The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Razorbill

Pages: 432pgs

The Story

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

The Review

A big thanks to the publisher on netGalley for accepting my request in reading this book early!

THE INDIGO SPELL, the third installment of Richelle Mead's VA spin-off Bloodlines series, is definitely a hat full of tricks what with its new dangers, obstacles, complicated romances and plenty, plenty of paranormal drama to entertain its huge following of readers. Not to mention those fans of Sydney Sage and Adrian Ivashkov - especially those readers left with that cliffhanger at the very end of The Golden Lily - will most definitely not be disappointed with this book!

Sydney Sage would have be my favourite character in this entire series (I say this again and again) and one that can actually beat my love of Vampire Academy's main heroine, Rose Hathaway, which is such a major leap for me considering (once upon a time) I used to love Rose like no other book heroine. But I don't know . . . there's just something about Sydney I love and she's always just that kind of heroine who is slowly growing as a person and trying to find herself out there in the big, wide world, and I love reading about such a development in any of my favourite characters. I just love it! So when it comes to this third book I found she was opening up a lot more now and questioning things around her that she never dared to question before . . . turning her into the ultimate bad-ass. Trust me you guys . . . she IS a total bad-ass in this book so don't go thinking she's boring, naive, and weak. She is NOT any of those things!

Then, of course, I have to mention the romance slowly blossoming between Sydney and Adrian. I know, I know in this review I just HAVE to mention Adrian. Like Sydney, Adrian is also a character trying to find himself in the world and to see exactly where he belongs in it, and even though in the majority of the book he is always trying to push Sydney's buttons (in the best way possible of course) and can sometimes be this lovesick guy but . . . I love him for being well . . . Adrian because it's a completely different love-sick guy that we used to know back when he was with Rose. Completely different. In fact, the chemistry flying between these two characters is SIZZLING is this third installment and I think this book wouldn't be as awesome if it didn't have that romance in it, so way a go Richelle Mead for writing interacting scenes with Sydney and Adrian. The banter, the frustrations, the mere unspoken words that are only expressed through faraway but very secretive glances . . . yeah there is plenty of Sydrian moments in this book and I know fans will eat it right up like I did.

But the only complaint I have with this book apart from its awesome characters (except for Marcus Finch whom I thought was going to be this awesome guy but wasn't though he definitely made Adrian look like a better person) is with the storyline itself. Now I really hate to say this - really I do - but I found the storyline was lacking something good compared to the previous two books, Bloodlines and The Golden Lily. Sure the romance was fantastic (it was everything I was hoping for and more) and so was the action (even the humor was spot-on for my tastes), but the actual direction of the storyline went a bit off track for me at times and even the parts leading up to the ending was needless to say disappointing. I was expecting . . . more. Still, regardless of that, I enjoyed this book, mostly because of all of the Sydrian moments and really that's all I care about at the moment! I love those two to bits and it'll be interesting where the next book will take us to next considering THAT ending! Argh. That ending! I so KNEW that was going to happen eventually and it did, and I just KNEW it! I knew it!

Overall, while the storyline was a bit disappointing but THE INDIGO SPELL still sets up yet another great installment in the Bloodlines series and I can't wait for more! Bring on The Fiery Heart, I'm so ready for it now! Just please let Sydrian remain together . . . I couldn't bear another heartbreak or another reason why these two crazy kids can't be together. My heart cannot take it anymore!

The Rating

4/5 stars

Also I won't spoil for you guys, but be sure to check out my Goodreads status's HERE from when I read this book. I hope you find it entertaining! It's a little taste of what's to come.