BOOK REVIEW: Richelle Mead's SILVER SHADOWS

Title: SILVER SHADOW
Series: Bloodlines Bk 5
Author:  Richelle Mead
Release Date:  July 29, 2014
Price: $18.95
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Razorbill
ISBN-10: 1595143211
ISBN-13: 978-1595143211
Purchase from Amazon or Audible



My Ratings

Plot:  5/5
Setting:  4/5
Writing:   5/5
Originality of Plot:  5/5
Characters Development:  5/5
Ending:  5/5 (wish I could give it more points then this)
Cover Art:  4/5
Likelihood to Recommend:  5/5

Overall:  38/40 =  95% 

Synopsis

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.

In The Fiery Heart, Sydney risked everything to follow her gut, walking a dangerous line to keep her feelings hidden from the Alchemists.

Now in the aftermath of an event that ripped their world apart, Sydney and Adrian struggle to pick up the pieces and find their way back to each other. But first, they have to survive.

For Sydney, trapped and surrounded by adversaries, life becomes a daily struggle to hold on to her identity and the memories of those she loves. Meanwhile, Adrian clings to hope in the face of those who tell him Sydney is a lost cause, but the battle proves daunting as old demons and new temptations begin to seize hold of him. . . .

Their worst fears now a chilling reality, Sydney and Adrian face their darkest hour in this heart-pounding fifth installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series, where all bets are off.

 Review

FIERY HEART left my heart broken, and desperate for the release of SILVER SHADOW.  Just when things are starting to go right for Sydney and Adrian, the unthinkable happens.  Due to her close involvement with Adrian and the other Morois, her father and younger sister turned on her.  They helped the Alchemists kidnap and tear Sydney away from Adrian. Sydney is taken prisoner one of many Alchemist rehabilitation centers.  It kills Adrian to think about how Sydney must be suffering, and knowing that he can't help her if he can't find her.  Can Adrian find her in time? And if he does, will she still be the same Sydney that he knew and love?

This is absolutely the best book the Bloodlines series so far! Up until now, I wasn't sure if the Bloodlines series could ever with live up to the awesomeness that is Richelle's Vampire Academy series.  But this book does! It has so much heart and feeling behind it!  My emotions were all over the board.  There were heart breaking tears, throwing your book kind of anger, overwhelming happiness, and a jaw-dropping ending.  This book has it all!

The beginning of Sydney's captivity is just terrible and distressing. She is held in deplorable circumstances. Her captors used drugs to keep her docile and complement, all the while trying to get her to admit her behavior was despicable.  Not many characters could have kept sane through this.  Thankfully, Sydney is smart and very resourceful!  I was impressed by her more and more with each chapter,  I also really enjoyed getting to know her fellow detainees.  I'll be very interested to see how they figure into the future of this series.

While I found Sydney's part of this story was very sad, Adrian's part was tragic.  He had turned a corner after meeting Sydney.  He had changed and grown so much.  You just had to be so proud of his transformation.  It was like, if he had lost Sydney, he lost everything.  He jumped back into his drinking habits.  Watching his spiral out of control again was heartbreaking.  I love how we got the chance to go back to Cort and visit with some of my favorite characters, Rose, Dimitri and Lissa.  I think that Adrian needed this connection to home to finally give him the strength he needed to fight.

What can I say about the last quarter of this book? Amazing, touching, and then tragic.  I don't want to give to much away, but I will say that this book took a turn that I absolutely didn't expect.  It's all so perfect, that my heart was fluttering with excitement and exhilaration.  Then out of left field I was blindsides by the ending.  I was left in shock.

Bravo Richelle Mead!  She's outdone herself once again.  SILVER SHADOW had me on an emotional roller coaster from page one.  I couldn't put this book down.  I even brought it to work with me to read during my break.  Not sure how I'm if I can handle and anticipation of the next book in this series.  Hands down, I would absolutely recommend this series to anyone interested in  urban fantasy or paranormal romance. Although it's considered a Young Adult series, I think that it easily appeals to an older crowd as well.  So what's next? Not going to lie.  I'm probably going to download this book in audiobook edition, so I can live this book all over again.