fiery Heart. The main strengths of The Indigo Spell, as with her previous books, remain her characters
all of whom are immensely likable (or immensely unlikable when
appropriate). This and the steady humour
she peppers her stories with set Bloodlines
apart from other vampire tales. To be
honest, you’d be hard pushed to get me to pick up a book that mentioned the
word vampire in its blurb these days yet I find myself eagerly awaiting what is
sure to be an enjoyable and classy denouement to Bloodlines later this year. Even if you can’t stand vamp stories, or feel like you've read them all,
Richelle Mead’s books are refreshing, fun and contain NO sparkles. Highly recommended.
This review was brought to you by Splendibird, who really does love a bad boy. The Indigo Spell is published on 12th February 2013. Thank you to the publisher for sending us this title to review.
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