The Indigo Spell Review.

Book: The Indigo Spell.

Written By: Richelle Mead.

Pages: 401.

Synopsis: In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she struggles to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do.

Then she finally tracks down the elusive, enigmatic Marcus Finch – a former Alchemist who the organization denies exists, and who lives in shadows, on the run. With Marcus’s help, Sydney realizes that the group she’s been loyal to her whole life has been hiding the truth from her. Is it possible that her golden lily tattoo might have more power over her than she thinks?

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

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

My Thoughts: After reading the first two installments of this shit show, I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t roll my eyes so much, that they got stuck in the back of my head. This was far more entertaining than the first two, so things are definitely looking up.

I was SO happy that the book started off with Sonya and Mikhail’s wedding. It was refreshing to see something familiar. I miss all of the Moroi/dhampir juiciness. Sydney is amazing, but I am not a big fan of everything being set in the human world. Richelle created an incredibly detailed and interesting vampire world and I wish we could be there more often. Putting these extraordinary beings (including Sydney) in such a bland ordinary place is a snoozefest. I enjoyed seeing Lissa and Christian. Lissa was never my favorite character, but I am very proud of what she is doing and who she has become and I am proud to see that Christian is doing well too. If only those jerks at St. Vlad’s could see him now.

Sydney and Adrian are FIRE. I have already said this a million times, but their chemistry is off the charts. I giggle like a schoolgirl when they get to have their moments together. It is just that good. When they were together there were so many sparks and I could not stop reading. My favorite part was the dance scene, it was beautiful and I cannot believe it is taking Sydney so long to admit to herself that she loves him! They bring out the best in each other and even though Adrian is getting on my nerves, he is actually working on becoming a better person (for himself this time, it seems) and I am so happy for him. Not to say that he was ever a bad person because he definitely wasn’t, he was just lost and misguided and living up to everyone’s expectations of him. Sydney and Adrian’s scenes were the best part of this book hands down and I am so excited to see where all of this goes. It should get interesting…I hope.

I was surprised to see how much was packed into this book seeing as the first two were like a trip to Snoozeville. In some ways I feel like there was too much going on, but that is much better than the alternative and after finishing the book, I am pretty happy with where things left off. The whole Ms. T/Veronica saga was really interesting but not all the original, I feel like I have seen that story before, but Sydney got to kick some ass so I was okay with it. To my surprise, I much preferred the Alchemist storyline, since that is where Sydney is rooted and that is what she is trying to fight against, seeing as she is starting to learn to think for herself and create her own opinions about the Moroi.

I usually don’t like new characters especially when they want to add some sordid, detailed back story, but I loved the introduction to Marcus. Marcus of course is charming and attractive, but he is always a badass ex-Alchemist who just so happens to be at the top of the Alchemist most wanted list. With a little push from him, we again, got to see what Sydney was capable of, she may not be a scrapper, but she can definitely hold her own. The power is her mind is her best asset and she always excels at everything she does, now that she has a little magic to go along with it she is going to be unstoppable.

But of course, there were a few bad things that I just could not let go of. I don’t want to be nit picky, but this has been bothering me since VA. Sometimes things are a little too inconsistent. For example, In VA it was explained the dhampir could only procreate with Moroi (VA page 79, I believe), not with humans or other dhampir, which is why they dedicate their lives to protecting them. They want to ensure that their race lives on and without Moroi, that cannot happen. Then, in BL, Sydney was saying that dhampir could procreate with humans and Moroi and just not with other dhampir, which doesn’t make sense and basically ruins the whole structure of Moroi/dhampir society. Maybe I got a faulty book, or maybe Sydney was just misinformed (which knowing Sydney she was not), but this really annoying. Maybe Richelle wants to switch it up on us without us realizing it, but I am not going to accept that. I spent an entire series with that knowledge so I am just going to stick with that. Again in VA and at the end of BL, Angeline was described as having red hair (Sydney even commented that Sonya, who had dark red hair could have been her sister) yet, throughout TGL she was described as having strawberry blonde hair. Yes, I know that is so small, but it is ridiculous! Those hair colors are very different from each other and how are we supposed to get a grasp on Angelines appearance if you keep changing it up? Along those same lines, Marcus is described as having shoulder length blonde hair (cringe worthy), I am guessing that from the huge indigo tattoo on the side of his face, the dude on the cover is suppose to be Marcus… Why the hell does he have a cropped hairdo?  Richelle, I love you girl, but no.

The ending kind of caught me off guard in a bad way. I am not excited to see Zoe, I have a feeling that she is up to no good. Sydney better watch her back around that one and try not to look too chummy with the Moroi/dhampir. I mean, yeah I know it is her sister, if I have learned anything it is that you can never trust and Alchemist.

All that jazz aside, I give it 4 Stars because it was much more entertaining compared to the other books. Hopefully it doesn’t start going down hill from here.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐